SIOUX CITY, Iowa – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plans to endorse Mitt Romney's presidential bid.
A Republican with knowledge of the endorsement disclosed the plan ahead of the official announcement on condition of anonymity.
Haley is a rising star within the GOP and her endorsement in the first-in-the South primary state has been sought by many other presidential contenders.
Romney plans to fly to South Carolina on Friday afternoon.
Politico first reported the Haley endorsement.

(Reuters) – The Atlanta Falcons had little difficulty dispatching the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars 41-14 at the Georgia Dome on Thursday to keep their pursuit of a playoff place on track.

The Falcons improved to 9-5 and moved ahead of the Detroit Lions in the hunt for an NFC post-season spot, while the Jaguars fell to 4-10.

Jacksonville's rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert had a miserable game and gave up two fumbles, both of them forced by John Abraham, which Atlanta converted into 10 points, including a 13-yard return for a touchdown by Corey Peters early in the third that stretched the Falcons lead to 34-0.

Abraham also had three-and-a-half sacks to lead the Falcons defense that allowed just 207 total yards.

"This is a game I felt like I could do something," Abraham told reporters after being critical of his own performance against the Carolina Panthers last week.

"Last week missing three sacks against Cam (Newton), if that was a regular quarterback those would have been sacks. He did a great job of breaking tackles and getting away. I said this week, if I get that opportunity, I'm getting the guy down."

Julio Jones scored on a 29-yard reception on the Falcons opening drive and after a Matt Bryant field goal, Michael Turner extended Atlanta's lead to 17-0 on a five-yard run early in the second quarter.

Receiver Roddy White caught 10 passes for 135 yards and two scores.

Zach Potter returned a blocked punt 46 yards to score Jacksonville's first touchdown late in the third quarter and Chastin West added another in the final minute of the game.

"A game like that is going to test your character," Jaguars interim coach Mel Tucker said after the loss. "It's going to reveal character. It's how you respond to it."

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Patrick Johnston. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

LAKELAND, Fla. – A couple who romanticized and lived a modern-day adventure by riding railroad cars across the U.S. were killed when a train dumped its load of coal at a Florida power plant.
Ever since Christopher Artes was a teenager in suburban Maryland, he had an illegal and dangerous kind of wanderlust — hitching rides on trains. Over the summer, he fell in love with Medeana Hendershot, who shared his passion. They traveled from Georgia to Chicago, then back to Tennessee, with Artes sending his mother pictures along the way. The wanted to spend winter in Florida because it was warm.
"If he had to die so young, at least he died at a moment where he was on top of the world," said Susan Artes, Christopher's mother.
Artes, 25, and Hendershot, 22, were found Sunday in coal by power plant workers. It's not clear exactly when or how they died.
Sometime over the weekend, the train pulled into the city of Lakeland's power plant in Central Florida. As the railcars arrive, the bottom opens and cars drop coal several stories below onto a waiting truck.
Officials were not sure if the couple was sitting on top of the coal or were riding in an empty car and dropped onto a mound of coal, then hit or buried by another load.
Artes died from asphyxiation, meaning he was likely buried alive. Hendershot died from blunt force trauma to the mid-section, so she could have been hurt falling or by coal falling on her.
Artes was adopted when he was 5 days old. Growing up, he had dyslexia and other learning disorders, but he was a sweet boy, his mother said. He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder but didn't like taking his medication. He used drugs and drank, but his mother said he had been clean in recent months.
In high school, he embraced the punk rock scene and met some "traveler kids," his mother said. He started to dress in black and had a lot of different hair styles and colors. It was then he began climbing aboard freight trains for short trips, either to get around, or for the experience. This summer, with his girlfriend, he embarked on his longest trip yet, with no set plans other than the adventure. The couple wanted to stay in Florida, then return to Maryland for a visit with his family in the spring.
"I don't recommend it and I encourage people not to do it," said Kevin Rice, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., who writes about his train hopping adventures from 20 years ago on his website.
Rice listed the dangers of riding the rails: falling off the car, getting robbed by a vagrant, being jolted or crushed when the train's slack lessens.
"It was a great deal of fun and adventure but we could have gotten killed," said Rice, now 43. He said he has heard of many different freight-hopping deaths, but nothing like the case of Artes and Hendershot.
Since the invention of the railroad, people have sought travel and wander along the tracks. During the Great Depression, people jumped aboard to look for work or because it was the best way to get to another town. But unlike the Depression, modern-day riders have the advantage of cellphones. Artes called his mom three times a week.
He would sometimes ask her to look up directions on the Internet for truck stops, grocery stores and other places while he was on the road.
Artes' mother said her son had a train-hopping manual, but it was stolen at some point.
She described her son as naive and trusting. When he and Hendershot were in Miami several weeks ago, a trucker with whom they had caught a ride with stole Artes' backpack.
"We were always worried about him. He always made so many bad decisions," she said. "If he got an idea and something looked good to him, he would do it. He was always jumping into situations. This particular train was one of them. I'm sure they thought the train would go from one yard to another."
Hendershot's family couldn't be located for comment.

The last time Artes spoke with his mother was last Saturday. He had been up north. He told his mother he was in Georgia on his way to Florida because the weather up north was too cold.

His funeral will likely be next week in Maryland.

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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush.

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Online:

Rice's website: http://freightyard.net.

LOS ANGELES – Police said they have arrested a man in relation to a Thursday afternoon shooting outside the Chinese Consulate building in downtown Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a protester fired nine shots at a security guard at about 2:15 p.m., but only hit the building. The man, whose name wasn't released, turned himself in about three hours later, Officer Gregory Baek said.
A group demonstrating against human rights abuses in China had gathered outside the consulate earlier Thursday. One protester argued with a security guard after the guard allegedly took a sign and threw it in the trash. The protester then got into a vehicle and allegedly opened fire.
The security guard, Cipriano Gutierrez, told KCAL-9 television that there were about 20 people inside the consulate when the man fired at the building.
"I hit the ground and I was praying," Gutierrez told KCAL. "I grabbed phone books and put them over my head. A bullet came in the room right next to my knee. I thought I was going to die."
No injuries were reported.
A call to the consulate office wasn't immediately answered.

(Reuters) – The death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October, may have been a war crime, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday.

"I think the way in which Mr Gaddafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.

"I think that's a very important issue," he said. "We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."

Under pressure from Western allies, Libya's National Transitional Council has promised to investigate how Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were killed.

Mobile phone footage showed both alive after their capture. The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials said was crossfire.

The U.N. Security Council referred Gaddafi's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators to the ICC in February and authorized military intervention to protect civilians in March. The ICC indicted Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the former intelligence chief for war crimes.

Saif al-Islam is now in the custody of the Libyan authorities who have said they plan to try in him in Libya instead of handing him over to The Hague-based ICC. Moreno-Ocampo has said this was possible.

Moreno-Ocampo has also said he was investigating allegations that the anti-Gaddafi forces and NATO were also guilty of war crimes during the civil war.

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; editing by Christopher Wilson)