Diplomatic row during VP visit highlights Obama's failure to dim Israel's settlement ambitions

An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice-President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal. Biden's handshakes and embraces gave way to one of the strongest rebukes of Israel by a senior U.S. official in years after Israel's announcement during his visit that it plans to build 1,600 homes in disputed east Jerusalem. Israel apologized for the poor timing but is sticking to its plan to build the homes, enlarging one of the settlements that have impeded negotiations with Palestinians. - Read more...

Newborn elephant feeding, standing after 9-day labour and surprise live birth at Sydney zoo

SYDNEY, Australia - An elephant calf that was believed to have died during a nine-day labour is feeding itself and has earned the nickname "Mr. Shuffles" since learning to stand, Taronga Zoo officials said Thursday. Keepers said Tuesday that the calf had died during the difficult labour, which started March 1. But a live calf was born early Wednesday to mother Porntip. - Read more...

Church abuse scandal reaches pope's brother, threatens to throw papacy into turmoil

VATICAN CITY - Church abuse scandals in Germany have reached the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI and are creeping ever closer to the pontiff himself. While there has been no suggestion of wrongdoing by Benedict, the launch of an inquiry by German Catholic officials after his brother admitted he slapped children years ago is stirring Vatican fears of a major crisis for the papacy. - Read more...

Press group says 8 journalists kidnapped in Mexican border city; 1 dead, 2 released

MEXICO CITY - Eight journalists have been kidnapped in a Mexican border city in a two-week span in a wave of abductions unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere, the Inter-American Press Association said Wednesday. The press group said only three of the journalists kidnapped between Feb. 18 and March 3 in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, have reappeared alive. - Read more...

New law bars Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from elections

YANGON, Myanmar - A decision by Myanmar's military junta to bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from upcoming elections drew sharp criticism from around the world, with one of the country's Southeast Asian allies Thursday calling it "a complete farce." A new election law announced Wednesday prohibits anyone convicted of a crime - as Suu Kyi was in August - from being a member of a political party. That makes the detained democracy leader ineligible to become a candidate in elections scheduled for some time later this year. - Read more...

New strike hits debt-plagued Greece Thursday as unions protest austerity measures

ATHENS - Debt-plagued Greece faces a new wave of labour discontent against painful spending cuts, with a nationwide strike Thursday closing hospitals and schools while stopping all flights and most public transport. Workers walked off the job at midnight Wednesday, in the second major strike called by the country's two largest unions in a week. Demonstrations are planned in Athens and other major cities. - Read more...

UN official urges Iraqis to report election results quickly

BAGHDAD - The top United Nations envoy in Iraq urged election officials Wednesday to release the results of this week's historic vote as quickly as possible, saying Iraqis "have the right to know" the results as soon as possible. The call by U.N. diplomat Ad Melkert came as Iraqi election officials furiously counted ballot tallies in Sunday's election that appeared to be coming down to a contest between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, former premier Ayad Allawi and a coalition of conservative Shiites. - Read more...

America's sordid political scandals make Canada's look tame by comparison

WASHINGTON - A New York congressman resigns amid accusations he sexually harassed his male employees during tickle fights. Another top Democrat, also a New Yorker, steps down from a powerful congressional position after it's revealed he accepted trips to the Caribbean from a private corporation. - Read more...

Boyfriend says woman accused of being self-dubbed 'Jihad Jane' showed no religious leanings

PHILADELPHIA - The self-dubbed "Jihad Jane" who thought her blond, all-American profile would help mask her plan to kill a Swedish cartoonist is a rare case of a U.S. woman inciting foreign terrorism and shows the latest evolution of the global threat, authorities say. The suburban Philadelphia woman, Colleen R. LaRose, was accused in Tuesday's indictment of trying to recruit jihadist fighters, and pledging to murder the artist, marry a terrorism suspect so he could move to Europe and martyr herself if necessary. - Read more...

Al-Qaida eyeing less-complex US attacks after seeing impact of Fort Hood, Dec. 25 militants

WASHINGTON - On Christmas Day, a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit tried to blow up the plane with plastic explosives in his underwear. He failed, yet the very attempt shook the U.S. government, set federal agencies against each other and triggered months of political second-guessing. In fact, short of mass casualties, the attack allegedly attempted by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had exactly the kind of reaction that al-Qaida is after. And, it appears, that lesson is resonating with the terror network's leadership. - Read more...

Swedish artist has no regrets over prophet drawing, says Islam not off limits to mockery

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The point of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was to show that artistic freedom allows mockery of all religions, including the most sacred symbols of Islam, the Swedish artist who created it said Wednesday. Lars Vilks - the target of an alleged murder plot involving an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane" - told The Associated Press he has no regrets about the drawing, which is considered deeply offensive by many Muslims. - Read more...

Egypt's top Muslim cleric, whose views angered hardliners, dies at 81

CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt's top cleric, Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, known for promoting the government agenda against female genital mutilation and the face veil, died of a heart attack Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia. He was 81. Tantawi was the grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the pre-eminent theological institute of Sunni Islam, the faith's mainstream sect. - Read more...

Chile's Bachelet, despite criticism, gets high praise from disaster experts for quake response

SANTIAGO, Chile - President Michelle Bachelet leaves office Thursday with a chunk of her country in ruins - and her popularity in the clouds. Despite complaints that aid was slow to reach the hungry and homeless, experts say Chile's response to one of history's most powerful earthquakes has been a model for disaster recovery. - Read more...

Nearly half of babies in the U.S. are born to minorities

WASHINGTON - Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the United States, part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years. In fact, demographers say this year could be the "tipping point" when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites. - Read more...

US school district won't host prom after lesbian student's request to bring girlfriend

JACKSON, Miss. - A school decided Wednesday not to host a prom dance after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The Mississippi school district's policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy and allow 18-year-old Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend, who is also a student, to the dance on April 2. - Read more...

Feds charge sushi chef, US restaurant with serving illegal whale to activists in sting op

LOS ANGELES - Federal prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant on allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat. Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanour. - Read more...

Police harassment backfires as China's troublemakers bond over 'drinking tea' tales

BEIJING - Like the United States, China is having its own tea party movement, but this one has a very different agenda. Police have long tried to shush and isolate potential activists, usually starting with a low-key warning, perhaps over a meal or a cup of tea. Now, the country's troublemakers are openly blogging and tweeting their stories about "drinking tea" with the police, allowing the targeted citizens to bond and diluting the intimidation they feel. - Read more...

Mexican telecom magnate becomes 1st person from developing world to be named 'world's richest'

MEXICO CITY - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine. The rise of Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper who amassed a $53.5 billion fortune and bought a major stake in the New York Times, is part of an increased presence on the list of billionaires from emerging countries, said Forbes' reporter Keren Blankfeld. - Read more...