• 
  Obama refocuses terror threat to pre-9/11 level

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Some call it wishful thinking, but President Barack Obama has all but declared an end to the global war on terror.

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  Anti-Muslim actions rise in UK over slain soldier

  LONDON (AP) — Police, politicians and activists in Britain are warning of rising anti-Muslim sentiment following the slaughter of an off-duty British soldier in a London street, an apparent act of Islamic extremism that has horrified the nation.

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  NTSB says Wash. bridge collapse is wake-up call

  SEATTLE (AP) — The collapse of an Interstate highway bridge in northern Washington state is a wake-up call for the entire nation, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board says.

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  Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse

  SEATTLE (AP) — Thousands of bridges around the U.S. may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse, even if the spans are deemed structurally sound.

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  French soldier stabbed in throat outside Paris

  PARIS (AP) — A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris on Saturday, and the government said it was trying to determine if there were any links to the brutal killing of a British soldier by suspected Islamic extremists.

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  Protesters across globe rally against Monsanto

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Protesters rallied in dozens of cities Saturday as part of a global protest against seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces, organizers said.

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  San Antonio flooding kills 2; 200-plus rescued

  SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two women died after being swept away by floodwaters after weekend rains deluged numerous roads in San Antonio, forcing more than 235 rescues by emergency workers who aided stranded motorists and homeowners at times using inflatable boats.

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  Hezbollah chief commits to victory in Syria

  BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group vowed to help propel President Bashar Assad to victory in Syria's bloody civil war, warning that the fall of the Damascus regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a "dark period."

• Gay soccer player Robbie Rogers joins LA Galaxy

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Until about a month ago, Robbie Rogers had no interest in being one of the highest-profile openly gay athletes in the world.

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  Quick, long-term fixes in works for Wash. bridge

  SEATTLE (AP) — It's going to take time to find both short- and long-term fixes for the bridge that collapsed on Interstate 5, Washington state officials said Saturday as federal inspectors scoured for clues that may impact bridge safety across the nation.

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  San Antonio flooding kills 2; 200-plus rescued

  SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two women died after being swept away by floodwaters after weekend rains deluged numerous roads in San Antonio, forcing more than 235 rescues by emergency workers who aided stranded motorists and homeowners at times using inflatable boats.

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  NTSB says Wash. bridge collapse is wake-up call

  SEATTLE (AP) — The collapse of an Interstate highway bridge in northern Washington state is a wake-up call for the entire nation, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board says.

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  Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse

  SEATTLE (AP) — Thousands of bridges around the U.S. may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse, even if the spans are deemed structurally sound.

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  Mo. highway buckles after rail cars hit overpass

  CHAFFEE, Mo. (AP) — A highway overpass in southeast Missouri collapsed early Saturday when rail cars slammed into one of the bridge's pillars after a cargo train collision, authorities said. Seven people were injured, though none seriously.

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  Tornado upon them, quick choices decided fate

  MOORE, Okla. (AP) — They say you should never make a big decision when you're emotional. But what if there's barely a moment to think and a life-or-death choice looming?

• Ore. teen accused of planning to attack school

  PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon teenager intended to blow up his school in a plot "forged and inspired by the model of the Columbine shootings" and he will be charged with attempted aggravated murder, a prosecutor said late Saturday.

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  Kerry meets with runners from Boston Marathon

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The winner of the men's race at the Boston Marathon says he is returning his winner's medal to honor the city and those killed and injured in the terrorist bombings near the finish line of one of the world's top running events.

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  Graduates in tornado-raked Okla. town vow to stay

  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Seven tornadoes have swept through their town since they were born, but as new graduates donned caps and gowns to say goodbye to their high schools Saturday, they vowed they wouldn't say goodbye to Moore.

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  LA stoplights synchronized but road war endures

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — It seems that the impossible has occurred: The nation's most congested city has become a model for traffic control.

• Colorado killer's reprieve sharply criticized

  DENVER (AP) — Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper's decision to block the execution of convicted killer Nathan Dunlap for as long as he is governor infuriated victims' relatives and drew quick criticism from Republicans ahead of the 2014 election.

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  Anti-Muslim actions rise in UK over slain soldier

  LONDON (AP) — Police, politicians and activists in Britain are warning of rising anti-Muslim sentiment following the slaughter of an off-duty British soldier in a London street, an apparent act of Islamic extremism that has horrified the nation.

• 2-child limit for Muslims in parts of Myanmar

  YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Authorities in Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence.

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  Hezbollah chief commits to victory in Syria

  BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group vowed to help propel President Bashar Assad to victory in Syria's bloody civil war, warning that the fall of the Damascus regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a "dark period."

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  Kerry makes 1st official sub-Saharan Africa trip

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and Sout Sudan.

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  Fragments of biblical treasure are up for sale

  JERUSALEM (AP) — Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are up for sale — in tiny pieces.

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  Liberia denies resource deals violated laws

  The Liberian government denied on Friday it had violated its own laws in awarding resource contracts and pledged to implement the recommendations of an independent audit into the deals.

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  Government support dips as Spaniards tire of crisis, corruption

  Public support for Spain's ruling center-right party has slipped following a high-level corruption scandal and ongoing recession, and Spaniards remain pessimistic about the political and economic outlook, a poll showed on Friday.

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  Somalia's security forces hamstrung by corruption, infiltrators

  Somalia's security forces need rebuilding to cement gains made by foreign troops against Islamist militants, but how to pay and arm recruits, tackle corruption and prevent rebels infiltrating their ranks remain hurdles for the cash-strapped government.

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  FBI releases photos of three men from Benghazi attack site

  The FBI on Thursday released the photographs of three men it said were at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked last September.

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  Anti-EU party shakes British PM's Conservatives in local vote

  The anti-European Union UK Independence Party made sweeping gains in local elections, siphoning support from British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives in a vote that exposed a threat to his re-election chances in 2015.

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  Hagel: Cadets must stamp out sex assault scourge

  WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday that they must stamp out the scourge of sexual assault in the military.

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  Community outreach key to Obama counterterror plan

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Within hours of the Boston Marathon blasts, government officials and Boston Muslims called each other to offer assistance, calls that were the fruits of years of cultivating such relationships in an effort to ultimately prevent the very type of attack Boston experienced April 15.

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  Obama's speechwriter: from intern to top wordsmith

  WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama decided to attend a memorial service in Arizona for victims of a deadly mass shooting that severely injured then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, he needed a speech. And fast.

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  Kerry meets with runners from Boston Marathon

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The winner of the men's race at the Boston Marathon says he is returning his winner's medal to honor the city and those killed and injured in the terrorist bombings near the finish line of one of the world's top running events.

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  Key senators tightly control immigration debate

  WASHINGTON (AP) — For all the soothing words she heard from fellow Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii never had a chance to win a relatively modest change to far-reaching immigration legislation.

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  Obama refocuses terror threat to pre-9/11 level

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Some call it wishful thinking, but President Barack Obama has all but declared an end to the global war on terror.

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  Political landscape changes with improving economy

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Alleged misbehavior by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies gives the GOP something else to talk about and investigate as the economy clearly, if slowly, recovers on President Barack Obama's watch, robbing Republicans of a central argument against Democrats.

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  Kerry makes 1st official sub-Saharan Africa trip

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and Sout Sudan.

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  Obama: Nation must do more for fallen heroes

  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the nation must do more than just remember its fallen heroes on Memorial Day.

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  Obama OKs honor for Birmingham bombing victims

  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America."

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• Feds fight morning-after pill age ruling in NY

  NEW YORK (AP) — Department of Justice lawyers have again asked a federal appeals court in New York to delay lifting age restrictions and prescription requirements on an emergency contraceptive popularly known as the morning-after pill.

• EU court finds Swiss assisted-suicide laws vague

  GENEVA (AP) — An elderly Swiss woman who would rather end her life now than decline further in health found sympathy Tuesday from the European Court of Human Rights, which called on the Swiss to clarify their laws on so-called passive assisted suicide.

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  Women have more options for breast cancer surgery

  CHICAGO (AP) — One of the world's most glamorous women had an operation that once was terribly disfiguring — removal of both breasts. But new approaches are dramatically changing breast surgeries, whether to treat cancer or to prevent it as Angelina Jolie just chose to do. As Jolie said, "the resuls can be beautiful.

• Govt stops study seeking to prevent type of stroke

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has halted a study testing treatments for a condition in the brain that can cause strokes. Early results suggest invasive therapies are riskier than previously thought.

• Study: No higher cancer rate at Conn. Pratt plant

  HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Researchers examining the incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut say they have found no statistically significant elevations in the rate of cancer among workers.

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  Measles surges in UK years after flawed research

  LONDON (AP) — More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease.

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  Cancer Society hits 100 as US cancer rate falls

  NEW YORK (AP) — The American Cancer Society — one of the nation's best known and influential health advocacy groups — is 100 years old this week.

• Nearly all US states see hefty drop in teen births

  NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report.

• Portland, Ore., rejecting water fluoridation

  PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of Portland, Ore., has conceded defeat in an effort to add fluoride to the city's drinking water.

• Court: woman can seek lawyer fees in vaccine case

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says a woman can seek lawyers' fees from the government even though her lawsuit over damage she said was caused by a vaccine was ruled untimely.

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  Oklahoma gets far more than its share of disasters

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Many states get hit frequently with tornadoes and other natural catastrophes, but Oklahoma is Disaster Central.

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  Cockroaches quickly lose sweet tooth to survive

  NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in an apartment test kitchen in Florida, something went very wrong.

• Communications satellite launched into space

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A new military communications satellite has been launched into space.

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  NASA head views progress on asteroid lasso mission

  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Surrounded by engineers, NASA chief Charles Bolden inspected a prototype spacecraft engine that could power an audacious mission to lasso an asteroid and tow it closer to Earth for astronauts to explore.

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  Hurricane outlook: Another busy Atlantic season

  COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Get ready for another busy hurricane season, maybe an unusually wild one, federal forecasters say.

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  Solar-powered plane takes off for flight across U.S.

  A solar-powered airplane that developers hope to eventually pilot around the world took off early on Friday from San Francisco Bay on the first leg of an attempt to fly across the United States with no fuel but the sun's energy.

• Space junk needs to be removed from Earth's orbit: ESA

  Space junk such as debris from rockets must be removed from the Earth's orbit to avoid crashes that could cost satellite operators millions of euros and knock out mobile and GPS networks, the European Space Agency said.

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  Alexander Graham Bell speaks, and 2013 hears his voice

  Nine years after he placed the first telephone call, Alexander Graham Bell tried another experiment: he recorded his voice on a wax-covered cardboard disc on April 15, 1885, and gave it an audio signature: "Hear my voice - Alexander Graham Bell."

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  Campaigners call for ban on "killer robots"

  Machines with the ability to attack targets without any human intervention must be banned before they are developed for use on the battlefield, campaigners against "killer robots" urged on Tuesday.

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  Virgin's passenger spaceship completes first rocket test flight

  (Reuters) - A six-passenger spaceship owned by an offshoot of Virgin Group fired its rocket engine in flight for the first time on Monday, a key step toward the start of commercial service in about a year, Virgin owner Richard Branson said.

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• Vintage Apple computer auctioned off for $668,000

  BERLIN (AP) — An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers — a functioning 1976 model — has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).

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  For Philadelphia bicyclist, a cat is his co-pilot

  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — For bicyclist Rudi Saldia, you could say a cat is his co-pilot.

• Police: 'Thong Cape Scooter Man' not breaking law

  MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man who wears thong underwear and a cape while riding his scooter through Wisconsin's capital city may be a strange sight. But police say he isn't breaking any laws.

• Fugitive in LA attempted-murder case held in Colo.

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man wanted for 13 years on attempted murder charges in Los Angeles was captured in Colorado after someone called police to report he was urinating on a wall outside a KFC restaurant.

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  Council members abstain from vote on abstaining

  YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Three members of a Michigan city council have abstained from voting on a measure that would have prevented them from abstaining on future votes.

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  Brown hounded for calling Manila 'gates of hell'

  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Dan Brown's description of Manila as "the gates of hell" in the American novelist's latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital.

• Crane accident cuts power to one-third of Vietnam

  HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — One mistake by a clumsy crane operator caused a 10-hour blackout over about a third of Vietnam, exposing the fragility of the nation's power grid.

• Bold turkey: woman hits cop to kick smoking habit

  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Think you've heard of every way possible to quit smoking? Etta Mae Lopez came up with a new one: slap a cop and go to jail, where smoking isn't allowed.

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  Ferris wheel ride world record broken in Chicago

  CHICAGO (AP) — A manager of Chicago's Navy Pier rode the tourist spot's Ferris wheel for more than two days — 384 times, up and around — bringing the world record for the longest ride to the birthplace of the amusement park favorite.

• Thailand urged to explore edible insect market

  BANGKOK (AP) — Researchers say Thailand is showing the world how to respond to the global food crisis: by raising bugs for eating.

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• Report: Yahoo, pay-TV operators among Hulu bidders

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Online video site Hulu is again up for sale, with Yahoo and pay TV operators DirecTV and Time Warner Cable among the seven bidders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

• Vintage Apple computer auctioned off for $668,000

  BERLIN (AP) — An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers — a functioning 1976 model — has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).

• 
  LA stoplights synchronized but road war endures

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — It seems that the impossible has occurred: The nation's most congested city has become a model for traffic control.

• 
  Netflix looks to hook subscribers with 'Arrested'

  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix is hoping this weekend's release of the resurrected TV series "Arrested Development" will draw more subscribers to its Internet video service.

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  Girl's suicide after alleged attack troubles town

  SARATOGA, Calif. (AP) — One evening last Labor Day weekend, 15-year-old Audrie Pott walked up the driveway of a classmate's home alongside other teenagers. She'd told her parents she was spending the night with a friend. The friend claimed she was sleeping at Audrie's. Instead, the girls were havin a party.

• Schumer urges look at security in Sprint deal

  NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Charles Schumer urged regulators to "use extreme caution" when reviewing the proposed acquisition of No. 3 cell carrier Sprint Nextel by Japan's Softbank, saying the Japanese company's use of Chinese networking equipment could open up U.S. networks to snooping and hacking.

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  Review: Google music plan solid, serendipitous

  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Google's new music service offers a lot of eye candy to go with the tunes. The song selection of around 18 million tracks is comparable to popular services such as Spotify and Rhapsody, and a myriad of playlists curated along different genres provides a big playground for music lvers.

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  Google to add Galapagos Islands to Street View

  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

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  Google unveils maps, photo, music features

  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's sixth annual conference for software developers opened Wednesday with a chance for the company to showcase its latest services. Announcements included new features for online games, maps and search, a new music-streaming service and enhancements to its Google Plus socil network, including tools for editing and sharing photos.

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  High-tech pushes for more in immigration bill

  WASHINGTON (AP) — High-tech companies looking to bring more skilled workers to the U.S. pushed Monday for more concessions in an immigration bill pending in the Senate. Labor unions said the Silicon Valley had already gotten enough in the legislation and further changes risked chipping away at protctions for U.

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