Flood waters receding...Saudi executions set off protests...Cnematographer Vilmos Zsigmond dies

KINCAID, Ill. (AP) — The Mississippi River and many of its tributaries are retreating from historic levels, leaving behind a massive cleanup and recovery job. The river is receding everywhere except the far southern tips of Missouri and Illinois. The Meramec (MEHR'-uh-mehk) River, a St. Louis-area tributary that caused widespread damage last week, is now below as below flood stage in the hard-hit Missouri towns of Pacific and Eureka. But the Illinois River north of St. Louis is still rising.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Demonstrators have set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and taken to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan to protest Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was executed yesterday along with 46 other people convicted of terrorism charges. It was the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years.

BEIRUT (AP) — A video being circulated online purports to show the Islamic State group killing five men accused of spying for Britain in Syria. It shows five men "confessing" to filming and photographing sites in exchange for money within Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate. It could not be independently verified.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond has died. The Hungarian native is best known for "The Deer Hunter" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Zsigmond helped define cinema's American New Wave in the 1970s through iconic collaborations and a preference for natural light. His business partner Yuri Neyman says Zsigmond died on Friday in Big Sur, California. He was 85.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" remains the top movie for the third week. It raked in an estimated $88.3 million over the New Year's weekend, becoming the second-highest earner of all time with $740.3 million in just 19 days of release. "Daddy's Home" is No. 2 and "The Hateful Eight" third.

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