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SYDNEY (AP) — Police in Sydney are negotiating with a gunman who's holding an unknown number of people hostage in a downtown cafe. Five hostages escaped earlier in the day. The police commissioner in New South Wales says, "We have not yet confirmed it is a terrorism-related event," but TV footage shot through the cafe's windows showed several people with their arms in the air and two people holding up a black flag with the Shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith, written on it.
BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say jihadi fighters have captured a Syrian army base in the northwestern province of Idlib after two days of fighting. Today's capture comes a day after rebels and Nusra Front fighters took over seven government checkpoints around the base and a base nearby. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 15 pro-government troops and eight opposition fighters have been killed in the clashes on Sunday alone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Midnight tonight is the deadline for new customers to pick a health plan under the health care law and for current enrollees to make any plan changes. HealthCare.gov and state insurance websites are preparing for heavy online traffic before the deadline, which gives consumers in the East three hours into Tuesday to enroll.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities near Los Angeles say 12 people have been hurt in a three-vehicle crash Sunday night. Two people are in critical condition. Authorities say two people had been trapped in one of the vehicles. They tell City News Service that the accident happened when a pickup truck hit another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction, and then hit a parked car.
BEIJING (AP) — A court in northern China has cleared a teenager of the rape and murder of a woman in a public toilet 18 years after he was executed for the crime. The Inner Mongolia Higher People's Court says it's overturned the conviction, and it says it offers its "sincere apologies" to the young man's parents. The retrial was held last month, nine years after another man confessed to the 1996 crime.
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