BEIJING (AFP) -- Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Thursday after a high-profile foreign tour that analysts say put a more human face on China‘s leader-in-waiting, but gave away little about his politics.Xi, who is all but certain to be China’s next president, attended a basketball game, cracked jokes and showed off his skills on the Gaelic football field during his visit to the United States, Ireland and Turkey.The 10-day trip -- Vice President Xi‘s most high-profile role yet on the diplomatic

DALLAS (AP) _ The bulk of a man's childhood comic book collection that included many of the most prized issues ever published sold at auction Wednesday for about $3.5 million.A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which sold for 10 cents in 1939 and features the debut of Batman, got the top bid at the N

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is seen signaling next month that curbing pollution, inequality and the risk of financial instability eclipse the benefits of faster economic growth, a survey of analysts indicated. Wen will target an expansion of less than 8 percent in his report to the National People’s Congress in Beijing on March 5, the equivalent of the U.S. President’s State of the Union address, according to 8 of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The median estimate of 7.5 percent compar

Indonesian forces backed by water cannons and armored vehicles were locked in a tense stand-off outside a prison on Bali island Thursday after rioting inmates took control for a second night.Ousted prison guards and some 400 heavily armed police and military spent the night massed outside the notorious Kerobokan prison, which holds more than 1,000 inmates, including 12 Australian drug mules.Security forces had stormed the overcrowded prison at dawn on Wednesday to wrest control after a night of

DAKAR (AFP) ― Africa’s top envoy met Senegal opposition leaders Wednesday in a bid to defuse tensions ahead of weekend elections as Dakar was on alert for more protests against President Abdoulaye Wade’s third term bid.The European Union weighed in with a call for all sides to halt violence and for a ban on street protests to be lifted, while France condemned security force violence against protesters.The United States also urged Senegal to respect the right to peaceful protest and to avoid the

PALO ALTO (AP) ― Net income at Hewlett-Packard Co. fell in its first full quarter under CEO Meg Whitman, as the company confronted weak consumer sales and supply shortages due to flooding in Thailand.Whitman described a company in transition Thursday, but she identified goals, which include improving internal procedures and reducing costs to free up money for investments in growing areas. She said HP sees opportunities in security services, information management and Internet-based systems known

U.N. votes to increase African force in SomaliaUNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to authorize an increase in the African Union force in Somalia from 12,000 to about 17,700 and expand its areas of operation in an effort to intensify pressure on al-Shabab militants who recently joined al-Qaida.As part of its strategy to weaken al-Shabab, the council also ordered a ban on the export and import of charcoal from Somalia, calling the fuel ``a significant reve

BEIJING (AFP) -- Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Thursday after a high-profile foreign tour that analysts say put a more human face on China‘s leader-in-waiting, but gave away little about his politics.Xi, who is all but certain to be China’s next president, attended a basketball game, cracked jokes and showed off his skills on the Gaelic football field during his visit to the United States, Ireland and Turkey.The 10-day trip -- Vice President Xi‘s most high-profile role yet on the diplomatic

Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist -- two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria."I watched a little baby die today," Marie Colvin told the BBC from the embattled city of Homs on Tuesday in one of her final reports."Absolutely horrific, a 2-year old child had been hit," a