Obama shakes up Pentagon leadership with Carter nomination

WASHINGTON - The nomination of policy expert Ashton Carter to lead the Defense Department marks the most significant change to President Barack Obama's beleaguered national security team in nearly two years. But there is little indication the shake-up portends a broader shift in administration policy - nor is it clear that Carter can break into the president's tight inner circle.

Obama announced Carter's nomination at the White House Friday, praising the Pentagon veteran as an innovator and reformer who can quickly step back into an administration grappling with security challenges in the Mideast, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

"When we talked about this job, we talked about how we're going to have to make smart choices precisely because there are so many challenges out there," Obama said.

The nomination of Carter, a physicist who has served two Democratic presidents at the Pentagon, was welcomed by some Republicans as well as Democrats, and he is expected to be easily confirmed by the new GOP-controlled Senate. Still, Republicans are eager to use his hearings as a new chance to challenge Obama.

"Ashton Carter has the knowledge and capability to serve as secretary of defense during these difficult times," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "I expect he will face tough questions at his confirmation hearing about President Obama's failing national security policy, but I expect he will be confirmed."

Employees got threatening email in wake of cyberattack

LOS ANGELES - The FBI said Friday it is investigating threatening emails sent to some employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was hit by a cyberattack last week that disrupted its computer system and spewed confidential information onto the Internet.

The FBI was trying to identify the person or group responsible, the agency said in a statement. It did not provide any details.

However, the trade paper Variety said the email written in broken English claimed to be from the head of the GOP - short for Guardians of Peace - the same group that took credit for last week's attack.

"Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group which is a worldwide organization. And what we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan," the email read.

Later, the email warns employees: "Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don't want to suffer damage. If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger."

Rolling Stone casts doubt on student's account of gang-rape

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Rolling Stone cast doubt Friday on its story of a young woman who said she was gang-raped at a fraternity party at the University of Virginia, saying it has since learned of "discrepancies" in her account.

"Our trust in her was misplaced," the magazine's editor, Will Dana, wrote in a signed apology.

The backpedaling dispirited advocates for rape victims who said they are concerned it could lead to a setback in efforts to combat sexual assaults both at U.Va. and college campuses elsewhere.

The lengthy article published last month focused on a woman it identified only as "Jackie," using her case as an example of what it called a culture of sexual violence hiding in plain sight at U.Va.

Rolling Stone said because Jackie's story was sensitive, the magazine honored her request not to contact the men who she claimed organized and participated in the attack. That prompted criticism from other news organizations.

Ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang arrested, expelled from Party

BEIJING - Chinese authorities arrested the once-feared ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang and launched a criminal investigation Saturday on charges ranging from adultery and bribery to leaking state secrets, after expelling him from the Communist Party overnight.

The developments, announced shortly after midnight, pave the way for a trial of the most senior figure so far to be ensnared in President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption crackdown and appear to seal the downfall of a formerly powerful politician once considered a potent rival for Xi.

The square-jawed, granite-faced Zhou, 72, is the highest-level official to be prosecuted since the 1981 treason trial of Mao Zedong's wife and other members of the "Gang of Four" who persecuted political opponents during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

He had been under investigation for "severe disciplinary violations" - a phrase is usually used to describe corruption - since July and presumably had been detained by party investigators months earlier. He had not been seen publicly since October 2013.

"He abused his power to help relatives, mistresses and friends make huge profits from operating businesses, resulting in serious losses of state-owned assets," the official Xinhua News Agency said.

500,000 flee as typhoon nears eastern Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Half a million Filipinos fled their homes as differing forecasts about the path of a dangerously erratic typhoon - one predicting it will graze the capital, Manila - prompted a wide swath of the country to prepare for a weekend of destructive winds and rain.

Typhoon Hagupit -Filipino for "smash" - was expected to hit the central Philippines late Saturday, lashing parts of a region that was devastated by last year's Typhoon Haiyan and left more than 7,300 people dead and missing. The typhoon regained strength Saturday but forecasters said it will begin rapidly weakening as it approaches land.

"I'm scared," said Haiyan survivor Jojo Moro. "I'm praying to God not to let another disaster strike us again. We haven't recovered from the first."

The 42-year-old businessman, who lost his wife, daughter and mother last year in Tacloban city, said he stocked sardines, instant noodles, eggs and water.

Dozens of domestic flights were canceled and inter-island ferry services were suspended. About half a million people have been evacuated in Leyte and Samar provinces, including Tacloban, this time with little prompting from the government, said Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman.

- The Associated Press