SEVARE, Mali (AP) ― French and Malian forces pushed toward the fabled desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday, as the two-week-long French mission gathered momentum against the Islamist extremists who have ruled the north for more than nine months. So far the French forces have met little resistance from the militants, though it remains unclear what battles may await them farther north. The Malian military blocked dozens of international journalists from trying to travel toward Timbuktu.Lt. Col. Diarr

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama lauded Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as one of his closest advisers and said their shared vision for America’s role in the world persuaded his one-time rival ― and potential successor ― to be his top diplomat while he dealt with the shattered economy at home. During a joint interview that aired Sunday, Obama and Clinton chuckled as they described their partnership and stoked speculation that Obama may prefer Clinton to succeed him in the White

Essential place for diplomacy will be Japan

Stanley Karnow, the award-winning author and journalist who wrote a definitive book about the Vietnam War, worked on an accompanying documentary and later won a Pulitzer for a history of the Philippines, died Sunday morning. He was 87.Karnow, who had congestive heart failure, died in his sleep at his home in Potomac, Md., said son Michael Karnow. A Paris-based correspondent for Time magazine early in his career, Karnow was assigned in 1958 to Hong Kong as bureau chief for Southeast Asia and soon

The firearms industry is promoting guns to young people to ensure future sales, according to the New York Times. 　The U.S.-based daily cited a report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the National Rifle Association of America, suggesting that giving young people the opportunity to use guns is important to secure future customers. As part of the industry’s strategy, the firearms industry is developing military-style rifles, sponsoring semiautomatic-handgun competitions and investing

An Australian teenager who went missing from his home in Sydney more than two months ago was discovered emaciated, exhausted and covered in leeches, but alive in bushland north of the city, police said Monday.Matthew Allen‘s family feared the worst after the 18-year-old disappeared in late November from Westleigh, near Cherrybrook in northwest Sydney and his mobile phone and bank accounts went untouched.Extensive searches of the area by police failed to find a trace of Allen, who suffers from an

An Ohio judge ordered an admitted deadbeat dad not to have any more children until he proves he can support the four he already has.Asim Taylor, 35, of Elyria was ordered not to procreate during the 5-year probation he was given by Lorain County Judge James Walther after pleading guilty to nearly $79,000 in unpaid child support going back to 2009.The Elyria Morning Journal said Walther wrote his order is in the “interests of doing justice, rehabilitating the offender.”Walther‘s order can be lift