The 6-year-old daughter of the late Anna Nicole Smith is walking in her mother's shoes, taking a starring role in the spring ad campaign for Guess Kids.
Guess? Inc.'s creative director Paul Marciano says in a statement that Dannielynn Birkhead has the "same playful spirit" that her mother would carry onto a set.
PARIS (AP) -- France's former first lady Carla Bruni says she disagrees with her conservative husband Nicolas Sarkozy and supports a plan to allow gay marriage and adoption.
In an interview with the French edition of Vogue for its December issue, the 44-year-old singer and supermodel said: "I'm rather in favor because I have a lot of friends - men and women - who are in this situation and I see nothing unstable or perverse in families with gay parents."
France's Socialists are pushing a bill that could see gay marriage legalized early next year. Though surveys have found that the majority of French people favor gay marriage, there has been a vocal backlash from religious leaders, voters in rural areas and ex-President Sarkozy's own UMP party.
LONDON (AP) -- Concerns that European finance ministers will again fail to reach an agreement on handing over more bailout cash to Greece weighed on markets Monday.
Following last week's bout of optimism, which sent a number of stock indexes up to near 2012 highs and the euro back towards $1.30, some investors were expected to cash in on the gains.
Doubts that European ministers will fail again to agree on a deal for Greece encouraged investors to sell, as did election results in the Spanish region of Catalonia that saw separatists gain ground.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 stock index fell 0.6 percent to close at 5,786.72 while Germany's DAX fell 0.2 percent to 7,292.03. The CAC-40 in France dropped 0.8 percent to 3,500.94.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When the next Congress cranks up in January, there will be more women, many new faces and 11 fewer tea party-backed House Republicans from the class of 2010 who sought a second term.
Overriding those changes, though, is a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties. Among those leaving are some of the Senate's most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House's centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.
That could leave the parties more polarized even as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders talk up the cooperation needed to tackle complex, vexing problems such as curbing deficits, revamping tax laws and culling savings from Medicare and other costly, popular programs.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Rory McIlroy made five straight birdies down the stretch to overtake Justin Rose and win the Dubai World Championship on Sunday, ending a historic year in which the 23-year-old Northern Irishman won the PGA Championship and the European and PGA tour money titles.
The top-ranked McIlroy recovered from early putting woes to finish at 6-under 66 for a total 23-under 265 at the season-ending tournament. Rose, who was tied for seventh after three rounds, surged down the stretch into contention after shooting a course-record 62 that included an eagle and eight birdies.
"I just wanted to finish the season the way I thought I deserved to finish the season," McIlroy said after holing a birdie on 18 and raising his arms in the air in celebration. "You know, I played so well throughout the year and I didn't want to just let it tail off sort of timidly. I wanted to come here and finish in style."
BANGKOK (AP) -- Protesters calling for Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down rallied in the heart of Bangkok on Saturday, clashing with police in the first major demonstration against the government since it came to power last year.
Organizers had spoken of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of supporters. But only around 10,000 turned up, and by dusk the leaders called the rally off.
Nevertheless, the tense gathering served as a reminder that the simmering political divisions unleashed after the nation's 2006 army coup have not gone away. The coup toppled Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, triggering years of instability and mass-protests that have shaken Bangkok.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The election may be over, but a new campaign is being waged in the nation's capital as lobbyists, advocates and trade groups fight to shape the government's response to the looming fiscal cliff.
It's a twist on the usual lobbying effort: Instead of digging for more tax dollars, they're trying to protect what they've got.
The tactics are familiar to voters who were swamped with TV commercials, newspaper ads and mailers in the frenzied months before Election Day. But this time, the effort is directed at politicians, not so much the public.
What do these groups want?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is criticizing its NATO ally Turkey for "extremely harsh" rhetoric in accusing Israel of terrorism in its current military operations in Gaza.
The State Department said Tuesday that such language is "not helpful" to efforts to end the conflict there. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that message had been delivered to Turkish officials within the past 24 hours.
CAIRO (AP) -- Gaza's ruling Hamas will not stop arming itself because only a strong arsenal, not negotiations, can extract concessions from Israel, the No. 2 in the Islamic militant group told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday.
The comments by Moussa Abu Marzouk, just three days after the worst bout of Israel-Hamas fighting in four years, signaled trouble ahead for Egyptian-brokered talks between the hostile neighbors on a new border deal.
Hamas demands that Israel and Egypt lift all restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Palestinian territory, which has been buckling under a border blockade since the Islamists seized the territory in 2007. The restrictions have been eased somewhat in recent years, but not enough to allow Gaza's battered economy to develop.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Ford is bringing its smallest engine to the U.S. in the race to meet stricter government fuel economy rules.
The company says the 2014 Fiesta will be the first North American vehicle to get Ford's new 1-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine when it goes on sale next year. The 1-liter has been sold in the European version of the Focus sedan since March.
Ford isn't releasing fuel economy numbers yet, but says the 1-liter Fiesta will be the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid available in the U.S. It should get well over 40 miles per gallon.
"This is truly a dynamo of an engine," says Bob Fascetti, Ford's director of global engine engineering.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The way the FBI responded to Jill Kelley's complaint about receiving harassing emails, which ultimately unraveled or scarred the careers of ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and Marine Gen. John Allen, is the exception, not the rule.
The FBI commonly declines to pursue cyberstalking cases without compelling evidence of serious or imminent harm to an individual, victims of online harassment, advocacy groups and computer crime experts told The Associated Press.
But in the sensational episode that uncovered the spy chief's adulterous affair, the FBI's cyberdivision devoted months of tedious investigative work to uncover who had sent insulting and anonymous messages about Kelley, the Florida socialite who was friendly with Petraeus and Allen - and friends with a veteran FBI counterterrorism agent in Tampa.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In his first trip abroad since the summer heat of the re-election campaign, President Barack Obama will seek to reinforce American influence in Southeast Asia in spite of the large shadow cast by China. He will become the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, an appreciation for its steps toward democratization, as well as Cambodia.
The four-day trip beginning Saturday will be the president's fourth to Asia. It comes amid unusual challenges at home, including opening discussions with lawmakers about dealing with the nation's fiscal health and a sex scandal that's roiling his national security team.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dell shares hit their lowest point in more than three and a half years Friday on concerns about its ability to quickly transition away from the declining PC market.
THE SPARK: Dell reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that were worse than expectations, even for investors who were braced for a dismal quarter.
Revenue dropped 11 percent to $13.72 billion, below the $13.89 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Net income fell 47 percent to $475 million, or 27 cents per share. Excluding certain expenses and accounting charges, adjusted earnings came to 39 cents per share, a penny below estimates.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Miners at Anglo American Platinum Ltd. operations in South Africa returned to work Thursday, ending a more than eight-week strike that crippled the world's largest platinum producer.
The arrival of workers at Anglo American Platinum's operations in Rustenburg, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, marked a waning of the crisis that has struck South Africa's mining industry in recent months.
But at the same time farm workers angered over their minimum daily wages launched a second day of violent protests in the nation's Western Cape, setting fires and marching through the countryside.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- FBI Special Agent Frederick Humphries II played a key role in investigating a terrorist attack aimed at blowing up Los Angeles International Airport just as the year 2000 dawned.
Today, the agent, who also fatally shot a knife-wielding man in 2010, finds himself in the middle of the scandal that has resulted in CIA Director David Petraeus' resignation.
Humphries, 47, was the agent who initially saw the emails the FBI said Petraeus' biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell, sent to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, a woman she apparently saw as a rival for Petraeus' affections. She also allegedly sent emails to Gen. John Allen, Kelley's friend and the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia outmuscled little green army men for a spot in the National Toy Hall of Fame. "Star Wars" action figures join centuries-old dominoes in the class of 2012, which was announced by the Rochester hall Thursday.
A national selection committee chose them from among 12 finalists, plucking the most ancient and most modern toys from the list.
"Star Wars" action figures went on the market in 1978, following the 1977 release of the 20th Century Fox movie. The 3 3/4-inch figures of Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and company were sold until 1985 and again from the mid-1990s to today.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal law enforcement official says that the ex-CIA director's biographer and lover sent emails to other senior military officials besides the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
The official characterizes the emails as an attempt to undermine the reputation of a Tampa socialite who was friendly with David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen.
The official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the case publicly, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The emails were traced to Paula Broadwell, the former CIA director's mistress.
AP.
DUBLIN (AP) -- Pressure mounted Thursday for the Irish government to draft a law spelling out when life-saving abortions can be performed - a demand that came after a pregnant woman who was denied an abortion died.
Activists protested Thursday night in Belfast a day after thousands rallied in London, Dublin, Cork and Galway in memory of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died a week after doctors said she was starting to miscarry her 17-week-old fetus.
Despite her rising pain, doctors refused her request for an abortion for three days because the fetus had a heartbeat. She died in the hospital from blood poisoning three days after the fetus died and was surgically removed.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One day after a bruising, mixed-verdict election, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner both pledged Wednesday to seek a compromise to avert looming spending cuts and tax increases that threaten to plunge the economy back into recession.
Added Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "Of course" an agreement is possible.
While all three men spoke in general terms, Boehner stressed that Republicans would be willing to accept higher tax revenue under the right conditions as part of a more sweeping attempt to reduce deficits and restore the economy to full health.
While the impending "fiscal cliff" dominates the postelection agenda, the president and Republicans have other concerns, too.
Five things to watch as voters have their say in the presidential race between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney:
1. WHO TURNS OUT? Not all votes are created equal. The presidential candidates have competed furiously for votes in well-established battlegrounds and among constituencies each finds the most favorable. A robust turnout among minorities would favor Obama's re-election; Romney needs to drive up his numbers among working-class white men, a group that has tilted his way in polls.
2. LATE RALLIES? Obama starts and ends his day in his hometown of Chicago. Romney is in Boston to vote in the morning and take in returns at night, but making a trip in between to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Will the late rush sway votes? Will Obama follow suit?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A measure of U.S. home prices jumped 5 percent in September compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase since July 2006. The gain reported by CoreLogic offered more evidence of a sustainable housing recovery.
The real estate data provider also said Tuesday that prices declined 0.3 percent in September from August, the first drop after six straight increases. The monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted. CoreLogic says the monthly decline reflects the end of the summer home-buying season and not a softening in the housing recovery.
Steady price increases should give the housing market more momentum when home sales pick up in the spring. Rising prices encourage more homeowners to sell their homes and entice would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Strong sales of its luxury cars in China helped Germany's BMW AG overcome weak markets in crisis-ridden Europe.
Net profit rose 16 percent in the third quarter to (EURO)1.29 billion ($1.65 billion) on a 13.7 percent jump in sales to a record (EURO)18.82 billion.
The Munich-based carmaker said Tuesday it was sticking to its forecasts for 2012 sales and earnings to be up on the previous year despite "an increasingly uncertain market environment."
CEO Norbert Reithofer called it a "good third quarter" but added that in the fourth quarter the company and the auto sector as a whole "are likely to be confronted with adverse business conditions."
NEW YORK (AP) -- Netflix is moving to protect itself against hostile takeovers, less than a week after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a stake of nearly 10 percent in the online video company.
Netflix Inc. said Monday that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan, also known as a poison pill. Such a plan is designed to make it difficult or even impossible for someone to take over the company without an agreement from the board. When the provision is triggered, additional shares flood the market and make it prohibitively expensive for a takeover.
Netflix said the provision is triggered if a person or group acquires 10 percent of Netflix, or 20 percent in the case of institutional investors, in a deal not approved by the board. The Los Gatos, Calif.-company said that its plan isn't intended to interfere with a board-approved transaction.