PANAMA CITY (AP) — Cuba said military equipment found buried under sacks of sugar on a North Korean ship seized as it tried to cross the Panama Canal was obsolete weaponry from the mid-20th century that it had sent to be repaired. Panamanian authorities said it might take a week to search the ship, since […]

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is forgoing the bulletproof popemobile for his upcoming trip to Brazil for the Catholic Church’s youth festival. The Argentine pope will instead use the same opentopped car he uses for zooming around St. Peter’s Square to move about Rio de Janeiro, where he arrives July 22. In recent times, […]

BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen assassinated a prominent Syrian pro-government figure at his home in southern Lebanon today in the latest sign of Syria’s civil war spilling over into its smaller neighbor, security officials said. Mohammed Darrar Jammo was gunned down, shot nearly 30 times, in the coastal town of Sarafand, a stronghold of the Shiite […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Roadside panhandlers who seek money from motorists will have to move elsewhere following the City Council’s unanimous approval of a measure that bans panhandling by people standing on traffic islands. The ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days, doesn’t specifically mention panhandling but makes it illegal for anyone to loiter on […]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police are investigating whether cars were drag racing when a mother and two young sons were struck and killed while attempting to cross a busy highway. The woman’s two other sons were injured. The accident happened around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on Roosevelt Boulevard, a major street that runs through north and […]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — “Glee” actor Cory Monteith, who had struggled for years with substance abuse and once said he was lucky to be alive, died of an overdose of heroin and alcohol, the British Columbia coroner’s office said Tuesday. “There is no evidence to suggest Mr. Monteith’s death was anything other than a […]

LONDON (AP) — Barclays, one of Britain’s largest banks, is vowing to defend itself against U.S. allegations that it manipulated the electricity prices in California and other western states to make money. Regulators ordered Barclays and four of its traders to pay $453 million in civil penalties for manipulating electricity prices between November 2006 and […]

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans are preparing to celebrate the 95th birthday of Nelson Mandela on Thursday, even as the former president remains critically ill in a hospital. The Nelson Mandela Center of Memory and other groups have asked people to volunteer 67 minutes to charity in honor of what they say are the 67 […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Shedding weight is as good as gold under an unusual slim-down initiative in Dubai over growing concerns about rising obesity levels in the wealthy Gulf citystate. Officials are offering a gram of gold — worth about $45 at current prices — for each kilogram of weight lost in a […]