BC-AP News Advisory

Editors:

Here are the top stories at this hour from The Associated Press. At the Nerve Center, Karen Mahabir can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). In photos, Shoun Hill (ext. 1900). Times in EST.

DEVELOPING

— NIGERIA VIOLENCE — Red Cross says Nigerian death toll rises to 51 in twin car bomb blasts in Maiduguri.

WASHINGTON

UNITED STATES-RUSSIA

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, strongly disagree over what's at stake in the Ukraine crisis. Those differing views were on clear display in a 90-minute phone call and could make it difficult to find a resolution to the crisis in Ukraine.

INTERNATIONAL

UKRAINE

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — A convoy of hundreds of Russian troops was headed toward the capital of Ukraine's Crimea region, a day after Russia's forces took over the strategic Black Sea peninsula without firing a shot. The new government in Kiev has been powerless to react.

SYRIA

BEIRUT — Government airstrikes in a small northwestern town on the border with Turkey have killed at least 13 people, Syrian activists say. The strikes hit residential buildings in the town of Kfar Tarakhim in the northwest province of Idlib in the afternoon, according to the Idlib News group and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

CHINA-TRAIN STATION ATTACK

KUNMING, China — More than 10 assailants slashed scores of people with knives at a train station in southern China in what officials say was a terrorist assault by ethnic separatists from the far west. Twenty-nine slash victims and four attackers were killed and 143 people wounded. Police fatally shot four of the assailants, captured one and were searching for the others following the attack at the Kunming train station in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

WIRELESS SHOW-CONNECTED EVERYTHING

BARCELONA, Spain — We're in the beginning of a world in which everything is connected to the Internet and with one another, while powerful yet relatively cheap computers analyze all that data for ways to improve lives. Toothbrushes tell your mirror to remind you to floss. Basketball jerseys detect impending heart failure and call the ambulance for you. At least that's the vision presented at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain.

NATIONAL

CALIFORNIA STORMS

LOS ANGELES — A thunderstorm that brought sorely-needed rain to California is winding down after sending mudslides down foothill communities, flooding roadways and opening up sinkholes. Evacuation orders remained in effect for hundreds of homes in Los Angeles County foothill communities where fires have burned away vegetation that holds soil in place, and bursts of rain caused the mountains to belch occasional debris flows.

IDITAROD

WILLOW, Alaska — A New Zealand man will be the first musher en route to the town of Nome when the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begins. The 69 mushers will begin the world's most famous sled dog race by crossing frozen Willow Lake about 50 miles north of Anchorage.

Sports Coverage: Men's and women's college basketball, NBA, NHL, exhibition baseball, motorsports, tennis, golf, winter sports.

Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:

ABC's "This Week" — Ben Affleck; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia; former Sen. Russell Feingold, special envoy for the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

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CNN's "State of the Union" — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.; John Beyrle, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.

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"Fox News Sunday" — Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

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