Denmark gets first female P.M. after left’s win

COPENHAGEN (AP) ― Denmark has elected its first female prime minister, ousting the right-wing government from power after 10 years of pro-market reforms and ever-stricter controls on immigration.Near complete official results showed Thursday that a left-leaning bloc led by Social Democrat Helle Thor

Sept. 16, 2011

Berlusconi might face new trial

ROME (AP) ― Already facing criticism over Italy’s financial crisis and engulfed in a sex scandal, Premier Silvio Berlusconi might face another trial in Milan.The latest storm surrounding Berlusconi centers on a 2005 banking scandal. A Milan judge said Thursday that Berlusconi has pushed for the publ

Sept. 16, 2011

Grandparents with webcam become new online stars

 McMINNVILLE, Oregon (AP) -- It slowly began to dawn on Esther and Bruce Huffman that perhaps they were being filmed.”Warning,” the gray-haired, bespectacled grandmother reads off the screen. “You must stop recording before trying to close cyber link.”Pause. “Maybe this recorded us,” says the n

Sept. 16, 2011

Denmark to get 1st female PM after left wins vote

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- Denmark has elected its first female prime minister, ousting the right-wing government from power after 10 years of pro-market reforms and ever-stricter controls on immigration. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leader of the Danish Social Democrats and likely to be new prime minis

Sept. 16, 2011

Future NASA rocket to be most powerful ever

WASHINGTON (AP) ― To soar far away from Earth and even on to Mars, NASA has dreamed up the world’s most powerful rocket, a behemoth that borrows from the workhorse liquid-fuel rockets that sent Apollo missions into space four decades ago.But with a price tag that some estimate at $35 billion, it may

Sept. 15, 2011

U.S. hikers could be freed soon: Iran

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran’s president predicted Tuesday that two Americans arrested while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border and sentenced to eight years in jail on espionage-related charges could be freed “in a couple of days” after a court set bail of $500,000 each.The events appeared timed to boost the i

Sept. 14, 2011

Attack on U.S. Embassy, NATO HQ in Kabul

KABUL (AP) ― Teams of insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons struck at the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters and other buildings in the heart of the Afghan capital Tuesday and Wednesday, raising fresh doubts about the Afghans’ ability to secure their nation as U.S. and other

Sept. 14, 2011

Axe-wielding man kills two children, four adults in China

BEIJING (AFP) - A farmer with mental health problems killed six people, two of them children, with an axe as they made their way to a kindergarten in China Wednesday, the local government and media reports said.The incident is the latest in a series of violent assaults on children involving people w

Sept. 14, 2011

Abuse victims seek int‘l court case against pope

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Clergy sex abuse victims upset that no high-ranking Roman Catholic leaders have been prosecuted for sheltering guilty priests have turned to the International Criminal Court, seeking an investigation of the pope and top Vatican cardinals for possible crimes agains

Sept. 14, 2011

Korean women use invention to overcome barriers

Creative housewives discover that they can be successful in the business worldLee Bok-hui used to wonder what happened to all the leftover stones she saw lying around construction sites. Now she knows exactly where a percentage of those leftovers go ― into an eco-friendly sheeting-material used to r

Sept. 13, 2011