World Topics

Susan Boyle turns to screen acting

Mar 3, 2013

Susan Boyle turns to screen acting

Susan Boyle is making her big-screen acting debut in a Christmas-themed British period drama. The Scottish singer appears in “The Christmas Candle,” a story of angels and wishes set in an English village in the 1890s. Boyle’s role has not yet been disclosed. In ...

Mar 3, 2013

Obama's half-brother runs for governor in Kenya

A politician named Obama who is running for governor in Kenya can boast of one big claim to fame: blood relations with the president of the United States. Malik Obama — a half-brother of Barack Obama — is running in Kenya’s elections Monday, though ...

Black hole approaching speed of light detected

Mar 3, 2013

Black hole approaching speed of light detected

There is a new spin on supermassive black holes: They are incredibly fast, some astronomers say. It has long been suspected that gigantic black holes lurking in the heart of galaxies rotate faster and grow larger as they feast on gas, dust, stars and ...

Florida sinkhole swallows bedroom and its occupant

Mar 3, 2013

Florida sinkhole swallows bedroom and its occupant

In a matter of seconds, the earth opened under Jeff Bush’s Florida bedroom and swallowed him up like something out of a horror movie. Bush, 37, was presumed dead Friday, the victim of a sinkhole — a hazard so common in Florida that state ...

Governor plans takeover of failing Detroit

Mar 3, 2013

Governor plans takeover of failing Detroit

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder prepared for a state takeover of Detroit, an epitome of urban decay, by declaring the Motor City in a state of financial emergency Friday. “Detroit can’t wait,” Snyder said at a televised town hall meeting. “We need to solve real ...

Top al-Qaida leader 'killed' in Mali

Mar 2, 2013

Top al-Qaida leader 'killed' in Mali

Al-Qaida's top commander in Mali is reportedly killed, signaling a significant blow to the Islamist insurgents battling a French-led intervention in the African country.

Stronger economy to weather standoff

Mar 2, 2013

Stronger economy to weather standoff

As economic policy goes, experts say, the automatic spending cuts slated to begin Friday won’t leave a deep scar on the U.S. economy, which is otherwise looking pretty good. They are a fiscal speed bump on the road to economic recovery, which is why ...

Ex-Yugoslav Army chief acquitted by U.N. court

Mar 2, 2013

Ex-Yugoslav Army chief acquitted by U.N. court

In a stunning reversal, U.N. appeals judges Thursday acquitted the former chief of the Yugoslav National Army of aiding and abetting atrocities by rebel Serbs, including the Srebrenica massacre, by providing them with military aid during the Balkan wars. Gen. Momcilo Perisic, a former ...

Killer robots must be stopped, say campaigners

Mar 2, 2013

Killer robots must be stopped, say campaigners

by Tracy Mcveigh

A new global campaign to persuade nations to ban “killer robots” before they reach the production stage is to be launched in the United Kingdom by a group of academics, pressure groups and Nobel peace prize laureates. Robot warfare and autonomous weapons, the next ...