Once deeply vulnerable, President Barack Obama has seen his fortunes take a dramatic turn for the better as the Republican Party splits between its historic business-friendly establishment and the powerful tug of more conservative and social issues voters.Burdened throughout his term by the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Obama was expected to be hard pressed to hold on the White House in November.But eight months before Election Day, things have changed. T

March 5, 2012

Homes and buildings collapsed in the Congolese capital after an arms depot exploded Sunday, killing at least 206 people and entombing countless others in crushed structures including inside two churches that buckled while parishioners were celebrating Mass, officials and witnesses said. The shock wa

March 5, 2012

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Using Twitter and other social networks, some of the tens of thousands of volunteers monitoring Russia's polls Sunday posted evidence of alleged violations on the Internet and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote.Election officials denied any significant fraud in the preside

March 4, 2012

TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Loyalists of Iran's paramount clerical leader have won over 75 percent of seats inparliamentary elections, a near-complete count showed, largely reducing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a lame duck in a contest between conservative hardline factions.The outcome of Friday's

March 4, 2012

SZCZEKOCINY, Poland (AFP) -- Rescue workers Sunday combed the wreckage of a head-on train crash in southern Poland as the death toll climbed to 16, with scores wounded in the country's worst rail disaster since 1990."People from across Poland and citizens from other countries suffered in the ca

March 4, 2012

DUBLIN (AP) -- Somewhere in Ireland, a burglar has the heart of a saint.Officials at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin say they're distraught and perplexed over the theft of the church's most precious relic: the preserved heart of St. Laurence O'Toole.O'Toole was Dublin's archbishop from 1162 t

March 4, 2012

Libyan Islamists and independents on Saturday formed a new political party, electing as its leader a Muslim Brotherhood member who was a political prisoner under the regime of dead dictator Moammer Gadhafi.Mohammed Sawan, jailed for eight years under the ousted regime of Gadhafi who had outlawed political parties as an act of treason, was elected Justice and Construction party leader after a three-day conference in the capital.“I have real mixed feelings because I was imprisoned under Gadhafi fo

March 4, 2012

BEIJING (AP) ― China said Sunday that it would boost its defense spending by 11.2 percent in 2012, the latest in a nearly two-decade string of double-digit increases.Although the planned figure is less than last year’s 12.7 percent increase, China’s military leaders have said they are unhappy with recent moves by the Obama administration to increase the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Only twice since the early 1990s has the increase been less than double digits.National Peopl

March 4, 2012

China said Sunday that it would boost its defense spending by 11.2 percent in 2012, the latest in a nearly two-decade string of double-digit increases.Although the planned figure is less than last year's 12.7 percent increase, China's military leaders have said they are unhappy with recent moves by

March 4, 2012

Rescuers and residents searched house to house Saturday a day after tornadoes killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds, tearing across the US heartland and virtually wiping out communities.Even as stunned Americans grappled with the magnitude of the destruction brought by Friday's twisters, th

March 4, 2012

A Chinese village that rebelled against corrupt Communist leaders went to the polls Saturday in a contested election seen as a landmark for those seeking more democracy in the one-party state.The vote for the committee governing Wukan went ahead with official approval after a long campaign by local

March 4, 2012

BRUSSELS (AP) ― European Union leaders formally made Serbia a candidate for membership in the bloc, in a remarkable turnaround for a country considered a pariah just over a decade ago.Serbia had been widely expected to get EU candidacy in December after it captured two top war crimes suspects, but was disappointed when Germany delayed the move, saying it wanted to see more progress in talks with Kosovo.“We agreed tonight to grant Serbia the status of candidate country,” EU President Herman Van R

March 2, 2012

The floor of the world’s oldest forest, dating from 385 million years ago, has been discovered in a New York county, researchers say.The finding in Schoharie County could shed new light on the role of modern-day forests and their impact on climate change, they said.“It was like discovering the botan

March 2, 2012

CAIRO (AP) ― Seven Americans on trial over charges their pro-democracy groups fomented unrest flew out of Egypt on Thursday after the U.S. posted nearly $5 million in bail for them and nine others who managed to leave before a travel ban was imposed.The departure of the seven eased a deep diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Egypt that had been building for two months, following a crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights groups by the Egyptian government.Though the Americans were safely on

March 2, 2012

A British jury on Thursday found a couple guilty of torturing and murdering a 15-year-old boy whom they accused of witchcraft.Magalie Bamu and her partner Eric Bikubi, originally from Congo, were convicted of killing Magalie’s brother Kristy Bamu, who drowned in a bathtub on Christmas Day 2010.Prose

March 2, 2012