PARIS (AFP) -- France effectively put its election campaign on hold Monday after a gunman killed three children and a teacher at a Jewish school, with top candidates condemning the attack and rushing to the scene.President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Socialist frontrunner in the presidential race, Franc

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama raised $45 million for his re-election bid in February, bringing his total to about $300 million for this election cycle, his campaign said Monday.Obama increased fundraising efforts during the month, collecting nearly twice as much as the $23 million per mo

LONDON (AP) -- Progress has been made in talks with Saudi Arabia on sending women athletes and officials to the Olympics for the first time at the London Games, the IOC said Monday.Saudi Arabia is one of three countries that has never included women in their Olympic teams, along with Qatar and Brune

TOULOUSE, France (AP) -- A motorcycle gunman opened fire Monday in front of a Jewish school in the southwest French city of Toulouse, killing a father, his two sons and one other child, the prosecutor's office said.Prosecutor Michel Valet said a 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old

ATHENS (AP) -- Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is to submit his resignation Monday after being elected to head the majority Socialist party as Greece heads into early general elections.Venizelos was the only candidate for the leadership of the PASOK party in Sunday's elections, and is to offici

JERUSALEM (AP) ― Despite saber-rattling from Jerusalem, Israeli officials now agree with the U.S. assessment that Tehran has not yet decided on the actual construction of a nuclear bomb, according to senior Israeli government and defense figures.Even so, there is great concern in Israel about leaving Iran “on the cusp” of a bomb ― explaining why Israel continues to hint at a military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations before it moves enough of them underground to protect them from Israel’s b

Former Massachusetts governor seen winning 20 delegates up for grabsWASHINGTON (AP) ― Mitt Romney won an overwhelming victory over chief rival Rick Santorum in Puerto Rico’s Republican presidential primary, but Romney was campaigning in the critical heartland state of Illinois ahead of that state’s primary on Tuesday ― another chance to prove he’s the best choice to challenge President Barack Obama in the November election.The former Massachusetts governor has been unable to win the hearts of th

SANAA (AP) ― More than 2,000 people have been killed in a year of political turmoil that led to the resignation of Yemen’s longtime president, the government disclosed Sunday. The figure is much higher than human rights groups estimated.The government released its first casualty figures on a day when crowds of protesters were marking one year since a particularly bloody day, when dozens were killed.Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights said the figure of at least 2,000 includes both unarmed protester

BEIRUT (AP) ― An explosion struck near a Syrian government security building in the northern city of Aleppo Sunday, while a harsh security crackdown prevented opposition rallies marking one year since the first nationwide protests of the uprising against President Bashar Assad.The Syrian state news agency called the Aleppo explosion a “terrorist bombing’’ and said one policeman and one female civilian were killed, while 30 were injured. It was the second attack in two days on regime strongholds.

Protesters marking the six-month mark since the start of the Occupy movement were taken into custody by police officers who poured into the park after warning those who had gathered there that it was closed.Police said 73 people were detained. It was unclear how many were still in custody Sunday afternoon.Some demonstrators had locked arms and sat down in the middle of Zuccotti Park near Wall Street _ where the protest movement started last September _ after police announced on a bullhorn at aro

ATHENS (AFP) ― Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was elected leader of the socialist party PASOK on Sunday, and now faces a Herculean battle to avert disaster in upcoming elections.The 55-year-old politician, the only candidate to run for the job relinquished by former prime minister George Papandreou, told supporters at party heaquarters: “We have re-established the confidence for a new departure. We are starting.”According to Pasok estimates, some 200,000 party members or sympathiz

South Korea accused North Korea on Monday of trying to develop a nuclear-armed missile through a satellite launch next month, after Pyongyang dismissed international calls to abandon the exercise.“Our government defines North Korea‘s so-called working satellite launch plan as a grave provocation to develop a long-distance delivery means for nuclear weapons by using ballistic missile technology,” said presidential spokesman Park Jeong-Ha.The North announced Friday it would launch a long-range roc

Apple Inc. said it will announce the outcome of its internal discussion concerning its enormous cash balance on Monday morning.Analysts expect Apple to institute a dividend. It can easily afford one, since it had $97.6 billion in cash and securities at the end of last year. That would be enough for a $100 one-time dividend for every shareholder, but analysts expect the company to institute a modest recurring dividend.Apple CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer will discuss t