WASHINGTON (AP) — Reported sexual assaults at the nation’s three military academies jumped by 23 percent overall this year, but the data signaled a continued reluctance by victims to seek criminal investigations.

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns on Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly never-ending series of funeral processions.

SEATTLE (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels got the pitching depth they wanted. The Seattle Mariners got the power-bat they so desperately needed.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about Thursday:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A document obtained by The Associated Press shows that reported sexual assaults at the U.S. military’s three academies jumped by 23 percent this year, but the data signaled a continued reluctance by victims to seek criminal investigations.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is selling Motorola Mobility’s TV set-top business for $2.35 billion, lightening the load that the Internet search leader took on earlier this year when it completed the biggest acquisition in its history.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is selling Motorola Mobility’s TV set-top business for $2.35 billion, lightening the load that the Internet search leader took on earlier this year when it completed the biggest acquisition in its history.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economies of China and the U.S. have become “interdependent and inseparable,” a top Chinese official said Wednesday after high-level trade talks which were being watched for signs of how the two powers will cooperate after their respective political transitions.

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns on Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly never-ending series of funeral processions.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Park Geun-hye, daughter of a divisive military strongman from South Korea’s authoritarian era, has been elected the country’s first female president, a landmark win that could mean a new drive to start talks with rival North Korea.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Women from around the world squared off Wednesday night for the right to be called Miss Universe, as celebrity judges descended on the red carpet and brought some extra sparkle to the Las Vegas Strip.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four State Department officials resigned under pressure Wednesday, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Sept. 11.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – A decorated U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in two forays from his remote military camp was ordered to face a court martial before a military panel that could impose the death penalty if he is found guilty, the m…

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Miss USA Olivia Culpo is one of 16 contestants advancing to the finals of the 2012 Miss Universe contest.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that its head of diplomatic security had resigned and three other officials were relieved of their duties following a scathing official inquiry into the September 11 attack on the U.S. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The latest Republican offer to resolve the U.S. “fiscal cliff” standoff keeps tax rates low for households making less than $1 million a year, but millionaires get the benefit of lower taxes too, according to a non-partisan study…

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 31 people were fired from two Army day care centers at Fort Myer, Va., last week after officials scrutinized their backgrounds and found criminal convictions ranging from fourth-degree sexual assault and drug use to other assaults, a defense official said Wednesday.

TORONTO (AP) — Donald Fehr and the players’ association are ready to get back to the bargaining table at any moment. They are now just waiting for the NHL to feel the same way.

The reaction to the Connecticut school shooting can be seen in gun stores and self-defense retailers across the nation: Anxious parents are fueling sales of armored backpacks for children while firearms enthusiasts are stocking up on assault rifles in …

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Trent Richardson would be surprised if Nick Saban followed him from Alabama to the Cleveland Browns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fiscal cliff talks at a partisan standoff, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner swapped barbed political charges on Wednesday yet carefully left room for further negotiations on an elusive deal to head off year-end tax increases and spending cuts that threaten the national economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” is misleading and “grossly inaccurate” in its suggestion that torture produced the tip that led the U.S. military to find terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, three senators said Wednesday in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

BOSTON (AP) — Weeks after a critical West Coast port complex was crippled by a few hundred striking workers, the East Coast is bracing for a possible walkout numbering thousands that could close 15 ports from Massachusetts to Texas.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — The media director for Syracuse University’s athletic department is no longer employed by the school and, according to a newspaper report, is being investigated by police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Today’s lawmakers might be excused for thinking they’ve seen this movie: A recently re-elected president spars with a quarrelsome Congress over an issue that roils the nation.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s cash-strapped state energy company signed a partnership deal Wednesday with Chevron Corp. for a “massive development” of the South American country’s vast nonconventional oil and gas resources.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two convicted bank robbers who pulled off a daring overnight escape from a high-rise Chicago jail had changed from their prison garb by the time they hopped into a cab near the lock-up, investigators said Wednesday as they expanded their manhunt for the men.

ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — A campaign of intimidation by Islamists left most Christians in this southern Egyptian province too afraid to participate in last week’s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they deeply oppose, residents say. The disenfranchisement is hiking Christians’ worries over their future under empowered Muslim conservatives.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Will the Marlboro Man light up a joint soon?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. tax authorities warned on Wednesday that as many as 100 million taxpayers – far more than previously estimated – could face refund delays if lawmakers’ “fiscal cliff” negotiations fail to fix the alternative minimum tax (AMT…

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s short stint in the auto business is coming to an end.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s vice president said on Wednesday that the government is still aiming for President Hugo Chavez to be sworn in for a new term as scheduled next month, saying his condition has been improving after his cancer surgery in Cuba.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s vice president said on Wednesday that the government is still aiming for President Hugo Chavez to be sworn in for a new term as scheduled next month, saying his condition has been improving after his cancer surgery in Cuba.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal watchdog has found that government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have lost more than $3 billion from big banks’ alleged rigging of a key interest rate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Talks to avoid a U.S. fiscal crisis stalled on Wednesday as President Barack Obama accused opponents of holding a personal grudge against him while the top Republican negotiator called the president “irrational.” As a year-end deadline nears, Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner are locked in intense bargaining over a possible deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of harsh tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that could badly damage an already weak economy. …

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns on Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly never-ending series of funeral processions.

DENVER (AP) — A storm that has dumped more than a foot of snow in the Rocky Mountains was causing problems for travelers as it spread across the Plains on Wednesday.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — Jenni Rivera’s “celestial graduation” was marked by festive music, heartfelt speeches in Spanish and English and passionate chants of “Jen-ni! Jen-ni!”

SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Army said Wednesday it will seek the death penalty against the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a predawn rampage in March, a decision his lawyer called “totally irresponsible.”

President Barack Obama’s possible pick of Republican Chuck Hagel to run the Pentagon raises serious concerns among some of his former Senate colleagues, who question his pronouncements on Iraq, Israel and the Middle East.

ZURICH/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors charged two former UBS traders on Wednesday with taking part in a multi-year scheme to manipulate Libor and other benchmark interest rates, making them the first individuals to be criminally accused in the i…

NEW YORK (AP) — Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy’s “Homeland” just got bigger.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski is set to become the first woman to chair the prestigious Senate Appropriations Committee, a position left open this week by the death of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring the time for action overdue, President Barack Obama promised on Wednesday to send Congress broad proposals in January for tightening gun laws and curbing violence after last week’s schoolhouse massacre in Connecticut.

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The family of Noah Pozner was mourning the 6-year-old, killed in the Newtown school massacre, when outrage compounded their sorrow.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Aiming to prevent companies from exploiting online information about children under 13, the Obama administration on Wednesday imposed sweeping changes in regulations designed to protect a young generation with easy access to the Internet.

MONROE, Conn. (AP) — When the children who survived a shooting that killed 20 of their classmates return to school in a different building, they’ll find things just as they left them Friday, down to the water bottles and boxes of crayons sitting on their desks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., obligates the nation to finally act to reduce gun violence. He’s outlined only a broad plan so far, leaving specific proposals until next month.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Three senior U.S. State Department officials were asked to resign after an official inquiry harshly criticized their offices for failing to provide adequate security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, before it came under at…

NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) – President Barack Obama assigned Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday to find ways to curtail gun violence in America to try to avoid tragedies like the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, where the town buried one of its heroes on Wednesday. With Newtown still in mourning from last Friday’s shooting, when a 20-year-old gunman shot dead 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School and then himself, Biden took the assignment to produce recommendations and to report back to Obama in time for the president’s State of the Union address in late January. …

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have the reliable starter they sought in Ryan Dempster.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski will become the first woman to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

There are several competing plans to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” a one-two combination of tax increases and automatic spending cuts. The GOP-controlled House is scheduled to vote Thursday on House Speaker John Boehner’s scaled-back “plan B” tax proposal …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama vowed to press for tighter gun laws early next year, as he sought to turn national outrage over the Connecticut school massacre into action to ban assault weapons and ensure better background checks on gun …

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t trust receiver Dez Bryant to even run the right routes less than two months ago.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A $3 billion cancer-fighting effort that’s already under criminal investigation received yet more humiliation Wednesday when Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for a moratorium on new grants until confidence is restored in a once-celebrated agency that has plunged into turmoil in just three years.

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to fat holiday discounts, better late than never.

“Amour” — Michael Haneke takes a subject you don’t often see in movies and probably don’t even want to see — the slow, steady deterioration of an elderly woman — and handles it with great grace. The Austrian writer-director, who’s achieved a reputation for a certain mercilessness over the years through films like “Cache” and “Funny Games,” displays a surprising and consistent humanity here, and draws unadorned but lovely performances from his veteran stars, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva. Haneke focuses on the intimate moments of their changing lives as the longtime married couple remains holed up in their comfortable Paris apartment, coping day to day, waiting for eventual death. It will surely strike a chord with anyone who’s watched a loved one slip away in this manner, whether it’s a parent or a spouse. But Haneke’s aesthetic can feel too stripped-down, too one-note in its dignified monotony. He will hold a shot, as we know, and once again he avoids the use of a score, so all that’s left to focus on is the insular, dreary stillness of quiet descent. Certainly minimalism is preferable to melodrama in telling this kind of story, but Haneke takes this approach to such an extreme that it’s often hard to maintain emotional engagement. PG-13 for mature thematic material including a disturbing act, and for brief language. In French with English subtitles. 125 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Gary Andersen publicly pledged his allegiance to Utah State not long ago. Now he’s on the verge of becoming Wisconsin’s coach.

Gary Andersen publicly pledged his allegiance to Utah State not long ago. Now he’s on the verge of becoming Wisconsin’s coach.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 100 million taxpayers — about two-thirds of all filers — won’t be able to file their 2012 tax returns until late March if Congress doesn’t adjust the alternative minimum tax by the end of the year, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leading U.S. anti-tax activist Grover Norquist gave his blessing on Wednesday to House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to avert the “fiscal cliff,” concluding that despite complaints to the contrary, it would adhere to Republican law…

Comments by people in some of the countries that a Gallup poll ranks as the world’s most and least positive:

Comments by people in some of the countries that a Gallup poll ranks as the world’s most and least positive:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Barack Obama came across like a president unleashed on Wednesday as he invoked the Connecticut shooting tragedy not only to address gun violence, but to tell Republicans to “peel off the partisan war paint,” accept that he won the election and get on with the job of averting a fiscal calamity. After Newtown, he suggested, the world looks different to him. Why not to everyone else? “Goodness,” he said, “if this past week has done anything, it should just give us some perspective. …

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The world’s happiest people aren’t in Qatar, the richest country by most measures. They aren’t in Japan, the nation with the highest life expectancy. Canada, with its chart-topping percentage of college graduates, doesn’t make the top 10.

NEW YORK (AP) — FedEx may be pessimistic about the U.S. economy, but it’s confident about growing its earnings.

Comments by people in some of the countries that a Gallup poll ranks as the world’s happiest and saddest:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s cash-strapped state energy company signed a partnership deal Wednesday with Chevron Corp. for a “massive development” of the South American country’s vast nonconventional oil and gas resources.

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Douglas was among spectators Wednesday as an appeals court panel heard attorneys argue whether his son was treated too harshly when he was sent to prison for nearly 10 years for drug crimes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Douglas was among spectators Wednesday as an appeals court panel heard attorneys argue whether his son was treated too harshly when he was sent to prison for nearly 10 years for drug crimes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly five months after a major software malfunction at Knight Capital roiled financial markets, the trading firm has agreed to sell itself to a competitor, Getco, in a cash-and-stock deal that the companies value at $1.4 billion.

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Utility companies are preparing a new wave of workers to run first-of-their-kind nuclear plants, a process certain to influence how workers are trained on the new technology for decades to come.

Johnny Manziel is ready to get back to being Johnny Football.

DETROIT (AP) — Students at a Detroit elementary school have been treated to free haircuts courtesy of R&B vocalist KEM.

SAO PAULO (AP) — It’s not your Apple’s iPhone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With an atypical audience — members of Congress — actor and director Ben Affleck read from a script with a pointed message: A desperate humanitarian situation in Congo requires a stronger display of U.S. leadership, and it will get worse without one.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits cited include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the “culture of violence” — the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.

LONDON (AP) — A BBC review has absolved senior executives of trying to bury an explosive story about one of its best-known children’s television stars, saying management errors were to blame for the fact that a planned expose on pedophilia allegations against the late Jimmy Savile was canceled.

DENVER (AP) — A storm that has dumped more than a foot of snow in the Rocky Mountains is causing problems for travelers as it spreads across the Plains.

Senate Democrats and Republicans sparred Wednesday over whether voter ID laws, attempts to purge voter rolls and restricted early voting were legitimate efforts to stop fraud or mainly Republican strategies to hold down Democratic votes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama called the Army secretary to express concerns over arrests and the discovery of problems with background checks at an Army day care center and to urge a speedy investigation, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Instead of letting a robber get away, a witness to a convenience store stickup in Spokane, Wash., caught the armed man and held him for police.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Talks to avoid a fiscal crisis appeared to stall on Wednesday as President Barack Obama accused Republicans of digging in their heels due to a personal grudge against him, while a top Republican called the president “irrational.” As the clock ticks toward a year-end deadline, Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, are trying to reach a deal to avert harsh tax hikes and spending cuts that could trigger a recession. …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government would press ahead with expanding Jewish settlements around Jerusalem despite Western criticism of its plan to build 6,000 more homes in territory Palestini…

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — For much of his hour-long visit with the family of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Connecticut school shootings, Victor Cruz talked about football, life and young Jack, the child who idolized him.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – A decorated U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in two forays from his remote military camp has been referred to a court martial over the slayings as a capital case, the military said on Wednesday. No date has been s…

The top 10 films of 2012, according to AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire:

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels have captured at least six towns in the central province of Hama, activists say, in an operation aimed at putting pressure on President Bashar al-Assad from the north as insurgents close in on the capital from its southern suburbs. The rebel gains came as the United Nations on Wednesday launched what it said was its “largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever”, for $1.5 billion to help millions of Syrians suffering a “dramatically deteriorating” humanitarian situation. …

Gallup Inc. asked roughly 1,000 people in each of 148 countries the following questions: Did you feel well-respected yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you laugh or smile a lot yesterday? Did you learn or do something inter…

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The world’s happiest people aren’t in Qatar, the richest country by most measures. They aren’t in Japan, the nation with the highest life expectancy. Canada, with its chart-topping percentage of college graduates, doesn’t make the top 10.

Stocks dipped Wednesday, recording their first loss of the week. President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress sniped at each other, and a deadline to avoid sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts drew closer.

Neil Armstrong would always be taking that first step onto the moon, and Dick Clark was forever “the world’s oldest teenager.” Some of the notables who died in 2012 created images in our minds that remained unchanged over decades.

NEW YORK (AP) — A new movement has taken off to honor the 26 people killed at a school in Newtown, Conn.

LEWES, Del. (AP) — ABC News veteran and former correspondent Sam Donaldson is facing a drunken driving charge in Delaware.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservatives wanted Robert H. Bork on the Supreme Court. They wound up with Anthony Kennedy, the key vote in reaffirming a woman’s right to an abortion.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s parliament on Wednesday gave overwhelming preliminary approval to a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children, a harsh retaliatory move against U.S. human rights legislation.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Google is turning on a “scan and match” service for Google Music users to store copies of their songs online, offering for free what Apple charges $25 a year for.