A car bomb killed at least 17 soldiers in Pakistan and four children died in an explosion in Afghanistan, officials said. The car bomb was detonated close to an army post near the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan, Pakistan, Saturday night, killing the soldiers and the driver of the car...

As 2012 was drawing to a close, 672 of the 715 children the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had posted as missing on its website had vanished in the United States. A center spokeswoman said that number was just a small fraction of the 10,628 reports of missing U.S. children...

We look forward to 2013 with resolutions, hopes and clean calendars, but we’ll be looking back as well. A new year is always an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of something, and plenty of remembrances are upcoming. Civil War enthusiasts will enjoy a big year, with the 150th...

Human Rights Watch issued a report Friday asking Turkey to allow officials from the U.N. Human Rights Council to interview Iranian refugees in the country. The report, written by Faraz Sanei, the Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch said it is vital for U.N. special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed...

Los Angeles officials hope that charging drivers to use some “carpool lanes” on what had been freeways will relieve some of the region’s legendary traffic jams. The first tollway, from downtown Los Angeles to South Bay, was scheduled to open Saturday night on the 110 Freeway,...

Detroit Mayor David Bing said the repeal of Michigan’s emergency management law threatens his city’s efforts to get its fiscal house in order. In an interview with The Detroit News, Bing said Friday that unions representing municipal employees will be able to stall cuts in wages...

An Austrian native and naturalized Canadian has been sentenced to five months in prison for voting illegally in at least two U.S. presidential elections. Josef Sever, 53, who moved to Florida in 1992, is likely to be deported when he is released, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. He...

Hosni Mubarak’s personal physician found the imprisoned former Egyptian president healthy in a recent examination, a prison official said. Mohamed Eleiwa, a spokesman for the Egyptian Prisons Authority, said the examination was routine and that the 84-year-old former leader’s...

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Kentucky in more than 30 years, rattled the eastern and central part of the state Saturday, seismologists said. The earthquake was centered 8 miles west of Whitesburg, Ky., and 46 miles north-northwest of Kingsport, Tenn., the U.S. Geological Survey...

Phoenix-area Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who won a sixth term in office Tuesday, says he wants to try to explain his controversial policies on immigration to Latinos. However, Arpaio also promised to continue the policies that have angered many Arizona Hispanics, The Arizona Republic reported...

Florida elections officials Saturday certified Democrat Patrick Murphy as the winner in Tuesday’s election over incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West. The certification came one day after a Florida judge denied West’s motion to impound ballots and voting machines for a possible...

Two residents of a senior citizens home in rural northern California died after eating soup made with poisonous wild mushrooms, police said Saturday. Four other people were hospitalized after eating the soup, which included mushrooms harvested by a staff member who apparently was unaware they...

The head of an Atlanta non-profit group says she hopes artists aren’t discouraged by the painting over of a large mural by disgruntled critics. Volunteers spent Friday scrubbing gray paint off the mural that had been painted by French artist Pierre Roti for the Living Walls...

Doctors have urged jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to stop her hunger strike over the recent election, prison officials said Saturday. Tymoshenko, who has been undergoing treatment at a Kharkov clinic for back pains since May, has been on a hunger strike since Oct. 29,...

Russia announced it had grounded its Su-24 bomber fleet Saturday after one of the frontline warplanes caught fire while taking off at an airbase. Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, commander of the Russian Air Force, said the plane failed to get airborne and rolled off the runway at the Morozovsk air...

An Afghan guard testified at a hearing he was “shocked” and “nervous” when he saw a U.S. soldier return to base the night 16 Afghans were killed in their homes. The guard, identified only as Nematullah, was one of two guards giving testimony in a hearing intended to...

An early winter storm smacked Canada from Manitoba to Alberta Saturday, while wicked winds whipped the East Coast, forecasters said. A major snowstorm, causing a number of road accidents and flights cancellations out of Winnipeg’s airport, CTV, Winnipeg, reported. The storm system...

Most New Jersey homes darkened by Hurricane Sandy should have power restored by Saturday night, Gov. Chris Christie said. Christie made his comments Friday after touring the Jersey shore, which received severe damage from the superstorm, CNN reported. More than 175,000 homes were still without...

A California woman has lost her job after posting a comment on Facebook, including the use of the ‘N’ word, saying President Barack Obama could be assassinated. Denise Helms’ Facebook page was protected by privacy settings, the Modesto (Calif.) Bee reported. But one of her...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office says a $4.2 billion arms deal with Russia has not been canceled but Maliki has “decided to review the whole deal.” “When [Maliki] returned from his trip to Russia, he had some suspicions of corruption, so he decided to...

A judge has denied bail for a New York City police officer charged with planning to kill women and cook their bodies. The decision came after a hearing Friday at which one of Gilberto Valle’s alleged targets opposed a motion to grant bail, the New York Post reported. Michelle Mechanic, a...

Fourteen officers of Mexico’s federal police force have been charged with the attempted murder of two CIA agents in August, prosecutors say. The CIA operatives and a member of the Mexican navy were in a sport utility vehicle with diplomatic plates when the officers riddled the SUV with...

Thousands of toy trucks are set to be donated to a children’s Christmas charity in the name of a boy who was mauled to death at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Maddox Derkosh, 2, died at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium Nov. 4 when he fell into the African painted dog exhibit and was mauled,...

Some Turkish lawmakers say they will join the 60-day-old hunger strike by 700 prison inmates if the government does not quickly take steps to end the crisis. The strikes are intended to pressure officials into ending the isolation of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan...

The city of San Diego has agreed to pay $675,000 to a woman who was sexually assaulted by a police officer convicted of multiple attacks while on duty. The settlement, which has been agreed upon by the city attorney and the plaintiff attorney, must be approved by the City Council, the Los...

A Republican official in New York state says a GOP colleague who wore blackface for Halloween hurt the party the same way U.S. lawmakers” remarks on rape have. Michael Caponero, a court officer in Rosendale, N.Y., 90 miles north of New York City, told the Kingston, N.Y., Daily...

Alabama and Mississippi led the nation in racist tweets commenting on the election but online racism “is all too easy to find” in most states, a study found. Floating Sheep compared the number of tweets using racist slurs that anticipated or commented on the election between Nov. 1...

A donation from a lighting company helped relight the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor for the first time since Hurricane Sandy, park officials said. The National Park Service said in a statement the statue was a “bright beacon of hope” for New York and New Jersey residents...

Palestinian officials Saturday denied Israeli reports President Mahmoud Abbas was considering delaying Palestine’s bid to upgrade its U.N. status until 2013. Abbas was considering asking for a United Nations vote to change Palestine’s status to that of non-member state on Nov. 15...

Twin bombings at a military base in the southern Syrian town of Deraa killed at least 20 soldiers Saturday and wounded dozens more, officials say. Two cars loaded with explosives blew up within minutes of each other, the BBC reported. State-run Syrian media did not give details about the...