DAMASCUS (AFP) ― A Syrian fighter jet hit targets inside Damascus for the first time on Tuesday, a watchdog said, as air strikes pounded rebel bastions around the country and an air force general was shot dead.It dropped four bombs on the east Damascus neighborhood of Jobar, near the opposition-held suburb of Zamalka, where rebel fighters were locked in fierce clashes with the army, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.There were no reports of casualties in the bombing run, which AFP cor

A French court on Tuesday slapped a two-year suspended sentence on a Russian woman who kidnapped her seven-year-old daughter from the girl's French father in 2009.Irina Belenkaya was convicted on two counts of kidnapping and assault against the girl's father Jean-Michel Andre, who has custody of the child.A court in the southwestern town of Tarascon ordered Belenkaya to pay 8,000 euros ($10,000) in damages. Andre had sought 63,000 euros.The girl Elise was abducted on March 20, 2009 by Belenkaya

NEW YORK (AP) -- As Superstorm Sandy churned slowly inland, millions along the U.S. East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were unusually dark and abandoned. At least 17 people were killed in seven states.The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph (130 kph) sustained winds cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio and put the presidential campaign on hold one week before Electio

BEIRUT (AP) ― Syrian fighter jets pounded rebel areas across the country on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria’s troubles started 19 months ago.The death toll for what was supposed to be a four-day cease-fire between the regime of President Bashar Assad and rebels seeking his overthrow exceeded 500, and activists guessed the government’s heavy reliance on air power reflected its inability to roll back rebel g

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― President Barack Obama left the campaign trail Monday to lead his nation at a moment of crisis, steering the response to Hurricane Sandy, which left the endgame of the White House race in turmoil.Republican Mitt Romney joined the president in cancelling campaign appearances as high winds, swamping tides and lashing rain hit the northeastern United States and conjured a moment of political peril for the rivals.Coming so close to the neck-and-neck election on Nov. 6, the potenti

When a 14-year-old girl received a Facebook friend request from an older man she didn't know, she accepted it out of curiosity. It's a click she will forever regret, leading to a brutal story that has repeated itself as sexual predators find new ways to exploit Indonesia's growing obsession with social media.The junior high student was quickly smitten by the man's smooth online flattery. They exchanged phone numbers, and his attention increased with rapid-fire texts. He convinced her to meet in

Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline and hurled a record-breaking 13-foot (4-meter) surge of seawater at New York City on Monday, roaring ashore and putting the presidential campaign on hold a week before Election Day. At least 14 deaths were blamed on the storm. Sandy knocked out power to at least 5.7 million people across the U.S. East, and New York's main utility said large sections of Manhattan had been plunged into darkness by the storm, with 250,000 customers without powe

A major airport in northern Japan reopened Wednesday after bomb squads barricaded the area around an unexploded bomb from World War II.Flights resumed at Sendai Airport after military troops worked through the night to pile sandbags around the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb, which was uncovered during construction near a runway two days earlier.The airport, a regional hub for northeastern Japan, was closed all day Tuesday, with 92 flights cancelled.    The rust-covered bomb was surrounded by sand

A New York University class on transnational terrorism is asking students to plan hypothetical terrorist attacks down to the detail.Marie-Helen Maras, a former Navy criminal investigator teaching the class, is instructing her pupils to “step into [a terrorist‘s] shoes” for the 10- to 15-page assignment and “describe your hypothetical attack and what will happen in the aftermath of the attack,” the New York Post reported Monday.The hypothetical attack must stay within the chosen terrorist group’s

Syrian warplanes launched 60 airstrikes against rebel targets around the country on Monday, the most intense air raids across the country since the uprising began 19 months ago, according to anti-regime activists. The suburbs of the capital Damascus were particularly hard hit.Activists said at least 500 people were killed over the four-day period ending Monday when a U.N.-backed truce was supposed to be in effect.  They said the death toll for Monday so far has reached 80 and would likely rise f