Romney and Obama fight for edge on Medicare - Detroit Free Press
BOSTON — All of a sudden, the jobs-and-economy election is all about Medicare — for now, at least. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is embracing a topic his party usually approaches gingerly. He is taking a calculated risk that voters' … Tropical storm heads for landfall on Mexican coast
After forming close to shore, Tropical Storm Helene headed north along Mexico’s Gulf coast early Saturday posing a threat to areas where thousands of people were still recovering from flooding spawned last week by Hurricane Ernesto.
THE harsh sentences given for Russian punk band Pussy Riot's protest against Vladimir Putin signal a Kremlin refusal to tolerate dissent as the strongman seeks to retain his hold on power, analysts and activists said. The sentences defied a huge … 
< Prev of 4 Next > THE US has led the global condemnation of the two-year sentences given to Russian punk band Pussy Riot, as supporters of the women grabbed balaclavas and took to the streets in protest around the world. The sentences were called … 
Play CBS News Video (CBS News) ARLINGTON, Va. – Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate, and his wife Janna paid an effective tax rate of 20 percent in 2011 and 15.9 percent in 2010, according to returns released by Romney's campaign on … 
China welcomed the naming of Lakhdar Brahimi as the new international envoy for the conflict in Syria, vowing support and cooperation for his mission after he replaced Kofi Annan. 
China has called on Japan to pursue "dialogue and negotiation" to resolve the two countries' escalating territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both. 
The head of the select committee inquiry into the Libor rate-rigging scandal has attacked ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond for giving "highly selective" evidence, as its report was published Saturday. 
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has warned champions Manchester City that his side's swoop for Arsenal striker Robin van Persie could tilt the balance of power in the Premier League back to Old Trafford. 
MOSCOW -- Three young women who staged an anti-Putin stunt in Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral, and whose jailing became a cause célèbre championed by artists around the world, were convicted of hooliganism on Friday and sentenced to two years in a … 
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge rejected Facebook Inc's proposed legal settlement to resolve allegations that the social networking company violated its members' rights through the its 'Sponsored Stories' advertising feature. In an order on Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco listed several concerns with the proposed settlement, including a request for more information on why the agreement does not award any money to members. Seeborg said the company and attorneys for the plaintiffs could try to modify their agreement to address his concerns. … 
SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd abused its "monopoly power" and demanded an unreasonable royalty from Apple Inc for the use of wireless patents in the iPhone, hurting the device's commercial prospects, Apple experts testified. Richard Donaldson, a former lead patents attorney for Texas Instruments Inc, told the court on Friday a 2.4 percent royalty Samsung wanted on the price of the iPhone was discriminatory because the patents in question enabled just a fraction of the smartphone' s features. … 
Britain said Friday it "fully supports" the appointment of veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi as the new international envoy for the conflict in Syria. 
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a possible human case of West Nile virus, as well as a possible case of eastern equine encephalitis, also known as EEE. State epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Sears … 
By By Vladimir Isachenkov on August 17, 2012 MOSCOW (AP) -- Three punk rock-style activists who briefly took over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism on Friday, … 
President Jacob Zuma rushed home from a regional summit Friday and announced an official inquiry into a police shooting of striking miners that left 34 dead and 78 wounded, an incident that police claimed was self-defense despite video recordings suggesting the protesters were not attacking them but running from clouds of tear gas. 
By By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, AP - 1 minute ago MOSCOW (AP) -- Three punk rock-style activists who briefly took over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism on Friday, … 
By DEVON MAYLIE MARIKANA, South Africa--A day after firing live ammunition that killed nearly three dozen striking platinum miners here, South African police sought to justify the use of deadly force, as families searched for lost relatives and the … 
Entire neighborhoods of Syria's largest city bear battle scars: buildings toppled by government shells, charred tanks blown up by rebels and trash-strewn no-man's lands where neither side has full control after nearly a month of deadly street battles. 
Three punk rock-style activists who briefly took over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism on Friday, a decision that drew protests around the world as it highlighted the Russian president's intensifying crackdown on dissent. 
CAIRO (Reuters) – A media crackdown in the first month of Mohamed Mursi's rule has raised fears Egypt's Islamist president is moving to stifle criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood. This week, formal accusations by state prosecutors were filed against two journalists, while an issue of the newspaper al-Dostour was confiscated by the state's censorship unit – disappointing those who believed last year's overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak would lead to greater media freedom. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wildfires sparked by lightning near Canada's Hudson Bay are threatening the habitat of polar bears, encroaching on the old tree roots and frozen soil where females make their dens, a conservation expert on the big, white bears said on Thursday. Polar bears are more typically threatened by the melting of sea ice, which they use as platforms for hunting seals, their main prey. But those who live near Hudson Bay spend their summers resting up on shore when the bay thaws, living in dens dug in the frozen soil among the roots of stunted spruce trees. … 
Spain made a formal complaint to Britain Friday in a simmering dispute over fishing off the territory of Gibraltar. 
A Salafist official accused Gaza's Hamas rulers on Friday of arresting an activist wounded in an Israeli air raid as part of a crackdown since the deadly Sinai attack on August 5. 
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia's president dismissed a U.N. report that accused senior leaders of corruption and defended his record as he campaigned for re-election in a landmark vote. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who took over as head of a Western-backed transitional government in 2009, also promised he would step down if he lost – in an apparent answer to some critics who are concerned he could be planning to cling on to power. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's re-election campaign said on Friday that if Mitt Romney releases five years of his tax returns, it would not press the Republican presidential challenger to release more – a proposal quickly rejected by … 
A few days ago, Hazem left his wife and 11-month-old son in England and flew to Turkey with another Syrian-born doctor from Manchester to offer help on the front line in Aleppo. 
An international military intervention planned for the Democratic Republic of Congo's restive east would have 4,000 troops from different African countries, Defence Minister Alexandre Luba Ntambo said Friday. 
Britain added its voice to the international chorus of criticism of Russia on Friday after a court jailed three members of punk band Pussy Riot for criticising President Vladimir Putin. 
Britain is considering using an obscure law to extract Julian Assange from Ecuador's embassy in London, but law experts say the possibility is slim — and one says London's actions are "stupid". 
Hundreds of Palestinians held a protest in the Gaza Strip Friday against Israel and its hold over Jerusalem on the annual Iranian-inspired Quds (Jerusalem) Day. 
The Philippines' human rights chief called on Friday for a political ally of President Benigno Aquino to be investigated over a vigilante "death squad" that carried out hundreds of killings. 
The Syrian economy has been hit hard by more than 17 months of revolt but may still hold on despite international sanctions with the help of friendly countries such as Russia, Iran and Iraq, experts say. 
Lonmin, the world's number three platinum producer, on Friday pledged to help identify and bury 34 mineworkers killed by police during a protest over wages, the deadliest since the end of apartheid. 
Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah will transform the lives of Israelis to "hell" if Israel attacks Lebanon, its leader said on Friday, adding that the group would not hesitate to hit targets that would leave tens of thousands of Israelis dead. 
Syrians took to the streets of the northern rebel-held town of Marea after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, lashing out angrily as the regime's bloody onslaught shows no sign of abating. 
It was a warning meant to remind Ecuador that Britain's patience has limits. But as the stalemate over Julian Assange settled in Friday, it appeared London's veiled threat that it could storm Ecuador's embassy and drag Assange out has backfired -- drawing supporters to the mission where the WikiLeaks founder is holed up and prompting angry denunciations from Ecuador and elsewhere. 
The Spanish construction group Ferrovial said Friday it will sell off a further 10-percent stake in British airport operator BAA which controls London's Heathrow airport. 
Calm returned to Gabon's capital Friday as the nation celebrated its independence day, though opposition supporters vowed to continue their campaign to oust President Ali Bongo Ondimba. 
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was fined £45,000 ($70,000, 57,000 euros) by the Football Association on Friday for improper conduct over comments he made on Twitter relating to the John Terry racism trial. 
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called Friday for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime to be "smashed fast" as he visited Turkey's largest refugee camp near the border. 
Night has fallen on the Saif al-Dawla district in Aleppo. A man takes out the rubbish after the iftar meal breaking the Ramadan fast, an old woman unpegs the laundry from her line and quickly shutters her balcony. 
Some might say that Lakhdar Brahimi is crazy to try to end the Syria conflict, but the veteran troubleshooter says he has never believed there is a war that is too "hopeless" to tackle. 
Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, will take over from Kofi Annan as the international envoy on the Syria conflict, the United Nations said Friday. 
Nigeria tightened security and the United States warned of the risk of attacks Friday ahead of this weekend's Eid festivities, which mark the end of the Muslim month of fasting. 
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that his Iranian-backed Shiite militia would make lives of Israelis "a living hell" if it is attacked. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Julian Assange's supporters outside the London embassy where he is confined say he is being persecuted for speaking truth to power, but free speech campaigners further afield say the WikiLeaks founder has lost his way and damaged the cause. The Australian has been seeking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy for eight weeks to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape. … 
A bomb blast in the volatile central Nigerian city of Jos has injured a civilian and damaged a police station as well as nearby houses, an army spokesman said on Friday. 
A month after the suicide bombing of an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria, investigators have made no major breakthroughs but progress has been encouraging, the country's interior minister told AFP Friday. 
A Mauritanian man has slit the throats of his four children to avoid the expense of buying them new clothes for the upcoming Muslim holiday Eid-al-fitr, sources close to the family said Friday.