IOC strips 4 medals from 2004 Athens Olympics

By By STEPHEN WILSON | Associated Press – Wed, Dec 5, 2012 * Email0 * Share0 * * Share0 * Print LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Eight years after winning Olympic medals in Athens, four track and field athletes from eastern Europe were ordered to hand them back Wednesday because of positive doping tests. Lance Armstrong, meanwhile, can hold onto his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney...

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Patriots back on top of AP Pro32 power rankings

NEW YORK (AP) — See ya, Houston. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have taken over the top spot in the AP Pro32 NFL power rankings. Hours after routing the previous No. 1 Texans 42-14, the Patriots were back on top of the rankings for the first time since Week 2. Houston held the No. 1 spot for a month before tumbling to fourth following its second loss of the season. Peyton Manning and the...

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Earnhardt Jr. gives 2013 car solid review at test

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR spent almost the entire year developing its 2013 car in hopes the "Gen 6" model will dramatically improve the racing. After his first test drive Tuesday, NASCAR's most popular driver approved of the car. "This sport is going to be revolutionized again with this car," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. That's a ringing endorsement for NASCAR, which stumbled out of the gate with...

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Tagliabue overturns Goodell on Saints suspensions

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a sharp rebuke to his successor's handling of the NFL's bounty investigation, former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue overturned the suspensions of four current and former New Orleans Saints players in a case that has preoccupied the league for almost a year. Tagliabue, who was appointed by Commissioner Roger Goodell to handle the appeals, still found that three of the players engaged...

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NHL, union to return to bargaining, with mediators

TORONTO (AP) — NHL labor negotiations will resume Wednesday, with mediators rejoining the talks at an undisclosed location in an effort to save the hockey season. The Canadian Press on Tuesday reported the restart of bargaining between the league and union, citing unidentified people on both sides of the lockout. U.S. federal mediators Scot Beckenbaugh and John Sweeney are to return to the process....

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Film "Lincoln" gets record 13 Critics Choice nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" landed a record-breaking 13 nominations for the Critics Choice Movie Awards on Tuesday, ahead of musical "Les Miserables" and indie comedy "Silver Linings Playbook". "Lincoln", starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, was nominated for best picture and best director, while actors Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones...

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Military: US service member killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. military says one of its service members has been killed in eastern Afghanistan. The U.S. force says in a statement that the service member was killed Sunday but does not provide any further details. The military, which usually gives at least a vague description of how a service member has been killed soon after the death, did not say if the death was related to...

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Pakistan: US drone kills senior al-Qaida leader

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike has killed a senior al-Qaida leader in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the latest blow to the Islamic militant network. Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when missiles slammed into a house Thursday near Mir Ali, one of the main towns...

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Hundreds of fishermen missing in Philippine storm

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AP) — The number of people missing after a typhoon devastated the Philippines jumped to nearly 900 after families and fishing companies reported losing contact with more than 300 fishermen at sea, officials said. The fishermen from southern General Santos city and nearby Sarangani province left a few days before Typhoon Bopha hit the main southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday,...

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Chinese police accuse monk of inciting immolations

BEIJING (AP) — Police detained a monk and his nephew in China's Sichuan province and accused them of instigating the self-immolations of eight ethnic Tibetans on the instructions of the Dalai Lama and his followers, state media said. The report in the official Xinhua News Agency did not detail what evidence police had of the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader's involvement — which was denied by the...

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North Korean rocket launch window opens

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A near two-week launch window for a North Korean long-range rocket began Monday, a day after Pyongyang said it may delay liftoff. North Korea has faced mounting international pressure to abandon what critics call a cover for a banned missile test. North Korean scientists had been pushing forward with final preparations for the launch from a west coast site but are considering...

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