ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Japanese millionaire Daisuke Enomoto had planned to dress up as his favorite cartoon character in outer space and spent $21 million to make it happen. Now he claims the company that was supposed make his dream come true brushed him aside with little more than a “sorry, …

BEIJING – Police killed a knife-wielding assailant who injured three people and took another hostage in an attack Saturday on a Carrefour hypermarket in southern China, state media said. The man began slashing people early Saturday morning at the French chain’s Longquan outlet on the outskirts of Kunming city, the …

WASHINGTON – With weekly jobless claims benefits at a 16-year high, the White House said Thursday that President George W. Bush would sign quickly legislation pending in Congress to provide further unemployment benefits. The Senate is expected to take up this week a bill, already passed by the House of …

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – A crime reporter in the violent Mexican border city of Juarez was killed Thursday, adding to dozens of journalist deaths in a country where newspapers are so fearful, many refuse to cover drug violence. Armando Rodriguez had covered crime for 10 years in Juarez, working for …

Those of you voting in Louisiana or Connecticut this week won’t have the option of voting for Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr for president. In both states, Barr’s campaign insists it had more than enough signatures to put his name on the ballot. But in Louisiana, the courts determined that …

LONDON – The trial of a British Army interpreter accused of spying for Iran began Monday with prosecutors alleging he was a fantasist who believed he had been passed over for promotion and was the victim of racism. Prosecutors said that Cpl. Daniel James — who was working as a …

MUNICH, Germany – A German farmer who received the world’s first complete double arm transplant is recovering well and able to perform some basic tasks, though doctors said Wednesday it still could take up to two years before he relearns how to use his hands. Doctors spent 15 hours on …

There’s no phone and no television. Only a screen offers privacy. But heart patient Edward Gray understands why the hospital put him in a cardiac unit hallway. “They sent me up here to make room for other emergency patients,” Gray, 78, said last week from his bed in the hall …

To the people of the great state of Ohio: Heads up — someone is trying to steal your election. Somebody has figured out that no Republican has ever gone on to the White House without winning Ohio. Somebody has figured out that Ohio played a pivotal role in the last …

Toyota Motor Corp. will post its first decline in annual global sales in a decade this year, hit by slowing demand worldwide amid the financial crisis, a Japanese newspaper predicted Wednesday. Japan’s largest automaker will likely sell 8.3 million units in 2008, down from 8.43 million units in 2007, the …