NEW YORK (AP) — Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in such iconic productions over the decades as the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and the film "The Big Lebowski," has died at age 81.

BEIRUT (AP) — In a barrage of mortar shells, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said Saturday.

SITAPUR, India (AP) — One of India's most powerful and controversial politicians rises from a throne-like armchair, a clutch of candidates standing deferentially behind her and two large portraits flanking the stage.

NEW YORK (AP) — Thirty-three civil rights groups from around the country complained to the New York attorney general Friday about police documents that showed the New York Police Department recommending increased surveillance of Shiite mosques based on their religion.

LONDON (AP) — Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The case against Lance Armstrong is closed. His legacy as a seven-time Tour de France champion endures. Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the world's most famous cyclist and his teammates joined in a doping program during his greatest years.

To many people, breast cancer screening means a mammogram. But for millions of poor, mostly young women who visit Planned Parenthood, it is usually just a physical exam by the only health professional they may ever see.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The head of memory chip maker Micron, long known for taking risks in stunt piloting, died Friday when a small experimental plane he was piloting steeply banked, stalled and crashed near an Idaho runway.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The millionaires, billionaires and companies giving big sums to political committees supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama have important business with the next president.

George Esper, the tenacious Associated Press correspondent who refused to leave his post in the last days of the Vietnam War, remaining behind to cover the fall of Saigon, has died.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sheriff's official: 2nd teacher removed from LA school arrested for lewd acts upon 2 girls

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a long-awaited surge of hiring, companies added 243,000 jobs in January — across the economy, up and down the pay scale and far more than just about anyone expected.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Rarely is Bill Belichick outcoached. Tom Brady almost never gets outplayed. The brilliant coach on the sideline and his cerebral leader on the field — winners of three Super Bowls together — are still a notch above their NFL championship game opponent.

NEW YORK (AP) — For leaders of the nation's pre-eminent breast-cancer charity, it was a firestorm they didn't see coming — and couldn't withstand.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar wrote to President Barack Obama last year indicating an interest in talks key to ending the war in Afghanistan, current and former U.S.

NORTH GREENFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Steven Tyler says he meant to sing the national anthem like that. The Aerosmith frontman and "American Idol" judge endured plenty of jabs after his rendition of the anthem at the AFC Championship game last month, but Tyler says he doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.

PARIS (AP) — What does it take to shock in the land of the Gallic shrug? Ads that suggest adulterous oral sex, according to complaints about new movie "Les Infideles."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Competitive-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi (tah-kah-roo koh-bee-yah-shee) conquered Philadelphia's annual gustatory gorge-fest by eating 337 chicken wings in a half-hour before a crowd of nearly 20,000 at Wing Bowl XX.

NEW YORK (AP) — Companies hope you'll be gabbing about their Super Bowl ads on Monday morning. But the ultimate score is if those conversations continue throughout the year.

NEW YORK (AP) — After three days of controversy, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity says it is reversing its decision to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday the key to stopping Iran from getting a nuclear bomb is keeping global support for tough economic sanctions.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Peyton Manning is cleared to play football. Still not so clear is whether it will be with the Indianapolis Colts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's advice that sounds like heresy on the gridiron: Go for it on fourth down. Try more onside kicks. Running backs don't matter much.