Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. 　 The patients’ immune systems become damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs as healthy people do. What triggers this isn’t known, but the disease does not seem to be contagious.　 This is another kind of acquired immune deficiency that is not inherited and occurs in adults, but doesn’t spread the way

MOMBASA (AP) ― Hundreds of farmers attacked a village, killing at least 48 people in southeastern Kenya in an escalation of ongoing clashes between the farming and pastoral communities over land and resources, an official said Wednesday. Some people were burned to death in their houses, while others were hacked to death or shot with arrows, said Tana River region police chief Joseph Kavoo. The majority of those killed were women and children, said area resident Said Mgeni. He said the attacks be

PASADENA, California (AP) ― Curiosity took its first test drive around the gravel-strewn Martian terrain Wednesday, preparation for the ultimate road trip to find out if the red planet’s environment could have supported life. The six-wheel NASA rover did not stray far from the spot where it landed more than two weeks ago. It rolled forward about 4.5 meters, rotated to a right angle and reversed a short distance, leaving tracks on the ancient soil. Mission managers were ecstatic that the maiden v

A New Zealand man who assaulted his wife with an ostrich egg after her pet pig ran amok has been jailed for six months, it was reported Thursday.Phillip Russell lost his temper when he discovered the pig had damaged his power saw, verbally abusing his wife, spitting at her then grabbing an ostrich egg from the kitchen table and hurling it at her, Fairfax Media reported.It said Russell, 46, had rep

A man proposed to his girlfriend immediately after the couple was arrested for aggravated robbery, San Antonio, police said.Managers of a Family Dollar Store said they attempted to stop Treila Woods, 24, before she left the store Monday morning, suspecting her of shoplifting. The alleged driver of her getaway car, Sean Foxx, 24, watched her attempt to leave through a broken and unmoving door, and

Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda has told top opposition politicians he plans to call a general election in early November, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday.The agency cited senior lawmakers from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as its source, but did not immediately give further details.Noda was forced to promise the opposition an early general election to gain their support

In a decision contrary to U.S. and Israeli positions, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Iran next week, according to his office.Ban "takes seriously his responsibility and that of the United Nations to pursue diplomatic engagement with all of its member states," it said in a statement, announcing the closely watched decision.The summit of 120 mem

VIENNA (AP) ― Iran is in the final stages of sanitizing a military site it is suspected of using for secret nuclear weapons-related experiments, two senior diplomats said Tuesday, as the U.N. atomic agency intensified efforts to gain access to the area before the alleged clean-up succeeds in erasing any traces of such work. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful contrary to Western fears, has denied experts of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency permission to visit the Par

DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria said it is ready to discuss the departure of President Bashar al-Assad as part of a negotiated settlement to the increasingly ferocious conflict but the U.S. reacted with skepticism.The surprise comments Tuesday by a Syrian envoy visiting Moscow emerged after Russia bluntly told the West not to meddle in Syria in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s warning to Damascus over its chemical weapons arsenal.In Syria, at least 198 people were killed nationwide on Tuesday,