Syrian group claims role in newspaper hacking

Israeli Settlement protests

May 18, 2013 4:00 am

A Palestinian hurls stones Friday at Israeli forces, not pictured, as tear gas fumes swirl in the background, during a protest against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Ofra outside the village of Deir Jarir near Ramallah, West Bank.....MORE

Today in History

May 18, 2013 4:00 am

It’s Saturday, May 18, the 138th day of 2013. There are 227 days left in the year. Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Jack Whitaker is 89. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Brooks Robinson is 76. Bluegrass singer-musician Rodney Dillard (The Dillards) is 71.....MORE

World Briefing

May 18, 2013 4:00 am

Iraq bombings — At least 66 people were killed in bomb blasts in Iraq on Friday, officials said, making it one of the bloodiest days this year as the country struggles to contain spiraling sectarian violence. Two bombs exploded in Baqouba, the ....MORE

Russia sends missiles to Syria

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

Russia has shipped an advanced anti-ship cruise missile to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar Assad, U. S. officials said Thursday. Russia has previously provided Yakhont missiles, ....MORE

Bombing blamed on wars

• Younger suspect left ‘deathbed’ note in boat, officials say

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

As police and federal agents pursued him in a Boston suburb four days after the marathon bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left a “deathbed" note scrawled inside the hull of the boat where he was hiding that said the attack was retribution for wars....MORE

Editor's choice

The strange case of an alleged spy

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

ST. LOUIS-The freshman-year roommates at Colgate University would talk about what they hoped to do after college. They were just 18 or 19, their paths barely formed. But they had some ideas. One wanted to be a lawyer. Another, a music producer. And....MORE

World Briefing

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

Jodi Arias trial — Jurors deciding the fate of Jodi Arias, who murdered her one-time lover in 2008, were brought to tears Thursday by statements from the victim's family. “The nature of my brother's murder has had a major impact on me,"....MORE

Birthdays History

Today

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

— From wire reportsIt’s Friday, May 17, the 137th day of 2013. There are 228 days left in the year. Highlight: In 1973, a special committee convened by the U. S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal. In 1510, Early ....MORE

Emails show jostling over Benghazi talking points

May 16, 2013 4:00 am

WASHINGTON — One hundred pages of emails released by the White House on Wednesday reveal intensive jostling among top intelligence and diplomatic officials over the government’s “talking points" in the aftermath of....MORE

World Briefing

May 16, 2013 4:00 am

Texas tornadoes — Officials say at least six people were killed when a spring tornado outbreak devastated parts of North Texas, destroying or damaging dozens of homes and injuring dozens of people. Cambodia factory deaths — The ceiling of ....MORE

Eurozone politics prevent big action

May 16, 2013 4:00 am

PARIS — The eurozone economy shrank for a record sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of the year, according to data released Wednesday. But when European heads of state meet next week in Brussels, don’t look for any big....MORE

Birthdays History

Today

May 16, 2013 4:00 am

— From wire reportsActor Pierce Brosnan is 60. Singer Janet Jackson is 47. Political correspondent Tucker Carlson is 44. Actress Tori Spelling is 40. Actress Megan Fox is 27. It’s Thursday, May 16, the 136th day of 2013. There are 229....MORE

2 new diseases could both spark global outbreaks

May 16, 2013 4:00 am

LONDON — Two respiratory viruses in different parts of the world have captured the attention of global health officials — a novel coronavirus in the Middle East and a new bird flu spreading in China. Last week, the coronavirus related to....MORE

Looking ahead: unmanned aircraft

Navy drone, in a first, is catapulted from an aircraft carrier into flight

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

For the first time in naval aviation history, a drone was catapulted off the deck of an aircraft carrier and soared into flight. The U. S. Navy conducted the test Tuesday from aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Virginia coast with its X-47B ....MORE

In focus: Syria conflict

‘How can we reach ... forgiveness?’ Grisly killings dim hope for talks

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

BEIRUT — After dragging 46 bodies from the streets near his hometown on the Syrian coast, Omar lost count. For four days, he said, he could not eat, remembering the burned body of a baby just a few months old; a fetus ripped from a....MORE

World Briefing

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

Russia expulsion — A U. S. diplomat was ordered Tuesday to leave the country after the Kremlin’s security services said he tried to recruit a Russian agent, and they displayed tradecraft tools that seemed straight from a cheap spy....MORE

Authorities raid oil companies

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

Authorities have raided the offices of several oil companies and an industry service provider as part of a broader inquiry by the European Commission into potential price manipulation. On Thursday, investigators descended on some European offices of....MORE

Birthdays History

Today

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

Highlight: In 1863, Edouard Manet’s painting “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe" (The Lunch on the Grass) went on display in Paris, scandalizing viewers with its depiction of a nude woman seated on the ground with two fully dressed men at a....MORE

Research

Engineering a $325,000 burger

May 15, 2013 4:00 am

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands — As a gastronomic delicacy, the 5-ounce hamburger that Mark Post has painstakingly created here surely will not turn any heads. But Post is hoping that it will change some minds. The hamburger, assembled from tiny bits....MORE

In focus: Latin America

Honduran police accused of serving as death squads

May 14, 2013 4:00 am

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — At least five times in the last few months, members of a Honduras street gang were killed or went missing just after run-ins with the U. S.-supported national police, The Associated Press has determined, feeding....MORE

Nation & world

May 14, 2013 4:00 am

Colorado theater shooting — Lawyers for Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes formally told a judge on Monday that he wants to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity after outside experts diagnosed his mental illness. The ....MORE

Safety measures in Bangladesh

May 14, 2013 4:00 am

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Birthdays, History

Today

May 14, 2013 4:00 am

It’s Tuesday, May 14, the 134th day of 2013. There are 231 days left in the year. HistoryHighlight: In 1973, the United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. (Skylab 1 remained in orbit for six years before burning up during ....MORE

Nation & world

May 13, 2013 4:00 am

Missing women — The three women allegedly imprisoned and sexually abused for years inside a padlocked Cleveland house asked for privacy Sunday, saying through an attorney that while they are grateful for overwhelming support, they also need....MORE

Today

May 13, 2013 4:00 am

It’s Monday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2013. There are 232 days left in the year. HistoryHighlight: In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca. In 1607, English....MORE

Nation & world

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

Declaring victory in Pakistan — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared victory following a historic election marred by violence Saturday, as partial vote counts showed his party with an overwhelming lead. If his victory is....MORE

Need to know

Shaking up Iran’s election

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

TEHRAN, Iran — Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, submitted their official paperwork to succeed the firebrand Iranian....MORE

Birthdays, Happenings, History

Today

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

It’s Sunday, May 12, the 132nd day of 2013. There are 233 days left in the year. HappeningsBenghazi — This subject will dominate the Sunday political shows, with last week’s hearing on the 2012 Libya attack, as well as the Syrian....MORE

In focus: Global Culture

In China, it’s down with Marxism, up with feng shui

May 11, 2013 4:00 am

ZOUMAJIE, China — Outraged peasants protesting land grabs. Jilted mistresses plotting revenge. Provincial investigators seeking out graft. For top officials at the local land resources bureau beleaguered by these and other headaches, there....MORE

Clash at Israel’s Western Wall

May 11, 2013 4:00 am

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men protest as members of Women of the Wall pray Friday near the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews flooded the Western Wall early Friday morning, creating a tense standoff with a pluralistic group of....MORE

Benghazi email reveals shaping of U.S. message

May 11, 2013 4:00 am

WASHINGTON — A long-simmering dispute over the White House’s account of the deadly assault on the U. S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, flared up on Friday, with a disclosure of emails that show the White House was more deeply....MORE

World Briefing

May 11, 2013 4:00 am

Texas plant explosion — Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, after weeks of largely treating the blast as an industrial....MORE

Today in History

May 11, 2013 4:00 am

It’s Saturday, May 11, the 131st day of 2013. There are 234 days left in the year. Highlight: In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the “Pentagon Papers" case came to an end as Judge William Byrne dismissed....MORE

Russia’s Annual military parade

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

Russian tanks move along Red Square during a Victory Day parade on Thursday. Russia’s most important secular holiday, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany 68 years ago, honors the huge military and civilian losses of World War II and shows off....MORE

Cutting Edge

Exoskeletons may let some walk again

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

The first kick of the 2014 FIFA World Cup may be delivered in Sao Paulo next June by a Brazilian who is paralyzed from the waist down. If all goes according to plan, the teenager will walk onto the field, cock back a foot and swing at the soccer....MORE

Bangladesh death toll tops 1,000

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

DHAKA, Bangladesh — The death toll from a garment factory building that collapsed more than two weeks ago outside the Bangladeshi capital soared past 1,000 on Friday, while the list of the dead from a fresh fire at a sweater manufacturer....MORE

USAID loses shine for foreign leaders

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

WASHINGTON — When Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the U. S. Agency for International Development from his impoverished country last week, he complained that Washington “still has a mentality of domination and submission" in the....MORE

History Birthdays

Today

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

Highlight: In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia, a complication resulting from being hit by friendly fire eight days earlier during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. In 1774,....MORE

World Briefing

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

Bombing suspect’s body — The body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was entombed in an unknown gravesite Thursday after police said an anonymous person stepped forward to help arrange the secret burial. The burial....MORE

Aristide draws a crowd in Haiti

May 9, 2013 4:00 am

A police officer uses his baton to beat back supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who gathered outside the courthouse where Aristide arrived earlier in the day Wednesday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The two-time president....MORE