French police searched Nicolas Sarkozy's offices and home Tuesday as part of their probe into suspected illegal financing of his successful 2007 presidential election campaign, his lawyer said.Magistrates are investigating claims that staff for Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics empire and France's richest woman, gave envelopes stuffed with cash to Sarkozy aides to finance the c

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday made a repeat trip to one of the four Pacific Kuril islands claimed by Japan, drawing new protests from Tokyo following years of unrelenting tensions.Medvedev arrived on the island of Kunashir which lies just north of Japan's Hokkaido island, pledging to improve the lives of the disputed chain's residents."The farthest region of our state cannot an

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) ― British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline will pay $3 billion in fines ― the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history ― for criminal and civil violations involving 10 drugs that are taken by millions of people. The Justice Department said Monday that GlaxoSmithKline PLC will plead guilty to promoting popular antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses. The company also will plead guilty to failing to report to the government for seven years some safety

CAIRO (AP) ― Standing before tens of thousands of adoring supporters in Tahrir Square, President Mohammed Morsi opened his jacket in a show of bravado to prove he was not wearing a bullet-proof vest. The message was clear: He has nothing to fear because he sees himself as the legitimate representative of Egypt’s uprising.In the week since he was named president, Morsi has portrayed himself as a simple man, uninterested in the trappings of power and refusing to take up residence in the presidenti

HAVANA (AFP) ― Cuban President Raul Castro has departed on a tour of Asian allies China and Vietnam that will include four days in Beijing and a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, officials said Monday.The official Granma newspaper said Castro flew out of Havana on Sunday, but did not reveal other details about his visit to Cuba’s two key Communist allies in Asia, also its most important trade partners in the region.In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed that Castro would meet

MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday rejected the victory of rival Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico’s presidential election as “fraudulent.”“We cannot accept a fraudulent result, nobody can accept that,” Lopez Obrador said at a press conference in the capital, claiming that Sunday’s vote was “filthy.”Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party declared victory late Sunday after the first official results showed him with 38 percent of the vote, against 3

So far this year, there have been 60 shootings in Sydney due to heightened tension between motorcycle gangs, police say.The tension has led to innocent bystanders getting caught in gun violence, such as a 2-month-old baby who recently survived a drive-by shooting at a house where she was sleeping, Sky News reported.In an effort to curb gang activity and shootings, police have began raiding local h

KYODO -- Low levels of radioactive cesium were found in 141 infants and children in Japan's Fukushima prefecture, a study found.The average amount of cesium in the 141 samples was 2.2 becquerels per kilogram, but three cases had over 10 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, Kyodo News reported.An average of about 64 becquerels of radioactive potassium, which is found naturally in the environment, was

WASHINGTON - Nearly 1.8 million people in the eastern U.S. faced a third sweltering day without power Monday as the death toll from weekend summer storms rose to 22, and utility officials said power likely would not return for several days.Stifling homes and spoiled food were some of the challenges as temperatures approached or exceeded 38 degrees Celsius. Concerns rose about the sick and elderly