The Sacramento Kings announced Monday they had extended the contract of Coach Keith Smart through the 2012-13 season. “Keith has done a terrific job of taking control of the direction of the team,” said Geoff Petrie, the team”s president of basketball operations....

Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe and Zachary Quinto will return for Season 2 of “American Horror Story,” the show”s co-creator said. Executive producer Ryan Murphy confirmed the Season 1 cast members would be back, along with previously announced fan favorite Jessica...

Italian pop star Laura Pausini said it was “devastating” a young man was killed helping her crew set up a stage for a concert in Reggio Calabria. Matteo Armelini, 31, was killed and two unidentified workers hurt Monday when the stage they were setting up collapsed, the Italian...

Shorts featuring the animated alter-egos and voices of the stars of the U.S. sitcom “Community” are to debut online this week, Sony Pictures Television said. The first of the three animated clips is to air Wednesday on Hulu, Hulu Plus and NBC.com. Fresh installments will air...

Israeli President Shimon Peres, in a speech to an American-Israeli lobbing group in Washington, said Israel “must be strong” if it is to pursue peace. Peres said the pursuit of peace is a moral imperative. “It is the tenet of our nation”s security. To make peace,...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Monday defended the use of “lethal force” against terrorists abroad, even U.S. citizens. “It may not always be feasible to capture a United States citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack,” Holder said...

Thousands of people rallied Monday in Moscow following the election of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as president and activists say hundreds were arrested. Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the radical opposition Left Front, said hundreds of people were taken into custody after refusing to leave...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, on the campaign trail in Ohio Monday, said it doesn”t matter he can”t spend as much as rival Mitt Romney. Santorum said his conservative message has been consistent, the Los Angeles Times reported. “Ladies and...

U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, on the eve of 10 contests on Super Tuesday, said Republicans “care about people.” Romney spoke in Youngstown, Ohio. “What the president, the Democrats, always do is, they want to make Republicans look like...

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said Monday he”s run a “populist campaign” and Mitt Romney is the “establishment candidate.” The former U.S. House speaker”s comments came in an interview on CNN when he was asked about House Majority...

The Group of Eight summit planned for Chicago in May has been moved to President Obama”s Camp David retreat in Maryland, the White House said Monday. The NATO summit, scheduled immediately following the G-8, will still be held in Chicago, officials said in the surprise announcement...

U.S. Sen. John McCain says the United States must launch airstrikes against Syrian forces to put an end to the butchering of civilians. McCain, in a speech Monday on the Senate floor, said “time is running out” in Syria. “[President Bashar] Assad”s forces are on the...

The U.S. government says Syria”s state-owned TV channels and radio stations are subject to sanctions. The U.S.Treasury Department Monday identified the Syrian General Organization of Radio and TV as a state-run agency subordinate to Syria”s Ministry of Information. It is...

Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and Scarlett Johannson have joined the cast of “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho,” The Hollywood Reporter said. Hopkins is to play Hitchcock, Mirren his wife Alma Reville and Johannson Janet Leigh, the actress who played the doomed heroine...

Computer industry analysts from the United States and elsewhere are predicting sales of hand-held tablets will someday surpass personal computer sales. Tablets started out as, more or less, a novelty item, but came into their own when sales of Apple”s iPad took off after its launch...

AOL says it has joined the parade of U.S. advertisers abandoning Rush Limbaugh despite his apology for verbally attacking contraception advocate Sandra Fluke. AOL spokeswoman Maureen Sullivan said one if the company”s core values is to act with integrity. “We have monitored the...

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Ind-Conn., told an Israeli-American lobbying group Monday Iran must end its nuclear activities or face attack. Lieberman said President Obama has retained the military option to end the nuclear program — though the president has said diplomacy must be...

A suicide bomber killed two civilians in Aghanistan Monday in what officials called a revenge attack for the accidental burning of Korans by U.S. troops. The bomber died in the attack, which also left two civilians injured, at the entrance to Bagram Airfield, Afghan Interior Ministry...

Jury selection began Monday in the civil trial involving Virginia Tech”s response to the April 16, 2007, shootings that left 32 people dead and 25 injured. Ninety potential jurors filled out questionnaires at the Christiansburg courthouse, WSLS, Roanoke, reported. Seven will be...

President Obama said Monday pressure will be kept on Iran and its nuclear plans and the United States “will always have Israel”s back” in terms of security. Obama made the comments before meeting for three hours with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu amid worries...

Syrian forces and pro-government militia have rounded up boys and men in Homs and tortured and killed them, opposition and human rights activists say. The BBC reported people fleeing the restive city say security forces had been conducting summary executions and cutting throats of...

U.S. President Barack Obama planned to hold his first news conference since November as 10 states hold Republican caucuses and primaries Tuesday. The news conference in Washington was scheduled for the day after Obama”s meeting wiith Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and just...

Former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens owes $20,000 in overdue child-support payments to the Atlanta mother of one of his children, a court petition said. The contempt-of-court petition, filed in Fulton County by Melanie Paige Smith, said Owens has not made $5,000 a month support payments...

New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis likely has Valley Fever, the team says, but Manager Terry Collins says it probably won”t affect his playing time. Davis said Valley Fever is the “working diagnosis” — tests have come back negative — of the fungal disease...

Television personality Kelly Ripa is to serve as host of the 10th annual TV Land Awards show in New York, the cable network said Monday. Aretha Franklin also is to receive the Music Icon Award at the event, which is being taped April 14 at the Lexington Avenue Armory at Gramercy Park and...

Luke Bryan, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw and Jennifer Nettles have joined the lineup for “ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends in Concert” in Las Vegas, CBS said. The star-studded show is to be taped April 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It will be broadcast April 13 on CBS. The...

Canada”s Barenaked Ladies are writing the score for a stage musical based on the 1978 big-screen comedy “National Lampoon”s Animal House,” producers said. The musical will feature direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw, whose Broadway credits...

Shirley Knight is to create the role of Clarissa “Babe” Foxworth in the world premiere staging of Tennessee Williams” last full-length drama in New York. “In Masks Outrageous and Austere” will begin performances April 5, with an opening night set for April 16...

Plants can smell infected or infested neighboring plants and then react to increase their resistance to pests or disease, a Mexican researcher says. Patricia Sarai Giron-Calva and her colleagues at CINVESTAV-Irapuato said while this so-called “talking trees” phenomenon was...

A Tibetan widow and a schoolgirl set themselves on fire and died in Chinese provinces in weekend protests demanding Tibet”s freedom from China, witnesses said. The self-immolations were reported in Sichuan province and Gansu province. Chinese authorities clamped down security in the...