Cell phones

NEW YORK -- It's the dreaded sound at any live performance -- a ringing cellphone.

That's what happened Tuesday night at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall during the final movement of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony by the New York Philharmonic. Maestro Alan Gilbert stopped the orchestra until the phone was silenced.

LOS ANGELES — Ren Bishop is one of many American drivers who texts, tweets and talks on her cellphone while she’s behind the wheel — and thinks it should be up to drivers to use their discretion when it comes to safety.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mary Ann Lahann was inching past the Bay Bridge toll plaza when ... wham! Rear-ended by a driver with her head down, texting away.

It's no surprise to the 51-year-old engineer from Carmichael that cell phone use and texting now rank as the biggest safety worry on our roads, according to a survey released Thursday by the state Office of Traffic Safety. Motorists consider phone use more dangerous than speeders, tailgaters or drunken drivers.

LOS ANGELES -- A Florida man was charged with hacking into celebrity email accounts in a computer invasion scheme that led to the posting of private and revealing information, including nude photos of actress Scarlett Johansson, on the Internet, federal authorities said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES -- For 18 months, the suspect in the shooting death of a teenager in a Los Angeles parking lot evaded police. Even after federal marshals hunted him down in Puerto Rico, Zareh Manjikian managed to bail out and flee again.

He hopped a flight out of the island territory by using his older brother's ID and assuming his identity, authorities said. He flew to Philadelphia, then Las Vegas, eluding authorities who seemed to be hot on his trail but always a day or two late.

The intercontinental manhunt led by the FBI came to an abrupt and surprising end Thursday when Manjikian, 23, voluntarily showed up at a Los Angeles courthouse, cleaned up and in a pressed shirt, his attorney in tow. He even gave an interview to a TV news reporter before making his way inside the courthouse, where a bailiff cuffed him and took him into custody.

LONDON -- In a stunning retreat, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire dropped its bid Wednesday to take over full control of British Sky Broadcasting amid a political and legal firestorm over phone hacking at one of its British newspapers.

UK police appeal for patience in hacking probe

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LONDON (AP) -- The police officer in charge of Britain's burgeoning phone hacking probe has appealed to the public for patience as authorities contact thousands of potential victims.