MANILA (AP) ― Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Saturday accused Chinese vessels of preventing Filipino fishing boats from seeking shelter at a disputed South China Sea shoal in new incidents that he said prompted his government to elevate the case to international arbitration. Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that the incidents took place recently at the Scarborough Shoal near the western coast of the northern Philippines. He said in one incid

KONNA, Mali (AP) ― French and Malian troops regained control of the airport and bridge of the crucial, northern city of Gao on Saturday, marking their biggest advance yet in their bid to oust al-Qaida-linked extremists who have controlled northern Mali for months, military officials said. The move comes just two weeks after France launched its military offensive in support of the shaky, central government of this former French colony. It is unclear what kind of resistance French and Malian troop

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Thousands of people, many holding signs with the names of gun violence victims and messages such as “Ban Assault Weapons Now,” joined a rally for gun control in the U.S. capital on Saturday, just days before the Senate begins debating new gun control measures proposed by President Barack Obama.Leading the crowd were marchers with “We Are Sandy Hook” signs, paying tribute to victims of the December elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Washington Mayor Vincent Gray

ATHENS (AP) ― Three opinion polls, to be published in Greek Sunday papers, show conservative New Democracy, the main coalition government partner, slightly ahead of the opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA). The polls in Sunday papers To Vima, Proto Thema and Real News show New Democracy with between 21.5-23.1 percent, compared to 20.2-22 percent for SYRIZA. New Democracy’s leads are below 2 percent but confirm a recent trend in favor of the party. The government recently backed more spendi

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to the state of Nevada this week to push for rapid immigration reform, one of his top priorities for the next four years, the White House said Friday.During the trip, his first since being sworn in this week for a second term, Obama will “redouble the efforts to work with Congress to fix the broken immigration system this year,” the White House said.Earlier Friday, the president met with leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to di

British paleontologists say examination of a fossil of one of Earth's earliest animals shows one of the first evolutionary examples of limbs used for feeding.Further examination of this extremely early soft-bodied animal known as a fuxianhuiid also uncovered the oldest nervous system to stretch beyond the head in fossil record, they said.The analysis was made possible by an extraordinary fossil find in China, the University of Cambridge reported Wednesday.Until now, all fossils found of fuxianhu

BALTIMORE (AP) ― New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving $350 million to alma mater Johns Hopkins University, pushing his lifetime giving to the private Baltimore university past $1 billion, the university said Saturday.University officials believe Bloomberg, who earned his fortune creating the global financial services firm Bloomberg LP, is now the first person to give more than $1 billion to a single U.S. university.Most of the latest gift, $250 million, will go toward a variety of cro

A metro station in Los Angeles, California, will be renamed after a Korean-American politician, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Thursday. The LACMT will add “Alfred Hoyun Song,” the first Asian-American politician to be elected as state senator to the California State Assembly, on its current name “Wilshire/Western Station.” Thus, the station will be renamed as Wilshire/Western/Alfred Hoyun Song Station. Alfred Hoyun Song was born in Hawaii and entered American

Britain, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands urged their citizens to immediately leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, warning of an imminent threat against Westerners days after a deadly hostage crisis in neighboring Algeria. European officials told the Associated Press that schools were among the potential targets.The warnings came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified to Congress about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Bengha

DJENNE, Mali (AP) ― Malian soldiers killed people accused of ties to radical Islamists at a bus stop around the time the French-led military intervention began, a witness told the Associated Press on Wednesday, detailing how the soldiers shot the victims and then threw their bodies into nearby wells. The account from the witness, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals, came the same day that a French human rights group accused Malian forces of dozens of “summary executions” and other ab

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) ―More than 650,000 people have fled the conflict in Syria, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday, as Turkey’s foreign minister pledged Ankara would continue to accept refugees.Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos said the humanitarian situation in Syria was “already catastrophic and clearly getting worse.”“The harsh winter is exacerbating the already appalling conditions. More than 650,000 people have left the country,” she