
Japan approves joining int'l child abduction pact
Japan's parliament on Wednesday approved joining an international child custody treaty amid foreign pressure for Tokyo to address concerns that ...
Afghan students protest women's rights decree
Hard-line Islamist students protested Wednesday in the Afghan capital demanding the repeal of a presidential decree for women's rights that they say ...

Search for Okla. tornado survivors nearly complete
Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed ...
Ex-Ford execs charged in Argentine torture cases
Three former Ford Motor Co. executives were charged Tuesday with crimes against humanity for allegedly targeting Argentine union workers for ...
UN: Drop in Syrians reaching Jordan, unclear why
U.N. officials said Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan has suddenly fallen from an average of 2,500 a day to fewer than 20, ...

Sorrentino, Bruni Tedeschi bring Italy to Cannes
La dolce vita came to Cannes on Tuesday, thanks to a pair of films set in Italy exploring lives of affluent ennui. Paolo Sorrentino's "The Great ...

Fate of LA pot shops left to voters
Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick against ...

Making mentally ill defendants ready for trial
The judge ascended the bench. He looked down at cafeteria-style tables marked "Prosecuting Attorney" and "Defense Attorney." To his left, two men sat ...
French president signs gay marriage into law
France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President Francois Hollande signed a law Saturday authorizing marriage and adoption ...

Idaho man charged in Uzbekistan terrorism plot
He was a Russian-speaking truck driver who came to Idaho nearly four years ago to join hundreds of other Uzbekistan refugees for whom the state has ...

Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at age 87
Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow ...

Report: Torture evidence found in Syrian prisons
Rights activists visiting abandoned government prisons in the first Syrian city to come under rebel control have found torture devices and other ...

Michelle Obama speaks of 'hunger' for education
First lady Michelle Obama spoke passionately about the importance of education to the African-American community in a commencement address Friday, ...

Rights groups: Syria holds thousands incommunicado
About 30 security agents showed up just after midnight, breaking down the door to an apartment in the town of Daraya near the Syrian capital of ...
UN: 14 Iranian exiles moved from Iraq to Albania
The first exiles from an Iranian opposition group have moved to Albania from a camp near Baghdad as part of a relocation process, the United Nations ...
Prison treatment program for Idaho monkey killer
An Idaho man convicted of breaking into a Boise zoo last fall and brutally beating to death one of two Patas monkeys has been ordered to spend up to ...

SC slave cabin dismantled for Smithsonian display
As a cool sea breeze wafted across a 17th century South Carolina plantation that once grew prized sea island cotton, workers this week carefully ...
Obama planning June 3 mental health conference
President Barack Obama is planning a mental health conference next month in response to gun violence. Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and ...

Va. Tech president retires, reflects on massacre
The president of Virginia Tech announced his retirement Tuesday, satisfied he had elevated the university's reputation and acknowledging that the ...
Parents sue SC, hospital over child's sex surgery
A couple filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state of South Carolina for what they say was an unnecessary sexual assignment surgery performed on a ...

Gitmo prisoner: Obama has 'abandoned' detainees
A Guantanamo Bay detainee says he feels abandoned by President Barack Obama and the world after more than 10 years at the U.S. prison. "I believe that ...
Correction: Somaliland-Rapes story
In a story May 12 about rapes in a region of Somalia known as Somaliland, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Somaliland declared ...

Japanese mayor: Wartime sex slaves were necessary
An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to ...

Jags' Blackmon blames problems on poor decisions
Justin Blackmon pinned his problems on his decisions. Blackmon, suspended the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the NFL's ...

Huge drug cost disparities seen in health overhaul
Cancer patients could face high costs for medications under President Barack Obama's health care law, industry analysts and advocates warn. Where you ...