SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) — The Maine Association of Realtors says existing home sales jumped 17 percent in May over a year earlier. The association says agents sold 1,214 single-family homes for the month. The median sales price of $178,000 was up $500 from May of last year. Bart Stevens, owner of a Winslow real estate […]

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police and protesters fought in the streets into the early hours today as an estimated 1 million Brazilians swarmed through more than 80 Brazilian cities in the biggest demonstrations yet against a government viewed as corrupt at all levels and unresponsive to its people. President Dilma Rousseff called an emergency […]

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — As many as 100,000 people could be forced from their homes by heavy flooding in western Canada, Calgary city officials said, while mudslides forced the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway, isolating the mountain resort towns of Banff and Canmore. Torrential rains and widespread flooding throughout southern Alberta on Thursday washed out […]

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — A Nicaraguan army spokesman says a helicopter carrying nine soldiers has crashed on the western edge of Lake Managua and that authorities have recovered one body. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Orlando Palacios says the aircraft was returning to a military base in the town of La Paz Centro when it plunged […]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A winter storm bearing powerful winds disrupted air traffic across New Zealand today and cut power to thousands of homes, forced schools to close and generated record-sized waves. The capital, Wellington, got blasted with winds of more than 81 miles per hour. The gusts disrupted bus, rail and road transportation, […]

STONEHENGE, England (AP) — Police say more than 20,000 celebrants have gathered at the famed Stonehenge monument to mark the summer solstice. The cloud cover this morning prevented bright sunshine at dawn of the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere but a joyous spirit prevailed. Police say there were fewer arrests than […]

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A former South African leader says the health of Nelson Mandela is improving. Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Mandela as president in 1999, made the comment Thursday night in an interview with Power FM, a South African radio station. Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison during white racist rule, […]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants opened fire on a Shiite Muslim mosque where worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers, and then a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside, killing 15 people in the latest attack aimed at the minority sect, police said. The attack hit the city of Peshawar, which is on the outskirts of […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama today plans to nominate President George W. Bush’s former No. 2 at the Justice Department, Jim Comey, to lead the FBI as the agency grapples with privacy debates over a host of recently exposed investigative tactics. If confirmed by the Senate, Comey would serve a 10-year tenure and replace […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Affairs Department is chipping away at a massive inventory of disability claims for veterans, reducing the number of claims considered backlogged by about 15 percent in recent weeks. Republican lawmakers are skeptical that the trend will continue, but they’ve been unable to agree on a solution to a problem that […]