WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the 2012 election will be a “fun debate” over two competing visions for the nation, referring to Mitt Romney as the Republican “frontrunner” who has backed policies that would undermine middle-class families. At a fundraiser held at a Washington hotel, Obama told supporters that his administration […]

NEW YORK ( AP) — The notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the Merchant of Death, made it clear he had heard enough in court, although a federal prosecutor was only two minutes into an argument urging a harsh prison sentence. “It’s a lie!” Bout blurted out in English — a rare show of raw […]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Washington state wildlife spokesman says two salmoneating California sea lions have been captured this week at Bonneville Dam and killed by lethal injection. The Oregonian reports the deaths are the first this year after a federal judge ruled last month the program could proceed. Washington Fish and Wildlife spokesman Craig […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Former South Dakota senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern was released from a Florida hospital Thursday after undergoing tests, a hospital spokeswoman said. Patty McAnnally, nursing supervisor at Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., said the 89- year- old McGovern was released in the afternoon. McGovern was admitted Tuesday for […]

BEIRUT (AP) — Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad shelled two restive central cities and sent tanks and snipers into battle against rebels in the capital’s suburbs today, broadening an offensive that appeared aimed at crushing pockets of opposition less than a week before an internationally sponsored cease- fire is to take hold, activists […]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A police officer was shot and killed early today at a Walmart in Central Texas, and a suspect is in custody, police said. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the officer was shot in the neck and died at the scene. The officer was responding to a call about a drunk […]

BAMAKO, Mali ( AP) — Mali’s Tuareg rebels, who have seized control of the country’s distant north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup in the capital, declared independence today of their Azawad nation. “We, the people of the Azawad,” they said in a statement published on the rebel website, “proclaim the irrevocable independence […]

TOKYO ( AP) — Japan is setting stricter, clearer safety guidelines for nuclear power plants to ease public concern about restarting reactors idled after the disasters a year ago. Facing a national power crunch, the government is anxious to restart two reactors in Fukui, western Japan, before the last operating reactor of the 54 in […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A fuel tanker overturned and caught fire in southern Afghanistan today, killing seven people, police said. Kandahar provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq said three other civilians were seriously wounded in the morning incident in Panjwai district. The Taliban claimed they fired a rocket at the fuel tanker, causing it to […]

LONDON (AP) — British ministers say a ban on displaying packs of cigarettes inside supermarkets and other large stores will send a message that smoking is no longer acceptable. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said today — as the restrictions came into force — that the ban would show that Britons “no longer see smoking as […]