BAYONNE, France (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy took refuge from a crowd of several hundred angry protesters in a cafe, as riot police swarmed in to protect him while he campaigned in the country's southwest Basque country.Riot police surrounded the Bar du Palais in central Bayonne where Sa

March 2, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) ― Israel’s prime minister sets off this week on a U.S. visit clouded by a deepening rift with Washington, which is pressing Israel to hold off on any attack against Iran’s suspect nuclear program.Although Israel says it hasn’t decided whether to strike, it has signaled readiness to do so ― a move that would have deep worldwide implications.Senior Israeli officials say Israel would have to act by summer in order to be effective. U.S. officials, wary that an Israeli strike could dri

March 1, 2012

HARRISBURG, Illinois (AFP) - A deadly string of tornadoes cut a swath of destruction across the US midwest, killing at least nine people and threatening scores more as a massive storm pushed eastward Wednesday.Homes were smashed to bits, cars were tossed into lakes, huge trees were torn from ground

March 1, 2012

Students and faculty at Harvard University are calling on the school to award posthumous degrees to seven students expelled nearly a century ago for being gay or perceived as gay, and they're timing a rally for their cause to coincide with a visit by Lady Gaga.But Harvard says it doesn't award posth

Feb. 29, 2012

Clashes left a dozen people dead in a region of northwestern China that sees periodic violence between Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese, with the latest unrest flaring at a sensitive time just ahead of the national legislature.The bloodshed late Tuesday in the Xinjiang region's Yecheng county

Feb. 29, 2012

 A wounded British photographer who had been trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Homs was spirited safely into Lebanon on Tuesday in a risky journey that killed 13 rebels who helped him escape the relentless shelling and gunfire.A Syrian diplomat stormed out of an emergency U.N. meeting amid renewed calls for a cease-fire to deliver humanitarian aid. A top human rights official said a U.N. panel‘s report concluded that members of the Damascus regime were responsible for "crimes against humani

Feb. 29, 2012

At least one teacher at a Florida elementary school says feeding a "special brain snack" to students preparing to take an exam is a "dirty trick."Hagan Road Elementary School in Boynton Beach is feeding a "special brain snack," labeled the "FCAT power bar," to students preparing to take the Florida

Feb. 29, 2012

PARIS (AFP) ― France’s top court ruled Tuesday that a law backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy to punish denial of the Armenian genocide was unconstitutional as it infringed on freedom of expression.Turkey welcomed the ruling but Sarkozy, whose right-wing party had put forward the bill, swiftly vowed to draft a new version of the law that plunged France’s relations with Turkey into crisis.Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in a 1915-16 genocide by Turkey’s former Ottom

Feb. 29, 2012

A worst-case scenario sketched out by the Japanese government foresaw the end of Tokyo in a chain of nuclear explosions that would mean evacuating the city, an independent panel said Tuesday. Plans were drawn up for the mass withdrawal from the capital as at least one senior minister fretted that meltdowns at Fukushima might spark crises at reactors all along the coast and engulf the city of 13 million people.The revelations came in a 400-page report published by a panel of experts who were give

Feb. 29, 2012

A Chinese woman who delayed seeing a doctor for a work injury to avoid losing a $95 bonus for good attendance died of a brain hemorrhage, local media reported.Du Juan, 23, an assembly line worker, had suffered serious injuries when she hit her head on a bathroom door at her Belton Co. workplace in S

Feb. 29, 2012

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) ― A teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at his suburban high school Monday, killing one student and wounding four others before he was chased from the building by a teacher and captured a short distance away, authorities said.A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that the one who was killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.FBI officials would not comment on a moti

Feb. 28, 2012

SANAA (AP) ― Aides to Ali Abdullah Saleh said Monday that the ousted Yemeni president plans to go into exile in Ethiopia, as pressures mounted on him to depart the country for fear of sparking new cycles of violence.The news that the longtime Yemeni leader might leave to Ethiopia marks the latest twist in the meandering story of Saleh’s fall from grace.As rumors have circulated of Saleh seeking refuge in a myriad of countries including Oman, and the United Arab Emirates where some of his family

Feb. 28, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― NASA said Monday it is not giving up on Mars, but it will have to get there later and at a lower price.President Barack Obama’s budget announced this month canceled joint U.S.-European robotic missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018. Now top science officials say they are scrambling to come up with a plan by the end of the summer for a cut-rate journey to the red planet in 2018.NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld said he thinks there is a better than even chance that NASA will not mis

Feb. 28, 2012