Nordstrom hostages made to strip naked; 1 sexually assaulted, police say

Los Angeles police confirmed Sunday evening the arrests of three suspected gang members in the takeover robbery at the Nordstrom Rack in Westchester last week.The Times first reported two arrests, one on Friday and the second Saturday in Phoenix. Sources familiar with the investigation described the man arrested in Phoenix as a principal suspect but would give no further details.In a press...

Read More..

India Ink: Woman Raped by Seven Men in Punjab, India, Police Say

NEW DELHI — Police said Sunday that a  29-year-old woman had been raped by a bus driver, a bus conductor and five other men in the north Indian state of Punjab, in an incident that recalls the recent attack in Delhi that has caused widespread outrage.The woman boarded a bus on Friday bound for Gurdaspur, to visit her in-laws, the police chief of Gurdaspur, Raj Jit Singh, said in a telephone interview....

Read More..

Women pry open door to video game industry’s boys’ club

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When video game developer Brenda Brathwaite Romero started her career in the 1980s, she could count the number of female developers in the industry on one hand.Today, many “Women in Games” roundtables she attends are filled to capacity with new faces. The 46-year-old, sometimes referred to as the longest-serving woman in the video game arena, jokes that these days one can...

Read More..

Girls Star Lena Dunham Has Another TMI Moment

Stylewatch Style News Now 01/10/2013 at 12:30 PM ET Startraks (2); AP; RetnaWhile everyone else is buzzing about what the four stars of Girls wore to the season two kickoff event, it was what creator Lena Dunham didn’t wear that has us in the PEOPLE offices talking.The actress arrived in a strapless...

Read More..

Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest...

Read More..

Ridge Route repair group runs up against Forest Service

The roadblock facing Harrison Scott and his aging band of volunteers as they try to preserve the Ridge Route north of Los Angeles...

Read More..

Russia Says It Supports U.N. Envoy for Syria

George Ourfalian/ReutersSyrian soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on Saturday. MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia voiced support on Saturday for Lakhdar Brahimi, the special Syria envoy from the United Nations and the Arab League, but insisted that the exit of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, could not be a precondition for a deal to end the country’s conflict. A Foreign Ministry...

Read More..

Jennie Finch Welcomes Third Child

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 01/12/2013 at 12:00 PM ET Jennie Finch‘s daughter has arrived!The Olympic softball star and husband Casey Daigle welcomed their third child, Paisley Faye Daigle, in the early morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 12.“We are so thrilled to announce the birth of our sweet...

Read More..

Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says."If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes...

Read More..

Robbers at Nordstrom raped hostage, made women take off clothes, police say

This post has been updated.One female hostage held overnight at the Nordstrom Rack in Westchester was sexually assaulted and another was stabbed, Los Angeles police said Friday.The two were among 14 hostages held by two robbers at the clothing store. About a half hour into the ordeal, which began at 11 p.m. Thursday, the hostages were led into a bathroom, said sources familiar with the investigation.The...

Read More..