WASHINGTON (AP) ― Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. She was 61.Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was a private person and the details of her illness were kept to just a few people, she said.Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32. After her flight, more than 42 other American women f

HONG KONG (AFP) ― More than 100 people were injured and trees were ripped from the ground as a typhoon lashed Hong Kong packing winds in excess of 140 kilometers an hour, officials said Tuesday.Authorities issued a hurricane warning for the first time since 1999 as Typhoon Vicente roared to within 100 kilometers of Hong Kong shortly after midnight.The alarm was downgraded to a strong wind warning by mid-morning as the cyclone passed to the west and weakened over the southern Chinese coast.The st

AURORA, Colorado (AP) ― Looking dazed and with bright orange dyed hair, the man accused of killing 12 and wounding 58 in a shooting rampage in a Colorado theater appeared Monday in court for the first time.James Holmes, wide-eyed and unshaven, his head bobbing slightly, did not speak during the brief hearing. He will be formally charged next Monday, and it will be months before he would face trial.Authorities say the 24-year-old former graduate student is refusing to cooperate, and it could take

Overseas trip will provide Romney with a chance to attack Obama’s foreign policyWASHINGTON (AFP) ― White House hopeful Mitt Romney trades his bruising campaign battle with U.S. President Barack Obama for the world stage this week when he heads off to meet the leaders of Britain, Israel and Poland.The six-day overseas trip, his first since clinching the Republican Party nomination in April, will provide Romney with a chance to attack Obama’s foreign policy while burnishing his own stature on the

A new study revealed that most women are most confident about their eyes.Lil-Lets, a brand known for feminine hygiene products, found that 23 percent of women thought of their eyes as their best feature through a survey on 2,000 British women. Breasts came in second with 20 percent, and the brain third.The result also showed that most women in the study were satisfied with their body. They were happy with the shape and the size their hips, breasts and waists.Three quarters of them did not want t

A Swedish man said he recently received a postcard his sister sent to their deceased father about 50 years ago.Claes-Hakan Svensson said the postcard had been addressed to his father, Hakan Svensson, and bore a postmark from 1962, and arrived recently at his Varberg home, Swedish news agency TT reported Monday.“I didn‘t understand anything at first. Hakan Svensson is my father and he has been dead for 15 years,” Svensson said. “My sister sent it from a summer camp when she was 10 years old.”The

Savannah DietrichA Kentucky teenager said she was prepared to go to jail after tweeting the names of two juveniles she said sexually assaulted her.Savannah Dietrich, 17, Louisville told a newspaper she was angered at what she saw as a lenient plea bargain being offered the two assailants and wanted the public to know who was responsible.The tweet revealing the names was in violation of court rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu skillfully skirted U.S. politics on Sunday by refusing to endorse either presidential candidate, but openly lamented that Iran’s nuclear program remains intact four years since the last election.The comment by one of the nation’s closest allies ― with heavy political influence among the U.S. electorate ― hinted at a reproach of President Barack Obama, who opposes a near-term military strike on Iran and has focused U.S. policy instead on