BC-AP News Digest 2 pm

At the Nerve Center, Mike Stewart, Rich Somma, Stephanie Siek and Suzanne Boyle McCrory can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Dan Goodman (ext. 1900). For interactives and graphics, Nathan Griffiths (ext. 7636). Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact [email protected] or call 877-836-9477.

NEW AND DEVELOPING

TEXAS EXECUTION — A federal appeals court is refusing to halt the execution of a Mexican national convicted of killing a Houston police officer, despite diplomatic pressure and pleas from the Mexican government. His attorneys are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene. SENT: 400 words, photos. Execution scheduled for 7 p.m., will be updated.

— OBAMA-COLLEGE SEXUAL ASSAULTS — Event at 2:05 p.m.

TOP STORIES

SYRIA-PEACE TALKS

MONTREUX, Switzerland — Syrians representing President Bashar Assad and rebel forces threaten to collapse the peace conference intended to lead them out of civil war. Assad’s departure is at the heart of the talks to establish a transitional government after nearly three years of bloodshed — with his supporters standing firm he must remain in power and the Western-backed rebels insisting “there is no way” the president can stay. By Lori Hinnant and Matthew Lee. SENT: 1,100 words, photos, video. UPCOMING: New approach of 1,000 words by 4 p.m.

— SYRIA-PEACE TALKS-TENSE EXCHANGE — Syrian foreign minister, UN chief in verbal clash at Syrian peace conference in Switzerland. SENT: 280 words.

TOP VIDEO — DV Geneva Syria Wrap — Syrian government representatives refuse to consider an end to the Assad government while the international community demands a transitional government to end the civil war.

UN-BAN’S DIPLOMACY

UNITED NATIONS — Ban Ki-moon made a rare effort at solo diplomacy when he invited Iran to join this week’s Syria peace talks, but it backfired, raising questions about the effectiveness of a U.N. secretary-general better known — and often criticized — for his reserved and scripted style. By Cara Anna. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

UKRAINE-PROTESTS

KIEV, Ukraine — Two people are shot to death in anti-government protests, the first fatalities in the increasingly heated clashes with police in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, raising concerns that the movement is spiraling into a more dangerous phase of violence. By Yuras Karmanau and Maria Danilova. SENT: 800 words, photos, video. UPCOMING: 850 word by 3 p.m.

TOP VIDEO: ukraine_wrap — At least three people have been killed, two of them shot to death, in violent clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police.

TOP PHOTOS: UKRAINE PROTESTS-PHOTO GALLERY — Tires burn in the street in Kiev, Ukraine, as protesters clash with police who tore down barricades and chased demonstrators away.

SUPREME COURT-CHILD PORN-PAYING VICTIMS

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court lends a sympathetic ear to a victim of child pornography who seeks to make it easier for victims to collect money from people convicted of downloading their images. “Amy” is trying to persuade the court that those who possess child pornography should be liable for the entire cost of the harms their victims suffer. By Mark Sherman. SENT: 520 words, photo. UPCOMING: 650 words by 2:15 p.m.

AFGHANISTAN-DEATH ROAD

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan — Maps refer to it as part of the Kabul-Behsud Highway. Motorists call it Death Road. A 20-mile stretch of a two-lane road in central Afghanistan has seen many beheadings, kidnappings and other Taliban attacks in recent years against members of the minority ethnic Hazara community. The situation is a reminder of how fragile Afghanistan’s ethnic and sectarian balance remains less than a year before all foreign forces are to leave the country. By Greg Keller. SENT: 1,080 words, photos.

SOCHI-TERRORIST THREAT

PARIS — An email threatening Olympic athletes with terrorist attacks at the Sochi Winter Games is deemed a hoax, but revives the question of whether it is safe to go to Sochi. Members of the U.S. Congress aren’t so sure, since the games are around the corner from an Islamic insurgency that Russia’s huge security apparatus has struggled to quell. Yet European sports authorities are shrugging off the recent menacing messages as marginal and common ahead of big events. By Angela Charlton and Pablo Gorondi. SENT: 515 words. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by 2:30 p.m.

MORE ON SYRIA

SYRIA-DIVIDED CITY

BANIAS, Syria — The sectarian divisions burning across the rest of Syria have become physical barriers in this town on the Mediterranean coast, with soldiers manning sandbagged checkpoints dividing its Sunni Muslim southern neighborhoods from those of the Alawites and Christians in the north. Yet even after a mass killing of Sunnis in a village outside Banias in May, a tenuous truce keeps this town of 50,000 people locked in a frigid, divided peace in hopes the chaos engulfing the rest of the country will pass them by. By Yasmine Saker. SENT: 850 words, photos.

— SYRIA — Activists and state media report fighting across Syria as Switzerland peace conference begins. SENT: 590 words, photos..

— SYRIA-MILITARY PLAYERS-GLANCE — A look at key military players on the government and rebel sides of Syria’s civil war. SENT: 760 words, photos.

— SYRIA-PEACE TALKS-KERRY — Kerry says Syrian peace talks cannot be about Assad clinging to power. SENT: 130 words.

— SYRIA-PEACE TALKS-QUOTES — Quotes from a tense first day at the Syrian peace conference in Switzerland. SENT: 410 words.

WASHINGTON

CAR SEAT SAFETY

WASHINGTON — Child car seats would have to protect against side-impact crashes — the kind implicated in many child deaths and injuries — under proposed new government rules. Manufacturers would get three years to comply after the rules are final. SENT: 550 words. By Joan Lowy. UPCOMING: Update with 1 p.m. announcement, 650 words by 3 p.m., photos, video.

OBAMA-COLLEGE SEXUAL ASSAULTS

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama shines a light on a college sexual assault epidemic that is often shrouded in secrecy, with victims fearing stigma, police poorly trained to investigate and universities reluctant to disclose the violence. A new White House report says no one in America is more at risk of being a victim than college women, with one in five having been attacked while pursuing their degree. By Nedra Pickler. SENT. 608 words. UPCOMING: Updated after event, 850 words by 4 p.m., photos.

OBAMA-STATE OF UNION

WASHINGTON — Here’s a little secret about the State of the Union address that President Barack Obama will deliver next week: He’ll give Congress a long list of requests but few will be approved. That’s just the reality of a politically divided government. A subject-by-subject look at how some of Obama’s past proposals fared. By Jim Kuhnhenn. UPCOMING: 1,100 words by 4 p.m., photos.

—OBAMA-ELECTIONS — Responding to long lines in the last national election, a presidential commission wants expansion of early voting and says no one should have to wait more than 30 minutes. SENT: 670 words, photo.

POLITICS

SENATE-FEMALE SOLIDARITY

WASHINGTON —Rep. Shelley Moore Capito’s responsibilities are familiar to many women: planning her daughter’s wedding, looking out for her elderly parents, concentrating on her day job. The Republican House member from West Virginia is also running for the U.S. Senate. The Senate’s 20 women are providing campaign and fundraising help to swell their ranks this November. By Donna Cassata. UPCOMING: 950 words by 3 p.m., photos.

NATIONAL

WINTER WEATHER

NEW YORK — Northeasterners scrape and shovel after a snowstorm grounds flights, closes schools and buries roads with a surprising amount of snow, leaving biting cold in its wake. But the political atmosphere is particularly frosty in New York, where residents complain of spotty plowing and open schools while children elsewhere in the region stay home. New Mayor Bill De Blasio, in an early political test, defends the response to a storm he said caused a worse-than-expected headache when it ramped up at the evening rush hour. By Jonathan Lemire and Verena Dobnik. SENT: 860 words, photos, graphic, video. UPCOMING: 700 words by 4 p.m.

— SNOW ENVY — While most of the Northeast gets buried in snow yet again, Vermont, whose culture and livelihood thrive on it, watches with envy. UPCOMING: 350 words by 2 p.m.

— GO FIGURE-UPSIDED DOWN WEATHER: The average temperature for the Lower 48 US Wednesday morning was 22. The average Alaska temperature at the same time was 24. GO FIGURE, an occasional feature from The Associated Press, explores the news through numbers and what they mean. By AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein. UPCOMING 300 words by 4 p.m., photos.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In the absence of federal action, states from Rhode Island to Hawaii are looking at requiring food producers to label any products with genetically modified ingredients. Supporters say consumers have a right to know if they’re eating something that’s been genetically altered, but biotech and agricultural companies insist GMO food — which makes up as much as 75 percent of what Americans eat — is safe. Connecticut and Maine already require labels on GMO food — but the rules won’t take effect until other nearby states join in. In the meantime, opponents are hoping Congress blocks these state laws by making GMO labels voluntary. By David Klepper. SENT: 250 words. UPCOMING: 550 words by 6 p.m.

FORMER GOVERNOR INDICTED

RICHMOND, Va. — Proving that former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife broke the law by accepting luxurious gifts and loans from a businessman may be difficult because the alleged quid-pro-quo is hardly cut and dry. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, are charged with corruption and lying to investigators in a 14-count indictment accusing them of promoting the businessman’s dietary supplement company in exchange for the gifts and loans. But legal experts say the accusations doesn’t specifically spell out what the McDonnells did to receive each gift and loan, and prosecutors may have an easier time getting convictions for lesser charges of obstruction and false statements. By Eric Tucker and Alan Suderman. UPCOMING: 1,000 words by 4 p.m.

LAX SHOOTING

LOS ANGELES — Minutes before gunfire erupted at a Los Angeles airport terminal, two armed police officers went on break. Neither followed protocol requiring them to tell supervisors they were leaving. Then, as terrified travelers dived for cover, TSA officers fled the screening area without hitting a panic button or using the landline to call for help. The new details, from officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, reveal a lapse in security that slowed the police response in the attack that killed a security screener and wounded three other people. By Tami Abdollah. SENT: 800 words, photos.

PETS-TREASURE MAP

LOS ANGELES — The X on this dog lover’s treasure map could be Spot or Rex or Rover. Showing animal shelters that need more dogs and shelters that have too many dogs, the map was introduced by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in July. Since then, 347 shelters in 47 states and Puerto Rico have signed on. The first national program of its kind, it is called MAP, which stands for Moving Animals Places. By Sue Manning. SENT: 850 words, photos.

INTERNATIONAL

KENYA-GAY AND OUT

NAIROBI — Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina says he’s known he was gay since he was 5 but did not have a homosexual encounter until he was 39. On his 43rd birthday he tells the world in an online story what he wishes he had told his mother before she died: “I am a homosexual, mum.” His story is a protest against laws that seek to further criminalize homosexuality in Africa. By Kazziha Khaled. UPCOMING: 530 words, photos.

SOUTH AFRICA-MANDELA STATUE

JOHANNESBURG — South African officials want a quirky bronze rabbit removed from the 9-meter (29.5-foot) sculpture of Nelson Mandela, even though it is barely visible, tucked inside one of the great man’s ears. By Christopher Torchia. SENT: 480 words, photos..

BUSINESS

EUROPE-IRAN-SANCTIONS

BRUSSELS — France is sending business executives by the planeload to Iran. Turkish and Austrian airlines are adding new flights to Tehran, and carmakers and oil companies are drawing up plans for investment. Europe’s business community is abuzz with preparations to rush back into Iran, one of the largest economies in the Middle East, as sanctions are lifted. By Juergen Baetz. SENT: 1,250 words, photos.

ENTERTAINMENT

GRAMMYWATCH-WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Let’s admit it: Almost no one watches the Grammy Awards to find out who wins. It’s really about the performances, and predicting who will come up with the next morning’s water-cooler moment is just as difficult as who wins album of the year. By Music Writer Chris Talbott. SENT: 590 words, photos.

GETTING ATTENTION

— MOM-GIRL SHOT IN HEAD — Ex-inmate charged with murder in Cleveland shooting of girl, 5, sitting in vehicle with mom. SENT: 260 words, photos.

— BART OFFICER KILLED — A San Francisco public transit police detective accidentally shoots and kills a fellow officer during a probation search, the first on-duty fatality in the department’s 42-year history. SENT: 600 words, photos. UPCOMING: 700 words by 3 p.m.

—CHRISTIE-HISPANICS — Some Hispanic leaders usually aligned with Democrats are giving N.J. Gov. Chris Christie the benefit of the doubt on the controversies that have enveloped his office, in part because of Christie’s aggressive courtship of minority voters over the years. SENT: 800 words, photo.

— SAN DIEGO-CAMPAIGN DONOR — Federal officials say a wealthy Mexican businessman illegally gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to San Diego politicians. UPCOMING: 400 words by 4 p.m.

— ASTEROID-MISSION — Space telescope spies water plumes on dwarf planet Ceres, target of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. SENT: 410 words.

— LUNGS FOR TWO SISTERS — Two sisters need of a lung transplant underwent life-saving surgery in a most unusual circumstance: a single donor who gave a lung to each of them. SENT: 700 words, photos.

— TV-BLACK SAILS — The new Starz pirate thriller, “Black Sails,” premieres with a promise: no parrots, no eye patches, no peg legs. Creator Jon Steinberg discusses ditching the cliches. SENT: 780 words, photos.

— FILM-SUNDANCE-HAPPY VALLEY — The filmmaker behind the new documentary about the Penn State sexual-abuse scandal says that both the family of Joe Paterno and the lawyer for the victims, Tom Kline, expressed satisfaction for the film. UPCOMING: 700 words by 2 p.m., photos.

___

Online:

http://apexchange.org