DARWIN, Australia (AP) -- Four people convicted in the beating death of a woman during what they said was an exorcism ritual on a remote Australian island have been sentenced to several years in jail.Sarah Bara was beaten to death with sticks last year on Groote Eylandt off the northern Austral

DAMASCUS (AFP) ― An Arab League advance team arrived in Syria on Thursday to launch a hard-won observer mission to oversee a plan to end nine months of bloodshed after the opposition accused regime forces of “massacring” hundreds in two days.Meanwhile, there was no let-up in the killing, with human rights activists reporting at least 21 more people killed and clashes between defectors and regular troops in flashpoints Homs and Idlib.The Arab League team “arrived in the afternoon and then left to

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) _ A strong earthquake struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday, rattling buildings, sending goods tumbling from shelves and prompting terrified holiday shoppers to flee into the streets. There was no tsunami alert issued and the city appeared to have been sp

LONDON (AP) ― Britain’s Prince Harry has said he will be deployed to Afghanistan for a second time ― almost four years after his previous secret mission was cut short when details leaked, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.The 27-year-old Harry, who is third in line to the throne, told guests at a military awards ceremony Monday night that he would likely return next year, The Sun newspaper reported.“I can’t wait to get out there,” Harry was quoted as saying.Harry served as a battlefield

HANOI (AFP) ― China’s vice president was ending a visit to Vietnam on Thursday, part of an effort to consolidate ties that deteriorated following recent tensions over the disputed South China Sea.Both sides said Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Hanoi “further consolidates and promotes relations between the two parties, countries and people,” according to the Vietnamese government’s website late Wednesday.The communist neighbors have had a long-standing dispute relating to sovereignty over the Par

WASHINGTON (AP) ―The U.S. population grew by 2.8 million, reaching 311.6 million people. That growth of 0.92 percent was the lowest since the mid-1940s, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau.Many states that posted big population gains in the 2010 census are now seeing their decade-long growth fizzle, hurt by a prolonged economic slump that is stretching into larger portions of the South and West.New 2011 estimates by the Census Bureau are the first state numbers since the 20

HELSINKI, Dec 21, 2011 (AFP) - Finland has launched a probe after 69 surface-to-air Patriot missiles were found in a ship bound for the Chinese port city of Shanghai, police said."An investigation found 69 Patriot missiles, explosive material and propelling charges," a police statement said.The miss

Italian airport police eyeing up a busty Spanish model's curves made a startling discovery on Wednesday -- 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of pure cocaine stashed as implants in her bust and backside.The 33-year-old woman arriving in Rome from Sao Paulo in Brazil was wearing tight-fitting clothes to enha

CAIRO (AP) ― Around 10,000 women marched through central Cairo demanding Egypt’s ruling military step down Tuesday in an unprecedented show of outrage over soldiers who dragged women by the hair and stomped on them, and stripped one half-naked in the street during a fierce crackdown on activists the past week.The dramatic protest, which grew as the women marched from Tahrir Square through downtown, was fueled by the widely circulated images of abuses of women. Many of the marchers touted the pho