The video game controller is dead. Long live the video game controller. Sherrie Baker blasted enemy soldiers recently in the Los Angles Convention Center using a white plastic gizmo that was shaped like a rifle and looked nothing like the stalwart gamepad that's been around since the early Atari systems. "It's great," Baker said of the $19 controller that converted the two-piece Nintendo Wii Remote joystick into a single, gunlike device, allowing her to more ... [full story]

CENTRAL OREGON — A proposed Plan of Exploration (POE) to explore geothermal resources on the Deschutes National Forest was recently approved by Prineville BLM District Manager Deborah Henderson-Norton. Although the exploratory project is located on Forest Service administered lands, the BLM is the lead agency responsible for management and administration of federal geothermal leases and subsurface activities. The POE was submitted by Davenport Power, LLC, Operator for Northwest Geothermal Corp. to conduct geothermal exploration on ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Fighting between Pakistani troops and Islamic militants has resumed in the Swat valley as a cease-fire in effect since Monday disintegrated.Pakistan’s English-language Dawn newspaper reported Thursday some 2,500 security forces, sent to regain control of the once-popular tourist region of ancient Buddhist sites from a fiery pro-Taliban cleric, used helicopter gunships to attack the militants' positions.The military said in a statement as many as 70 militants had been killed, Geo TV reported.The ... [full story]

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Two men who escaped from a Kansas prison by cutting through a fence were arrested in New Mexico, along with a former prison guard.The Kansas Department of Corrections said Jesse L. Bell, Steven A. Ford and Amber Goff were captured early Wednesday, The Kansas City Star reported.Officials said Bell and Ford apparently cut through a fence at El Dorado Correctional Center Sunday night, and then escaped with the help of a ... [full story]

LOS ANGELES -- The driver of a pickup truck has been cleared as a suspect in one of the wildfires that raged through Southern California last month.Authorities in Orange County had been looking for the owner of a white Ford truck in connection with the Santiago fire, which consumed 15 homes and more than 28,500 acres and was still burning Thursday.The Orange County Register said the driver had cooperated with investigators and was eliminated as ... [full story]

MIAMI -- The Bahamas braced for a soaking from Tropical Storm Noel, which killed scores of people on Hispaniola, as South Florida was pummeled by winds and high surf.At 5 a.m., the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Noel's center was located about 115 miles southwest of Nassau and about 180 miles southeast of Miami, moving north near 6 mph. Tropical storm force winds extended 130 miles from the center, forecasters said.Forecasters said Noel was ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- Prosecutors dropped murder charges in a New York case against a retired FBI supervisor after a journalist’s interview indicated a lead witness perjured herself.Prosecutors had charged Roy Lindley DeVecchio, 67, with aiding in the slayings of four organized crime informers. The charges alleged that DeVecchio gave an informer, Gregory Scarpa of the Colombo crime family, orders to kill other informers and providing Scarpa with information about pending arrests, The New York Times ... [full story]

LONDON -- Britain's highest court began hearing arguments Thursday from a woman seeking some of the money her convicted rapist won in a national lottery.Identified only as "Mrs. A." in court documents, the 77-year-old retired school teacher is fighting a statute of limitations on civil claims, The Times of London reported.The woman was raped in Leeds in 1988, and Iorwoth Hoare was convicted and sentenced to life in prison the following year. In 2004 while ... [full story]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- The top aide to Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned after a story about the aide spending time in a bar with a political reporter emerged.State Secretary Ulrica Schenstrom resigned Wednesday after reports of her visiting a Stockholm bar with reporter Anders Pihlblad, including photos showing her apparently kissing the reporter, surfaced last week, The Local reported Thursday. Schenstrom and Pihlblad deny they are romantically involved.In her letter to Reinfeldt, Schenstrom said ... [full story]

ATLANTA -- Two airline passengers have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a number of knives and box cutters aboard a plane at the Atlanta airport.The incident took place last week when baggage screeners spotted 20 small knives, several box-cutter blades and a large “Chinese-style fighting knife” in their luggage, WAGA-TV in Atlanta reported Thursday.Atlanta police said the knives had been wrapped in foil while the blades were secreted in the battery compartment of ... [full story]