WORCESTER - Police said they followed a trail of blood that led them from a stabbing victim to her alleged assailant.

The Piccadilly Pub restaurant chain apparently closed a number of its restaurants today.

A Canadian program that collects personal information from prostitutes to help identify them if they are killed is getting a cool reception in Worcester.

WASHINGTON - Specialists are pushing for the first National Alzheimer's Plan to help overcome barriers to early detection, urging what's called dementia-capable primary care, more screenings for warning signs and regular checks of caregivers' own physical and mental health.

GARDNER - An Orange hunter and his father are facing charges in the shooting death of a bear in September in Royalston, including a charge of illegally baiting the animal.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step today toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel promptly warned would close the door to any future peace talks.

WORCESTER - A woman was shot near a Main South supermarket just before 7 tonight, according to police radio reports.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Sensing a possible threat, Mitt Romney criticized Rick Santorum's time in the Senate as "not effective" because of his past support for spending on pork-barrel projects as he worked to fend off an unexpected challenge in the next states to vote.

GRAHAM, Wash. - Josh Powell planned the deadly house fire that killed him and his young sons for some time, dropping toys at charities and sending final emails to multiple acquaintances before the blaze, authorities said today.

NORTHBORO - State police are advising that several brush fires along Interstate 290 East have prompted some ramp closures.

WASHINGTON - Targeting Iran's economy, the U.S. ordered tough new penalties today to further pinch the country's financial system and encourage Israel to give sanctions more time before any military action against Iran's nuclear program.

BEIRUT - The U.S. closed its embassy in Syria and Britain recalled its ambassador to Damascus today in a new Western push to get President Bashar Assad to leave power and halt the murderous grind in Syria and#8212; now among the deadliest conflicts of the Arab Spring.

WORCESTER - City Clerk David J. Rushford says fatigue among those who worked the marathon School Committee election recount was an underlying factor as to why some candidates ended up with fewer votes than their original vote totals, which were tallied by machines.

WORCESTER - Three of Central Massachusetts' largest and best-known road races will be strung together as an annual race series, local racing officials announced this morning.

Less than two weeks after his release from custody prompted police to criticize the judge who set his bail, shooting suspect Hector Pineiro was back behind bars today, accused of leaving his house without authorization.

BOSTON - Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has left the federal prison in Kentucky where he's been held since last fall, but it's unclear where he is headed or if the move is permanent.

WORCESTER - Former Northbridge Police Officer Joshua A. Nadeau, accused of drunken driving, rejected a possible plea deal today in Central District Court after hearing Judge Michael G. Allard-Madaus' recommendation that he spend a year in jail. He decided to take his chances with a jury. His trial is scheduled for March 22.

WORCESTER - An Illinois-based national sorority, which was turned away last year in its bid to convert a home on Massachusetts Avenue into a sorority house for Worcester Polytechnic Institute students, has found a potential new home in the city.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration closed the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Monday and pulled all American diplomats out of violence-wracked Syria as the U.S. stepped up pressure on President Bashar Assad to leave power.

AMHERST - Fourteen people have been arrested during a post-Super Bowl disturbance at the University of Massachusetts that took police in riot gear and smoke bombs to break up.