By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) – Japanese stocks turned negative on Friday and the yen reversed early losses, keeping intact worries that the Nikkei's largest one-day drop in two years may be the start of a bigger rout. In a sign that many are still spooked by Thursday's eye-watering 7.3 percent Nikkei drop, share markets elsewhere in Asia extended their decline to a fresh one-month low. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.6 percent, extending Thursday's 2.2 percent fall. Australian shares underperformed the region, falling 1.9 percent. “There's a lot of …

Read more here: Asian stocks shaky, Nikkei still seen vulnerable

Police say actress Amanda Bynes has been arrested in midtown Manhattan after she heaved a marijuana bong out of a window.

Read more here: Actress Bynes arrested in NYC on marijuana charge

An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping several vehicles into the water as authorities investigated the cause of the collapse that cut off the state's main north-south thruway and sent three people to the hospital.

Read more here: No fatalities in I-5 bridge collapse in NW Wash.

An earthquake has struck Northern California’s Plumas County with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7.

Read more here: 5.7-magnitude earthquake shakes Northern Calif

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top leaders are defending the economic strategies championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though the central bank chief acknowledged a need for better communication with financial markets, a day after Tokyo shares suffered their worst loss since the 2011 tsunami disaster.

Read more here: Japan's PM Abe defends policies as markets settle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools in Newtown, Conn., will receive $1.3 million in federal aid to recover after the shootings that left 26 students and educators dead last year.

Read more here: Education Department giving Newtown $1.3 million

Patent trolls’ days of effortlessly rolling into court and collecting licensing fees for products they don’t produce may be coming to an end. The Washington Post reports that courts have been increasingly citing the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case Parker v. Flook, which is the strongest ruling that the court has ever made against patents for abstract ideas such as algorithms. Given that courts are applying the Parker v. Flook precedent more often in software patent cases, it seems that courts are starting to reassert control over what can and cannot be patented. The Post acknowledges that “not every citation of Flook means that a patent was invalidated” but says that “it’s at least a sign that the courts are

Read more here: Recent rulings show tide may be turning against patent trolls

An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.

Read more here: I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash.; people in water

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — At one bar, a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water — and apparently not even clean water at that.

Read more here: NJ: Caramel-colored rubbing alcohol sold as scotch

DETROIT (AP) — Jakub Kindl scored on a power play in the second period, Daniel Cleary had an empty-net goal and Jimmy Howard made 27 saves to help the Detroit Red Wings hold on for a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night, putting the NHL's best team during the regular season on the brink of elimination.

Read more here: Red Wings top Blackhawks 2-0, take 3-1 series lead