UC students occupy buildings to protest fee hike

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD

Students barricaded themselves inside buildings on University of California campuses to protest a 32 percent increase in student fees and budget cuts that have led to slashed programs and lost jobs.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:45 pm

Terror plot ringleader gets 13-year prison term

By CURT ANDERSON

The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to 13 1/2 years in prison.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:40 pm

Calif. launches probe into scam targeting churches

By ROBERT JABLON

California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:35 pm

Floods devastate UK Lake District, much of Ireland

By SCOTT HEPPELL

Raging floods engulfed northern England's picturesque Lake District on Friday following the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in Britain, killing a police officer and trapping dozens in their swamped homes.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:25 pm

Afghan police are weak link in security force

By ELENA BECATOROS

Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:25 pm

Police: NC girl raped, killed on day she was taken

By ALYSIA PATTERSON

A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday. Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying…

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:20 pm

Murder trial move to LA a setback for transit cop

By PAUL ELIAS

The decision to move Johannes Mehserle's trial to Los Angeles County is a setback for the former transit officer charged with killing an unarmed man on New Year's Day.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:20 pm

Pa. judges in juvenile kickbacks case win immunity

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Two former Pennsylvania judges accused of taking kickbacks to supply private detention facilities with juveniles have been granted partial immunity from civil liability.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:20 pm

Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of Turin

By ARIEL DAVID

A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:20 pm

Home invading elf discovered

HERSCHER, Ill. (AP) - The home-invading Christmas elf has been identified, and it turns out to be a teen-age prankster.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:15 pm | Loading…

Kidnapped Britons say Somali pirates may kill them

By DAVID STRINGER

A British couple being held hostage by Somali pirates said in an interview broadcast Friday that they fear they will be killed or handed to a terrorist group if a ransom is not paid soon.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:15 pm

SC lawmakers to take up impeachment of governor

By JIM DAVENPORT

South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:15 pm

US envoy criticizes coverage of Obama China visit

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Washington's ambassador to Beijing hit out Friday at negative U.S. media coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to China, saying it failed to take into account important progress on many issues.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:15 pm

Planes ready to leave Brunswick, Maine Navy base

By DAVID SHARP

The rumble of Navy patrol aircraft flying overhead will soon be a thing of the past as the remaining P-3 Orions depart from Brunswick Naval Air Station.

New Nov 20, 2009 | 3:10 pm

Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found

Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again, a Florence museum said Friday.

Nov 20, 2009 | 3:00 pm

Teen pleads guilty in violent Border Patrol murder

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

A 17-year-old pleaded guilty Friday to murdering a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times in head, neck and torso in the mountains east of San Diego.

Nov 20, 2009 | 2:55 pm

Lawyer: Ohio's legal injection a human experiment

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

An attorney for a condemned killer says Ohio's new lethal-injection plan is so untested it would amount to human experimentation if used for the first time next month.

Nov 20, 2009 | 2:55 pm

Pa. university students must pass fitness class

By KATHY MATHESON

A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight students take a fitness course to graduate has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.

Nov 20, 2009 | 2:50 pm

Gates: US to do its part to slow Afghan corruption

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

The United States will do its part to reduce corruption in Afghanistan by examining its own contracts and projects, even as it is demanding the same from the Afghan government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

Nov 20, 2009 | 2:40 pm