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Egyptians vote in presidential runoff, choosing between Islamist, Hosni Mubarak's ex-PM

CAIRO (AP) Faced with a choice between Hosni Mubarak's ex-prime minister and an Islamist candidate, Egyptians voted Saturday in a presidential runoff the outcome of which will mean the difference between installing a remnant of the old regime and bringing Islam into government.

The race between Ahmed Shafiq, a career air force officer like Mubarak, and Mohammed Morsi, a U.S.-trained engineer, has divided this mainly Muslim nation of some 85 million people 16 months after a stunning uprising by millions forced the authoritarian Mubarak to step down after 29 years in office.

Voters lined up outside polling centers an hour or more before they opened at 8 a.m. But turnout was not expected to exceed 50 percent, possibly because of voting fatigue. Since the ouster of Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011, Egyptians have voted several times in a referendum on a military-sponsored "constitutional declaration," in staggered and elections for parliament's two chambers and in the first round of the presidential elections last month.

Unlike in previous post-Mubarak voting when Egyptians were confident the balloting would be free, many this time round said they suspected the weekend's election may be tampered with.

"I don't think Shafiq could win, I think he will win," said 26-year-old Nagwan Gamal, who lectures on engineering at Cairo University. "I think there will be corruption to ensure that he wins, but I think a lot of people will vote for him," she said at polling center in the Cairo district of Manial. She voted for Morsi.

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Burmese opposition chief Aung San Suu Kyi will give Nobel speech 21 years after winning prize

OSLO, Norway (AP) It's been 21 years, and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is about to give her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

The 66-year-old champion of democracy is being feted this month in European capitals after spending most of the past two decades kept under house arrest by Myanmar's military-backed dictatorship.

Norwegian government leaders said they have eagerly awaited Saturday's speech at Oslo City Hall since Suu Kyi won the world's highest diplomatic honor in 1991. But Suu Kyi said she never doubted that she would travel one day to Oslo to give her honorific lecture.

"Yes of course, I always believed that. That's why I have always said that the first time I traveled abroad I would come to Norway," she said in answer to a reporter's question. "I never doubted that. Did you?"

Despite being under house arrest at the time, Suu Kyi did receive the actual prize in 1991 and used its cash reward to create scholarship programs for Burmese youth. Her two British-based teenage sons accepted the prize on her behalf in Oslo that year.

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China to send first woman, 2 men into space in most ambitious mission yet

JIUQUAN, China (AP) Three Chinese astronauts including the first Chinese woman to be sent into space have arrived at a launch site for the country's most ambitious space mission.

State-run China Central Television is to broadcast live the liftoff of Shenzhou 9, scheduled for Saturday evening.

Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, and two male crew members veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng and newcomer Liu Wang are to dock the spacecraft with a space module in a key step toward building a space station. They will work there for about a week.

The chairman of the National People's Congress standing committee, Wu Bangguo, told the crew in a sending-off ceremony that "The country and people await your victorious return."

Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies.

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Japan OKs restart of 1st nuclear reactors since last year's tsunami forced nationwide shutdown

TOKYO (AP) Japan's government on Saturday approved bringing the country's first nuclear reactors back online since last year's earthquake and tsunami led to a nationwide shutdown, going against wider public opinion that is opposed to nuclear power after Fukushima.

The decision paves the way for a power company in western Japan to immediately begin work to restart two reactors in Ohi town, a process that is expected to take several weeks.

Despite lingering safety concerns, the restart could speed the resumption of operations at more reactors across the country. All Japan's 50 nuclear reactors are offline for maintenance or safety checks.

Public opposition to the resumption of nuclear operations remains high because of the crisis the tsunami touched off at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl. As the government announced its decision, a protest was held outside the prime minister's offices.

The restart is being closely watched as an indicator of how aggressively the government will act to approve operations at other reactors. It has been pushing hard to bring some reactors online as soon as possible to avert power shortages as demand increases during the summer months. It says the reactors in the town of Ohi are particularly important because they are in an area that relied heavily on nuclear before the crisis, and have passed safety checks.

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After a detour caused by Obama's new immigration policy, Romney to talk economic issues in Pa.

HAZELTON, Pa. (AP) Mitt Romney is trying to steer his bus tour back to middle-class economic issues as he visits three communities in Pennsylvania following a detour caused by President Barack Obama's new policy on the deportation of young illegal immigrants.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee plans to keep up his focus on jobs and the economy, arguing that he's the candidate who will give average Americans a "fair shot" at prosperity.

Romney is targeting smaller cities and towns through the state's conservative midsection. He planned stops Saturday at a casting and machine company in Weatherly, a convenience store in Quakertown and an old iron furnace in Cornwall that's now a national historic landmark.

The tour is intended to challenge Obama in states where he's strong the president won Pennsylvania in 2008, and no Republican has won the state since 1988. In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain won two of the counties Romney plans to visit.

The last time Romney was in the Keystone State, he was campaigning with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and saying he was "studying" the Cuban-American's ideas for legislation that would allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the country to work.

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Daredevil Nik Wallenda 'on cloud nine' after making 1st tightrope walk across Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario (AP) There was "wind coming from every which way," mist so powerful it clouded his vision and an unfamiliar wire beneath him, but daredevil Nik Wallenda didn't let that stop him from becoming the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls.

He took steady, measured steps Friday night for 1,800 feet on a wire across the widest part of the gorge of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada, accomplishing what he said was his childhood dream albeit wearing a tether.

"I feel like I'm on cloud nine right now," an exuberant Wallenda told reporters after his feat, which he performed before an estimated 112,000 people crowding the shores of both countries and millions more who watched a live television broadcast.

"I hope what I do and what I just did inspires people around the world to reach for the skies," he said.

He described a breathtaking view during the nighttime walk illuminated by spotlights that "compared to nothing."

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Hurricane Carlotta weakens over Mexico after lashing Puerto Escondido resort with rain, winds

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) A weakening Hurricane Carlotta pushed northward toward the resort city of Acapulco on Saturday after making landfall near the Mexican beach town of Puerto Escondido, where it toppled trees and shook tourist hotels.

Rain was falling in Acapulco, but authorities lifted a hurricane warning for the resort late Friday and replaced it with a tropical storm warning.

"We don't care about the rain, we're going to have fun at the club," said tourist Alejandra Flores, who took a bus with a friend yesterday from Guadalajara to Acapulco. People in Acapulco were calm and dining in restaurants late Friday.

Earlier Friday, Carlotta had toppled billboards and shattered some windows in Puerto Escondido, a laid-back port popular with surfers, where it reached land as a Category 1 hurricane.

"The wind is incredible and the trees are swaying so much. A window just shattered," said Ernesto Lopez, a 25-year-old engineer who was visiting Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca state for a graduation.

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40 years later, Watergate still mystifies: How did 'third-rate burglary' topple a president?

WASHINGTON (AP) In the perfect hindsight of history, Watergate's "what ifs" are still tantalizing.

What if a security guard hadn't noticed tape on a door latch outside Democratic headquarters at the Watergate office building.

What if a calculating president hadn't taped his private words for posterity?

And perhaps most intriguing: What if Richard Nixon had simply come clean about the break-in and cover-up and apologized?

Forty years of investigation, reporting, trials, debate and historical research have yielded no simple answer to the central riddle of how a clumsy raid that Nixon's spokesman termed a "third-rate burglary" became a titanic constitutional struggle that ultimately expelled him from office.

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Fight involving Drake, Chris Brown leaves pro basketball star with scratched retina

Professional basketball starTony Parker says he suffered a scratched retina on one of his eyes during a New York City nightclub brawl involving singer Chris Brown and members of hip-hop star Drake's entourage.

The guard for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, wearing dark sunglasses, described the incident Friday in Paris during a news conference posted on YouTube. He said he expects to be sidelined for about a week while the French team prepares for the Summer Olympics.

Parker said he was wearing a "therapeutic" contact lens and had to go to an emergency room for treatment after arriving in Paris.

Parker said: "I was with my friend Chris Brown and me and my friends took some punches, so I'll be missing the start of the French team because I can't do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops."

Police said Brown, his girlfriend and his bodyguard were among several people injured during the bottle-hurling fight early Thursday at W.i.P in SoHo.

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Tiger Woods leads trio of major champions in lead at US Open

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) There were no fist pumps for Tiger Woods, just a deep breath and a slow exhale. Jim Furyk walked most of the 7,170 yards at Olympic Club with his head down. David Toms couldn't think of a single shot he hit without his full attention Friday.

They were not the survivors of the U.S. Open. They were the leaders.

And it's no coincidence that all of them have been tested in the majors, none more often than Woods, who survived a patch of bogeys early in his round for an even-par 70 that took him another round closer to a 15th major title.

"I know that it takes a bit out of us, but so be it," Woods said. "Much rather be there than missing cuts or just making the cut. So it's a wonderful place to be with a chance to win your nation's open."

Just when this U.S. Open was starting to look like child's play, a trio of major champions took it back.