BERLIN (AFP) ― German judicial authorities Friday officially said for the first time that Nazi war criminal Aribert Heim, known as “Doctor Death,” had died in Egypt in 1992 as reported.A regional court in the southwestern town of Baden-Baden said it was abandoning an investigation because there was “no doubt” the body found in Cairo was that of Heim, who had changed his identity and converted to Islam.“The criminal case against Dr. Aribert Heim on suspicion of multiple murders has been abandoned

Police in Florida said a man accused of exposing himself to an underage girl sent her a Facebook message asking her to "please drop the charges."The Bradenton Police Department alleges Broderick Cameron Furlow, 25 -- who was arrested in May for allegedly exposing his genitals to the girl at a bus stop -- sent her a Facebook message Tuesday asking her to drop the charges, or at least fail to show u

Houston police shot and killed a mentally troubled, wheelchair-bound double amputee Saturday, authorities said.Police said Brian Claunch, described as a schizophrenic in his 40s, was waving a writing pen when he was fatally shot about 2 a.m. at a personal care residence, the Houston Chronicle reported.John Garcia, owner of the home, said Claunch had become upset when his caretaker wouldn't give hi

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda prevailed in a ruling party leadership vote and now faces a decision on whether to call elections as he grapples with a slowing economy and a territorial spat with China. Noda’s win in today’s Democratic Party of Japan contest allows him to remain premier because the DPJ controls the more powerful lower house of parliament. The main opposition Liberal Democra

MARSEILLE (AFP) -- A French Muslim teenager who was arrested for wearing a full Islamic veil was sent to prison for two months Thursday after being convicted of biting a policewoman.Louise-Marie Suisse, 18, was stopped by two police officers near a mosque in the centre of Marseille in late July.She was wearing a full-face veil, in breach of a ban introduced last year, and refused to cooperate with the police when asked to produce identity papers, her trial was told.The teenager, who admitted bit

A Greek Orthodox priest in Ohio has been arrested on charges including attempted rape after allegedly trying to arrange to have sex with boys, police said.The Franklin County Sheriff‘s Office said in a release the Rev. Patrick Hughes, 56, was arrested at 7 p.m. Tuesday when he arrived at a location where he thought he was going to meet two boys, ages 9 and 14, for a sexual encounter, The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday.Hughes, acting dean at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Colum

Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan - the visa stamps in Matt Harding's passport are of the less usual kind. It is thanks to dancing that the 35-year-old American has made his way around the globe, stopping in exotic and rarely visited places."I know that I've passed the figure of 100 countries. Since then, I stopped counting," revealed the globetrotter in an interview with dpa from his home in Seattle

A 66-year-old Florida man said he wrestled a 7-foot-long alligator to rescue his "best friend," a West Highland Terrier.Steve Gustafson of The Villages said he was trimming an oak tree outside of his house Friday when he heard his 9-year-old dog, Bounce, cry out in pain, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Wednesday.Gustafson said he looked to the source of the sound and saw Bounce was being held

Seventeen leading universities in the U.S. and abroad will start offering free cyber courses through the online education platform Coursera, the company said Wednesday. The announcement by Mountain View-based Coursera underscores the rapid expansion of so-called MOOCs, or massive open online courses, that are reshaping the higher education landscape.Coursera, a for-profit company started by two co

Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader-in-waiting, and U.S. defense chief Leon Panetta held "constructive and candid" talks Wednesday on North Korea and other global security challenges and on territorial disputes in Asia, according to the Pentagon.Panetta's meeting with Xi in Beijing highlighted the secretary's trip to Asia, which also took him to Tokyo."Secretary Panetta and Vice President Xi also discu

France stepped up security Wednesday at its embassies across the Muslim world after a French satirical weekly revived a formula that it has already used to capture attention: Publishing crude, lewd caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Wednesday's issue of the provocative satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were firebombed last year, raised concerns that France could face violent prot