French President Francois Hollande's Socialists and allies were poised to secure a majority needed to push through tax-and-spend reforms after Sunday's first round parliamentary vote, exit polls said.The election also saw a surge in support for Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front, which wants to ditch the euro and battles against what she calls the "Islamization" of France.Estimates released

Capping a record-setting season with a spectacular display, Lionel Messi scored from three dazzling runs to finish with an unprecedented 82 goals for club and country and lead Argentina over South American rival Brazil 4-3 in a friendly Saturday.“It was a very good year, and this was a great way to finish it,” Messi said through a translator.Already a three-time FIFA Player of the Year at age 24,

Spain became the fourth and largest country to ask Europe to rescue its failing banks, a bailout of up to (euro) 100 billion ($125 billion) that leaders hoped would stabilize a financial crisis that threatens to break apart the 17-country eurozone.The rescue offer follows growing pressure from international investors and the Obama administration and comes a week before elections in Greece, whose v

North Korea said Saturday that it has no immediate plan to conduct a third nuclear test.The North's latest announcement made through a statement issued by its foreign ministry spokesman came amid growing international concern about its possible nuclear test following April's failed rocket launch."(South Korea) seeks to rattle the nerves of the DPRK (North Korea) in a bid to cause it to conduct a n

Tribal leaders denied reports that five women, including four pictured singing and dancing with men at a wedding party in Kohistan, Pakistan, were executed.Two officials said the women were alive and safe in their homes and denied that a jirga -- a tribal assembly of elders -- had sentenced the women to death, the Express Tribune reported Sunday.Muhammad Afzal, a brother of two men accused of shoo

A gas leak accident occurred Thursday afternoon at a polysilicon factory based in Yeosu, a port city 455 kilometers south of Seoul, poisoning more than 40 workers, fire authorities said.A total of 42 affected employees of Hankook Silicon Co. were taken to several nearby hospitals, with 41 of them experiencing bouts of nausea, the fire authorities said, but no casualties were reported.The company h

South Korean banks' household loans rose in May from the previous month due to lowering of interest rates by some lenders and more purchases made with credit cards, the central bank said Thursday. Local banks' household loans, including home-backed loans and credit loans, reached 455.8 trillion won (US$389.1 billion) as of the end of May, up 2.2 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the

The earth's environmental systems ``are being pushed towards their biophysical limits,'' beyond which loom sudden, irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes, the United Nations Environment Program warned Wednesday.In a 525-page report on the health of the planet, the agency paints a grim picture:  The melting of the polar ice caps, desertification in Africa, deforestation of tropical jungl

A 2-year-old North Carolina girl flipped her parents' sport utility vehicle in a neighbor's yard while they were sleeping, authorities said.The York County Sheriff's Office said deputies responding to a call about a child in the roadway arrived at the intersection of Celanese and Twin Lakes Roads in Rock Hill about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and discovered the Chevy Tahoe on its side in a ditch, WBTV-TV, Ch