NEW ORLEANS - An oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. Coast Guard says the explosion occurred early Thursday, about 145 kilometers south of Vermilion Bay, along the coast of the southern state of Louisiana. The explosion set the production platform on fire, and it is reportedly still burning.
The Coast Guard says […]

JERUSALEM - Four Israelis were killed on Tuesday after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their vehicle on the West Bank.  The Islamist militant group Hamas says its military wing carried out the attack.  The attack came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepare to resume direct talks.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the gunman opened […]

WASHINGTON - This month, authorities ordered more than half a billion eggs off the shelves at American supermarkets due to fears of salmonella. More than 1,000 people have become sick after eating eggs contaminated with the disease-causing bacteria.
It’s one of the largest salmonella outbreaks ever recorded in the U.S., and the most recent in a […]

GENEVA - A UN Watchdog Group is urging France to stop the collective deportation of Roma, also known as Gypsies.  The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination calls collective expulsions a violation under international law.  The Committee monitors States’ implementation of the 1969 International Convention on the elimination of all Forms of Racial […]

ROME - Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi is on a three-day visit to the Italian capital to mark the second anniversary of a pact between the two countries that normalized relations and closed the painful chapter of Italian colonization.
Colonel Gaddafi has pitched a giant traditional Bedouin tent for his three-day visit to the Italian capital. […]

NEW ORLEANS - Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast.  Recovery from the massive storm has been a long and painful process.  Among recorded Atlantic Hurricanes, Katrina was one of the most powerful, ranking sixth all-time.  More than 1800 people were killed either during the storm’s landfall or in the floods […]

NEW ORLEANS - Both Republican and Democrat officials in Louisiana say the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, put in place after the BP oil spill, is now that state’s biggest problem.
 U.S. federal government officials and many environmental activists say the temporary ban on drilling is necessary to prevent further accidents. […]

SEOUL - A brass band played martial tunes under a tent in pouring rain at a civic event marking the date 100 years ago that Korea formally came under Japanese rule.
Many Asian historians say that was the result of an unfair treaty forced upon the Korean kingdom.
It turned out to be a brutal experience for […]

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has issued a high security alert for possible terror attacks, as the U.S. moves to formally end its combat mission in the next few days.
Mr. Maliki issued a statement Friday urging security forces and civilians to “exercise the highest degree of caution.”  He said a “criminal alliance” between […]

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticized a plan by U.S. President Barack Obama to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next July.
Mr. Karzai told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation Thursday that Mr. Obama’s July 2011 deadline for the start of a troop pullout has given insurgents a “morale boost.”
The chief of the U.S. Marine […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank will take further steps to boost the economy if conditions deteriorate.
The central bank chief spoke Friday to top economic officials from the United States and other nations, and leaders of major financial firms.
While Bernanke did not commit the Fed to a specific […]

SEOUL - A former U.S. president, on a rare and unofficial visit to North Korea, has secured the release of an American citizen imprisoned there. The trip also may have eased tensions on the Korean peninsula.
State media confirm former President Jimmy Carter left North Korea Friday with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was jailed in January […]

CAIRO - Egyptian officials have announced the site for the country’s first nuclear power plant, settling the controversy over its location.
A presidential spokesman said Wednesday the new plant will be located in el-Dabaa, an area northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.
Local business officials had criticized the government for considering el-Dabaa, saying a power plant […]

BAGHDAD - More than a dozen explosions have rocked several Iraqi cities, causing widespread damage and havoc.
Ambulances transported casualties from more than a dozen car-bombings across Iraq.  The worst day of violence in many months.  The magnitude of the coordinated attacks, killing and wounding dozens, caught Iraqi security forces off guard and left even war-weary […]

SEOUL - North Korea says former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has arrived in Pyongyang. He is there to try to gain the release of an American imprisoned for illegally entering the reclusive country.
Mr. Carter whose plane landed in Pyongyang Wednesday afternoon, was greeted by the country’s top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Gwan.  He hopes to […]

WASHINGTON - Housing sales in the United States dropped sharply in July, hitting their lowest level in 15 years.
Tuesday’s report from a business group, the National Association of Realtors, says the number of previously owned homes sold fell more than 27 percent from the previous month.
While sales were down, the average price for a home […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Agriculture Department official ousted last month over remarks she made about race has declined an offer to return to work at the agency.
Shirley Sherrod met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday.  He had offered her a position overseeing civil rights efforts in the agency.
During a press conference after the meeting, […]

JERUSALEM - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his faction will pull out of peace talks with the Israelis - set to resume next week - if Israel does not extend a freeze on construction in West Bank settlements that is set to expire September 26. 
The warning from the Palestinian leader came in letters to President […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military says it now has fewer than 50,000 troops in Iraq, as it closes in on an official end to combat operations.
In a statement Tuesday, the military said it had completed the drawdown ahead of an August 31 deadline set by President Barack Obama.
U.S. forces will shift to training Iraqi security […]

BEIJING - More than 127,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern China following severe flooding that has already claimed at least 1,400 lives this month.
China’s official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday that in Dandong city alone, located on the rain-swollen Yalu River which separates China from North Korea, more than 94,000 residents were evacuated amid […]

ISLAMABAD - Three weeks of flooding in Pakistan have left millions of people hungry, homeless, and angry at their government’s response to the crisis.
Islamic charities, some with suspected links to militant groups, have moved rapidly to provide relief to Pakistanis, already frustrated with their leaders’ record on security, poverty and chronic power shortages.
Pakistan officials are […]

WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq says Iran is fueling instability in neighboring Iraq by funding and training Shi’ite extremist groups in the country.
General Ray Odierno told CNN on Sunday that Iran does not want Iraq to become a strong democratic country. He said Iran would rather see Iraq become a “weak […]

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday issued a formal invitation to Israel and the Palestinians to re-commence direct peace negotiations early next month in Washington after a break of nearly two years. U.S. officials say a peace accord can be achieved within a year, and that the United States is ready if needed […]