A former pastor in Stanley, N.C., has pleaded guilty to engaging in sex acts with two girls while doing mission work in Haiti.Larry Bollinger, 67, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of sexual misconduct with minors, the Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C., reported.Bollinger was charged in May for having sexual relations with the girls, who were 11 and 12 years old at the time, in 2009 while he was doing missionary work for an organization called The Lazarus Project in Haiti."I did what I did and I'

A still-popular Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office for a second term on Sunday, facing a troubled future but hoping to leave behind a battering four years at the helm of a government mired in ugly political division.When Obama first took office as the 44th U.S. president, many Americans hoped the symbolism of the first black man in the White House was a turning point in the country‘s deeply troubled racial history. Obama vowed to moderate the partisan anger engulfing the country,

IN AMENAS (AFP) ― Governments scrambled Sunday to track down missing nationals after the bloody end to a gas plant siege in the heart of the Algerian Sahara that saw Islamists kill 23 foreign and Algerian hostages.Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. said 10 of its Japanese and seven of its foreign workers remained unaccounted for. Five Britons and one U.K. resident are also either dead or still missing.JGC confirmed the safety of 61 of its 78 workers at the In Amenas facility in the desert that

ABIDJAN (AFP) ― West African leaders Saturday sought urgent U.N. aid for a regional force to fight Islamists in Mali as President Francois Hollande said French troops would remain as long as needed to stamp out “terrorism.”The emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc also called on member states and Chad, which has pledged 2,000 troops, to put words into action without haste.Only about 100 African soldiers of a planned 5,800 African force have so far reache

Accidental gunfire at three gun shows around the United States on Saturday left five injured, authorities said.Three people were injured in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show at the state fairgrounds, a quarterly event that usually draws thousands of people. State agriculture department spokesman Brian Long said a 12-gauge shotgun discharged as its owner unzipped its case for a law enforcement officer to check at a security entrance.Two bystanders were hit by shotgun pellet

This is not the first time an eBay seller manages to accidentally expose their naked body on photos of the items they‘re selling, but it is the first time the photo is stolen and goes viral on the internet. Aimi Jones, 21, uploaded a photo of the yellow mustard dress she was selling on eBay Saturday morning not knowing she appeared in the mirror’s reflection in her bra and no panties, The Sun reported.“It‘s so embarrassing. It is such a dizzy, stupid thing to do and now the whole world’s seen me

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.With few details emerging from the remote site in eastern Algeria, it was unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday seven was how many the militants had said that

U.S. investigators, Boeing engineers join investigation in Japan of troubled jet

BAMAKO (AP) ― French special forces inched closer to an al-Qaida-held town, fighting erupted in another center and army troops raced to protect a third, as the Islamic extremists controlling northern Mali ceded no ground Thursday, digging into the areas they already occupy and sending out scouts to widen their reach. Banamba, a town just 144 kilometers from the capital, Bamako, was put on alert overnight and a contingent of roughly 100 Malian soldiers sped there on Thursday after a reported sigh

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― Pauline Friedman Phillips, who as Dear Abby dispensed snappy, sometimes saucy advice on love, marriage and meddling mothers-in-law to millions of newspaper readers around the world, has died. She was 94.Phillips’ column, which appeared in 1,000 newspapers as far off as Brazil and Thailand, competed for decades with the advice column of Ann Landers, written by her twin sister, Esther Friedman Lederer. Their relationship was stormy in their early adult years, but later they rega

Malawi education authorities on Thursday challenged a claim by American pop queen Madonna that her charity last year built 10 new schools in the poor southern African nation.“The schools Raising Malawi claims to have constructed were already in existence,” Education Minister Eunice Kazembe said.“Raising Malawi only built 10 classroom blocks and not schools. People should know the difference between the two.” In December Madonna’s charity in tandem with global non-profit buildOn, announced the co

U.S. authorities arrested 12 people charged with bringing women from Mexico and Nicaragua into the United States and forcing them to work as prostitutes, the Justice Department said Thursday.Eleven women were rescued from the traffickers and 44 other people were detained for questioning, said a statement from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.The leader of the gang, identified as Joaquin Mendez Hernandez, was said to have brought women into the country with the promise of empl