■UNITED STATES
Student sues over lost Xbox
A Yale University student from Ohio has filed a lawsuit seeking US$1 million from US Airways for a video game console he says was taken from his luggage. Jesse Maiman, 21, alleges that during a flight from New Haven, Connecticut, to Cincinnati in December, his Xbox 360 with a specialized hard drive disappeared from his luggage. Maiman says he got what he called “an unconscionable run-around” from the airline, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. A US Airways spokeswoman said the airline was unaware of the suit but noted that the government limits liability for lost luggage to US$3,300 per bag.
■UNITED STATES
Free funeral for contractor
A New York City funeral director is offering a deal to die for. Peter Dohanich put an ad on Craigslist seeking a reliable contractor to fix up his apartment in exchange for a full service funeral. Dohanich, who is licensed in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, says he wants a contractor to build a sitting room off the living room of his ground floor apartment. In return, Dohanich says he’ll provide a full funeral, including cremation or burial, embalming, a coffin, viewing, church service and even a hearse or limo for loved ones.
■UNITED STATES
Seattle paper awaits fate
The packing boxes arrived on Wednesday at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I), but its parent company still isn’t saying when its last edition will roll off the presses, or whether the newspaper will live on as an Internet-only venture. “We expect to announce a decision regarding the P-I at some point next week,” Hearst Corp spokesman Paul Luthringer said in a one-line e-mail. Hearst announced on Jan. 9 that because of mounting losses, it was putting the 146-year-old daily up for sale. If no buyer could be found within 60 days — a deadline that passed on Tuesday — Hearst said it would stop printing the paper immediately, possibly go forward with an online-only operation or close the P-I entirely.
■UNITED STATES
Rapper in drug rap
Rapper Coolio was charged on Tuesday with possession of cocaine, which carries a penalty of up to three years of prison, authorities said. Coolio, 45, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey, was stopped and searched last Friday at Los Angeles International Airport by authorities, who allegedly found cocaine in his luggage, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office said. He was also charged with misdemeanors for allegedly grabbing a screener’s arm to prevent the search and for possession of a smoking device, a spokeswoman for the office said. The rapper is best known for Gangsta’s Paradise, which became the soundtrack of the 1995 film Dangerous Minds.
■UNITED STATES
Lincoln’s watch uncovered
Long-defined by his role guiding the US through its Civil War, Abraham Lincoln even had a pocket watch that bore an inscription about the conflict — although the president likely never saw it. Historians at the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution have uncovered a secret message engraved by a watch repairman 150 years ago inside Lincoln’s timepiece, shortly after his inauguration and the opening salvo of the Civil War. The message notes the April 1861 attack on Fort Sumter, a battle that triggered the bloody north-against-south war. Historians have long suspected that Lincoln’s watch carried a secret message, but it was not until the brass underside of the piece’s movement was revealed that the text became known.
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