Smashing Pumpkins and label settle lawsuits (AP)
AP - An attorney says The Smashing Pumpkins have settled a pair of lawsuits filed against Virgin Records over use of the band’s music.
Rome taxis seek to wipe out tourist scams (Reuters)
Reuters - Rome’s largest taxi cooperative is trying to improve the bad name of the city’s cabbies, notorious among tourists to one of the world’s best loved cities.
Goncourt winner Littell wins Bad Sex Award (Reuters)
Reuters - Jonathan Littell, who won France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2006 for “The Kindly Ones,” has picked up another prize for the same work — the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
Don’t bet newspapers will get rich shunning Google (AP)
AP - There’s an intriguing idea floating around the media: Microsoft Corp. wants to undercut Google so badly in Internet search that it might pay newspapers to withhold their content from Google.
Nets fire Lawrence Frank after 0-16 start (AP)
AP - The New Jersey Nets fired coach Lawrence Frank on Sunday after losing their first 16 games during one of the worst starts in NBA history.
Iran plans enrichment sites in defiance of UN (AP)
AP - Iran approved plans Sunday to build 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of U.N. demands it halt enrichment and a move that is likely to significantly heighten tensions with the West.
Four police killed in Washington state coffee shop (Reuters)
Reuters - A gunman walked into a Tacoma, Washington-area, coffee shop on Sunday morning and fatally shot four police officers, law enforcement officials said.
Employers play Dr. Mom to limit swine flu impact (AP)
AP - Big businesses are spending serious time and money trying to limit the swine flu pandemic’s impact on operations, from bankrolling video on good hygiene to training employees to cover for co-workers with critical jobs.
Senator says Afghan forces, not US, key to success (AP)
AP - The leading Senate Democrat on military matters said Sunday that President Barack Obama’s anticipated plan for significantly expanding U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan must show how those reinforcements will help increase the size of the Afghan security forces.
Swiss ban mosque minarets in surprise vote (AP)
AP - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.