Man's childhood comic collection fetches $3.5M

DALLAS (AP) _ The bulk of a man's childhood comic book collection that included many of the most prized issues ever published sold at auction Wednesday for about $3.5 million.A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which sold for 10 cents in 1939 and features the debut of Batman, got the top bid at the N

Feb. 23, 2012

Indonesia forces in stand-off after Bali jail riot

Indonesian forces backed by water cannons and armored vehicles were locked in a tense stand-off outside a prison on Bali island Thursday after rioting inmates took control for a second night.Ousted prison guards and some 400 heavily armed police and military spent the night massed outside the notorious Kerobokan prison, which holds more than 1,000 inmates, including 12 Australian drug mules.Security forces had stormed the overcrowded prison at dawn on Wednesday to wrest control after a night of

Feb. 23, 2012

African envoy Obasanjo meets opposition in tense Senegal

DAKAR (AFP) ― Africa’s top envoy met Senegal opposition leaders Wednesday in a bid to defuse tensions ahead of weekend elections as Dakar was on alert for more protests against President Abdoulaye Wade’s third term bid.The European Union weighed in with a call for all sides to halt violence and for a ban on street protests to be lifted, while France condemned security force violence against protesters.The United States also urged Senegal to respect the right to peaceful protest and to avoid the

Feb. 23, 2012

New Somalia

U.N. votes to increase African force in SomaliaUNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to authorize an increase in the African Union force in Somalia from 12,000 to about 17,700 and expand its areas of operation in an effort to intensify pressure on al-Shabab militants who recently joined al-Qaida.As part of its strategy to weaken al-Shabab, the council also ordered a ban on the export and import of charcoal from Somalia, calling the fuel ``a significant reve

Feb. 23, 2012

China‘s Xi pleases crowd, gives little away on tour

BEIJING (AFP) -- Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Thursday after a high-profile foreign tour that analysts say put a more human face on China‘s leader-in-waiting, but gave away little about his politics.Xi, who is all but certain to be China’s next president, attended a basketball game, cracked jokes and showed off his skills on the Gaelic football field during his visit to the United States, Ireland and Turkey.The 10-day trip -- Vice President Xi‘s most high-profile role yet on the diplomatic

Feb. 23, 2012

Shelling kills 2 Western journalists in Syria

Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist -- two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria."I watched a little baby die today," Marie Colvin told the BBC from the embattled city of Homs on Tuesday in one of her final reports."Absolutely horrific, a 2-year old child had been hit," a

Feb. 23, 2012

Argentine train slams into station, killing 49

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ A train packed with morning commuters slammed into a downtown station on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds as passenger cars crumpled and windows exploded around them. It was Argentina's worst train accident in decades.The cause wasn't immediately dete

Feb. 23, 2012

Syria shelling of Homs kills 2 journalists

BEIRUT (AP)--A French photojournalist and an American working for a British newspaper were killed Wednesday by Syrian government shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs, France's government said.Activists said at least two other Western journalists were injured in barrages that claimed at leas

Feb. 22, 2012

Authorities say 5 dead in U.S. spa shooting

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A U.S. man shot dead four people at a Korean spa outside Atlanta before turning the gun on himself in a grisly murder-suicide, police said early Wednesday.The Norcross Police Department said officers were called to the Su Jung Health Sauna at 8:41 p.m. Tuesday where they found three men and two women, all fatally wounded.“Preliminary investigation revealed that an Asian male entered (the) business and shot four of the victims and then shot himself,” it said in a statement.Fou

Feb. 22, 2012

U.S. softens stance on arms for Syria rebels

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Obama administration opened the door slightly Tuesday to international military assistance for Syria’s rebels, with officials saying new tactics may have to be explored if President Bashar Assad continues to defy pressure to halt a brutal crackdown on dissenters.In coordinated messages, the White House and State Department said they still hope for a political solution. But faced with the daily onslaught by the Assad regime against Syrian civilians, officials dropped the adm

Feb. 22, 2012

More than 100 killed in south Libya clashes

TRIPOLI (AFP) ― Fierce clashes between two tribes in Libya’s remote southeastern desert have killed more than 100 people over the past 10 days, tribal sources said on Tuesday.At least 113 people from the Toubu tribe and another 23 from the Zwai tribe have been killed in the town of Kufra since fighting erupted on February 12, the sources said.“We are under siege since a week. Since the start of the clashes, 113 people (from our side) have been killed, including six children,” Toubu chief Issa Ab

Feb. 22, 2012

Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn faces sex claims quiz

PARIS (AP) — Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be questioned Tuesday by French police investigating a suspected hotel prostitution ring.Police in the northern French city of Lille are probing a suspected prostitution ring in France and neighboring Belgium that has implicated police and other officials.Police have questioned prostitutes who said they had sex with Strauss-Kahn during 2010 and 2011 at a luxury hotel in Paris, a restaurant in the French capital and also in Washington D.C.

Feb. 21, 2012