Midnight Madness no longer lives up to its name. Sure, some of college basketball’s opening night celebrations are chances for crowds to go crazy indoors for the first time since Connecticut won...

NEW YORK — Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund billionaire at the center of the biggest insider-trading case in U.S. history, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years behind bars — the stiffest punishment...

TAURANGA, New Zealand — The calmest weather in days has given salvage crews hope they will be able on Friday to resume pumping the remaining fuel from a cargo ship stuck on a New Zealand reef. The...

WASHINGTON — Congress approved free trade agreements Wednesday with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a four-year drought in the forming of new trade partnerships and giving the White House...

SEAL BEACH, Calif. — Southern California police are trying to determine the motive in a shooting that has killed six people and critically wounded three others in a hair salon in the city of Seal...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Opponents of a California law requiring that the contributions of gays and lesbians be taught in public schools have failed in their attempt to qualify a ballot referendum to...

BOGOTA, Colombia — The women of the Colombian town of Barbacoas have declared their sex strike over. It is not clear how many women took part, and compliance is impossible to prove. But the women...

ALBERTVILLE, Ala. — Along Main Street in this small Alabama town, the Mexican restaurant was closed, lights were out at a Hispanic-owned grocery store and even a bank catering to Spanish speakers...

DETROIT — Doug Fister delivered another strong start in a game Detroit needed and Miguel Cabrera homered and hit a tiebreaking double to lead the Tigers past the Texas Rangers 5-2 Tuesday night in...

LOS ANGELES — A medical examiner struck a major blow to the defense of Michael Jackson’s doctor Tuesday, saying it is unreasonable to believe Jackson could have given himself a fatal dose of...

LOS ANGELES — Eva Longoria says she lent her support to “The Harvest,” a documentary about child migrant laborers, not just because of her Latin American roots but also because she wants...

JERUSALEM — In a much-anticipated prisoner exchange that could have broad implications, Israel and Hamas on Tuesday announced that an Israeli soldier abducted to Gaza five years ago would be swapped...

NEW YORK — Now it’s personal: Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters held a “Millionaires March” on Tuesday past the homes of some of the wealthiest executives in America, stopping...

LONDON — Big Ben has a little bend. Experts say the neogothic clock tower — one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks — is gently leaning to one side. Documents recently published...

NEW YORK — Just last week, a bear market seemed inevitable. Since then stocks have surged four out of the past five days, bringing the S&P 500 index up 8.7 percent. The latest jump came Monday...

ORANGE CITY, Iowa — Rick Perry has lost some of his Texas swagger. Maybe that’s what happens when a governor tops Republican presidential polls the minute he joins the race, only to plummet...

LOS ANGELES — Shoehorned into a small living room in a South Los Angeles apartment, a dozen parents discuss why their kids’ school ranks as one of the worst in the nation’s second-largest...

OSLO, Norway — Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s autocratic regime won the Nobel Peace Prize...

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers are back in the AL championship series and waiting for an opponent. This is a team that didn’t win a postseason series in the franchise’s first 49 seasons...

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden says the Republican Party is strong enough to beat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. During an appearance Thursday at the Washington Ideas Forum,...

STOCKHOLM — Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer won Nobel literature prize on Thursday. According to the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature citation, he was awarded “because, through his condensed,...

It sounds like a simple question: How much is a college actually going to cost? In fact, it’s a slippery one. But thanks to a federal mandate, a new tool to help students and families pin down an...

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of...

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chilean police used water cannons and tear gas to break up a student march for free public education on Thursday, hours after protesters’ talks with the government collapsed. A...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says China and Russia are in the wrong after vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its brutal...

JERUSALEM — When Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman claimed to have stumbled upon a new crystalline chemical structure, colleagues mocked him, insulted him and exiled him from his research group. After...

NEW YORK — Unions joined the long-running protest against Wall Street and economic inequality Wednesday, with their members adding protesters in a Manhattan march as smaller demonstrations flourished...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Texas Rangers are headed back to the AL championship series, thanks to a power surge by Adrian Beltre that few players in major league history have matched. Beltre hit...

TRENTON, N.J. — After a surge of new speculation, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared with finality Tuesday that “now is not my time” to run for president, dashing the hopes of Republicans...

DALLAS — Dr. Bruce Beutler is sharing this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine but on Tuesday he was singled out and praised at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas where...

WASHINGTON — Europe has a debt crisis. America has a jobs crisis. Corporate profits could be in trouble. World financial markets are in turmoil. And no one seems prepared to ride to the rescue. Federal...

BEIRUT — Syrian troops going house to house have detained more than 3,000 people in the past three days in the rebellious town of Rastan, which saw some of the worst fighting of the 6-month-old uprising...

ST. PETERSBURG — Back on the road in the playoffs, the Texas Rangers won again. Colby Lewis outpitched All-Star David Price, Mike Napoli hit a go-ahead two-run homer and the defending AL champions...

Big 12 university leaders agreed to equally share the wealth from the conference’s most lucrative television deals if its members agree to lock those top-tier TV rights into the league for at least...

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson was clinically dead when he arrived at a hospital and two emergency room doctors said they thought it was futile to attempt to revive him. His doctor, however, insisted...

FORT WORTH — The Texas drought that has led to crop losses and devastating wildfires is expected to last another year and possibly longer, weather experts said Monday. Texas and some surrounding...

The nine justices of the Supreme Court, who serve without seeking election, soon will have to decide whether to insert themselves into the center of the presidential campaign next year. The high court...

A fire sparked as workers mixed chemicals at a plant south of Dallas. Massive plumes of black smoke and bright orange flames shot into the sky Monday, forcing schoolchildren and residents to evacuate or...

NICOSIA, Cyprus— A Houston-based museum exhibiting a set of rare 13th-century frescoes that were looted from Cyprus more than three decades ago has agreed to return them, the leader of the divided...

ARLINGTON — Tony Romo put the Dallas Cowboys ahead by 24 points with his third touchdown pass right after halftime. That lead wasn’t enough after he followed that with three interceptions. Two...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s entry into the 2012 presidential race could dramatically reshape what has become a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. But Christie,...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When Rhode Island became the 13th state to allow in-state tuition for illegal immigrants at public colleges, supporters heralded the move as one that would give students the kind...

SANAA, Yemen — A government warplane bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers involved in months of intense battles against al-Qaida members, officials said Sunday. The...

HAMPTON, N.H. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing stepped up criticism about his immigration record, has begun trying to counter a perceived weakness by portraying himself as the presidential candidate...

LOS ANGELES — King Sisyphus, it turns out, had little on the folks at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to push a giant rock up a hill...

CAIRO — For the second time this month, Egyptian security officials in civilian clothes raided the Cairo office of Al Jazeera Live Egypt, roughing up its staff, detaining an editor and confiscating...

BERLIN — German lawmakers are expected to approve new powers for the eurozone bailout fund in a major step toward tackling the bloc’s sprawling sovereign debt crisis. Passage in the lower...

AMSTERDAM — The international chemical weapons watchdog says stockpiles captured so far in Libya are in line with what Moammar Gadhafi’s regime had previously declared, and no new weapons have...

DURHAM, N.H. — The president of the University of New Hampshire is now outright reversing, rather than just delaying, a decision to ban the sale of energy drinks on campus. While others had raised...

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is renewing his criticism of the Federal Reserve Board, saying it must be more transparent. The Texas governor repeats in a CNBC interview...

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians can’t resume negotiations with Israel under current conditions and will pursue their bid to win U.N. recognition, a top Palestinian official said Thursday,...

CANBERRA, Australia — A popular right-wing commentator was found guilty Wednesday of breaking Australian discrimination law by implying that fair-skinned Aborigines chose to identify as indigenous...

MEXICO CITY — A ruling by Mexico’s supreme court has let stand a right-to-life amendment to the Baja California state constitution that says life begins at conception and effectively bans elective...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country singer Randy Travis was resting at home Monday after passing out on stage during a benefit concert in front of a roomful of doctors. The 52-year-old fainted mid-song during...

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A prosecutor in New York is investigating whether students in other districts on Long Island took part in a cheating scam on college entrance exams that resulted in the arrest...

It was cursing — not kissing — that got a lesbian actress and her girlfriend escorted off a plane as it sat at a Texas airport, Southwest Airlines said Tuesday. The airline said the couple...

WASHINGTON — Animal keepers at the National Zoo’s conservation center in Virginia sent 26 black-footed ferrets to “boot camp” Wednesday to prepare the critters for life in the wild...

Catherine Devine had her first brush with an online bully in seventh grade, before she’d even ventured onto the Internet. Someone set up the screen name “devinegirl” and, posing as Catherine,...

So political kerfuffle aside, you have to wonder exactly what a $16 muffin would taste like. Last week’s news that the U.S. government paid $16 apiece for breakfast muffins at a Justice Department...

Commissioner Mike Slive tried to temporarily quell the “enormous speculation” about whether — or more likely when — the Southeastern Conference will add a 14th member to join Texas...

Rodrigo Telon Yucute focuses on the sound of the voices, raises a camera and snaps off a shot, capturing an image of a couple laughing as they sit on a yellow park bench. He shows it to the subjects but...

First, prosecutors showed a photo of Michael Jackson’s pale and lifeless body lying on a gurney. Then, they played a recording of his voice, just weeks before his death. Slow and slurred, his words...

MINNEAPOLIS — Researchers fear a hunter may have killed a black bear named Hope who became famous when her birth in northeastern Minnesota was broadcast live to a worldwide audience over the Internet. Lynn...

A Saudi activist will stand trial for defying the kingdom’s ban on female drivers, a lawyer and rights advocates said Monday, revealing clear limits on how far the conservative Muslim land is willing...

A Republican group at the University of California, Berkeley has cooked up controversy with a plan to hold an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale” as a satirical way to oppose legislation that would...

9 charged with smuggling cigs into Maryland to resell at profit UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Authorities say nine people have been indicted on charges of illegally smuggling cigarettes from Virginia to...

Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, say they have clocked subatomic particles, called neutrinos, traveling faster than light — a feat...

UNITED NATIONS — American diplomats led a walkout at the U.N. General Assembly Thursday as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fiercely attacked the United States and major West European nations...

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have excelled in special teams in their first two games, and coach Gary Kubiak says that’s a product of finally having the right people in place. Jacoby Jones...

RICHMOND — Randal Lewis defeated two-time defending champion Nathan Smith on the first extra hole Wednesday to advance to the final of the USGA Mid-Amateur at Shadow Hawk. Lewis, a 54-year-old financial...

JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia inmate Troy Davis maintained his innocence until the very end, saying he did not kill an off-duty officer in 1989. Davis made his final statement as he was strapped to a gurney....

NEW YORK — In a small granite plaza a block from the New York Stock Exchange, a group of 20-somethings in flannel pajama pants and tie-dyed T-shirts are plotting the demise of Wall Street as we know...

MEXICO CITY — A gang aligned with Mexico’s most wanted drug lord may be delivering a gruesome challenge to the ruling cartel and Mexican officials in the Gulf state of Veracruz, by dumping...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is planning to launch a pornographic website to promote its animal rights and vegan diet message, a move that critics say will backfire and ostracize them from...

SAN FRANCISCO — J.D. Smith came into being when a gay student group in upstate New York needed a speaker to talk about the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay troops. In the 16 months since then,...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting 6-ton satellite will fall later this week. It’s just that if they’re off a little bit, it could...

A suicide attacker with a bomb in his turban posed as a Taliban peace envoy and assassinated a former Afghan president who for the past year headed a government council seeking a political settlement with...

They were young children — mere kids when the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays serving openly in the military took effect. But over two decades, attitudes shifted, America...

DALLAS — Emergency officials in Dallas say three people have suffered burns in an apartment fire blamed on a lightning strike during thunderstorms. The fire was reported late Sunday night as storms...

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry’s Republican rivals are struggling to find a coherent, easy-to-grasp argument against the Texas governor, who tops GOP presidential polls despite attacks from all sides. In...

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing Monday that Texas’ new voting maps for Congress and for the Texas House do not meet federal anti-discrimination requirements, setting up a legal...

The Obama administration insisted Monday there was still time to avert a divisive showdown over Palestinian statehood, ignoring President Mahmoud Abbas’ defiant pledge to take his government’s...

Thousands of protesters backed by military defectors seized a base of the elite Republican Guards on Monday, weakening the control of Yemen’s embattled president over this poor, fractured Arab nation....

NEW YORK — The United States and Europe raced Sunday to avert or delay a looming United Nations showdown over Palestinian statehood that could crush already dim Mideast peace prospects, with Secretary...

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the wilds of Portland, Ore., invasive species rule. Blackberries, thistle and ivy occupy pockets of brush, choking off native plants. Enter the goat, scourge of the bramble....

WASHINGTON — Defying orders and tempting fate, Marine cpl. Dakota Meyer charged five times in a Humvee into heavy gunfire in the darkness of an Afghanistan valley to rescue comrades under attack...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Anesthesiologists who assisted in a rare, risky surgery to separate conjoined twins came up with a novel way to practice flipping the patients without tangling the various lines...

PARIS — The leaders of France and Britain will make a quick visit to Libya on Thursday, an official with Libya’s governing body said, becoming the first foreign heads of government to travel...

WACO — Robert Griffin III lives alone in an apartment just down the road from the Baylor campus. He already has a degree in political science earned in only three years after graduating high school...

 As children, their parents dressed them in identical outfits and for 18 years they shared a bedroom. But now the Kent quadruplets have turned into young women whose life journey has landed them at...

TACOMA, Wash. — Thousands of students in Washington state’s third-largest school district will be spending a second day out of class as school officials seek a court order to force hundreds...

ATHENS, Greece — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday sought to calm market fears that Greece is heading for a chaotic default on its debts as Europe struggles to contain a crippling financial...

A person with knowledge of the situation says Texas and Oklahoma officials met over the weekend amid speculation that the Sooners are considering leaving the Big 12. Texas President William Powers Jr.,...

WASHINGTON — In a sharp challenge to the GOP, President Barack Obama proposed paying for his costly new jobs plan Monday with tax hikes that Republicans have already emphatically rejected. The reception...

BRUSSELS — Rebels fighting to topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi committed unlawful killings and torture, Amnesty International said in a report released on Tuesday. The 100-plus page report,...

CAIRO — The surprise assault on Israel’s embassy in Cairo has pushed Egypt’s ruling military deeper into confrontation with a protest movement openly accusing the country’s caretakers...

DENVER — Police detained three passengers at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport on Sunday after the crew of the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver reported suspicious activity on board and NORAD...

WASHINGTON — Two million-year-old bones belonging to a creature with both apelike and human traits provide the clearest evidence of evolution’s first major step toward modern humans —...

WASHINGTON — Confronting an economy in peril, President Barack Obama unveiled a larger-than-expected $450 billion plan Thursday night to boost jobs and put cash in the pockets of dispirited Americans,...

At some point, Texas A&M seems destined to end up in the Southeastern Conference, whether Baylor or any other member of the Big 12 likes it or not. Then the focus will turn to Oklahoma. The Sooners...