A German DIY enthusiast accidentally walled himself into his own basement and only managed to escape by drilling his way through to his neighbors, police said Thursday.

A Texas jury on Wednesday found former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, dubbed "The Hammer" for his hard-driving style, guilty of money laundering and conspiracy.

Sarah Palin, the telegenic Republican who exasperates and delights voters about equally, is dropping ever more hints of a presidential bid, including a visit Saturday to the key state of Iowa.

Three teens who have been missing in the South Pacific for 50 days — and were already eulogized in a memorial service — have been found alive by a New Zealand fishing boat.

A 21-year-old university student lies dead from a gunshot to the head. Nearby, paramedics wrap the head of another woman in a blood-soaked shirt while her husband holds their cowering children.

South Korea's president ordered more troops to a front-line island and dumped his defense minister Thursday as the country grappled with lapses in its response to a deadly North Korean artillery strike.

North Korea on Thursday blamed the South and the US for provoking its artillery bombardment and warned it was ready to strike again.

President Jalal Talabani was to officially name Nuri al-Maliki to a second term as Iraq’s premier on Thursday, giving him 30 days to form a Cabinet after an eight-month impasse since a general election.

Cracking down on fake pot, the government began emergency action Wednesday to outlaw five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana. They’re sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet to a burgeoning market of teens and young adults.

A northern Indian village has banned unmarried women from using cell phones for fear they will arrange forbidden marriages that are often punished by death, a local official said Wednesday.

As they left behind gutted homes, scorched trees and rubble-strewn streets, residents of the tiny South Korean island shelled by North Korea told harrowing tales of fiery destruction and narrow escapes.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and successor Jong-un visited the artillery base from where shells were fired at a South Korean island just hours before the attack, South Korean media reported on Thursday.

Days after the release of Pope Benedict XVI's comments that condoms can be justified to prevent the spread of HIV, there is widespread confusion about exactly what he was trying to say.

North Korea's artillery attack on South Korea was likely related to Pyongyang's succession plans for the regime's leader-in-waiting, the US military's top officer said Wednesday.

The lines of Thanksgiving travelers moved quickly and smoothly at airports around the country Wednesday morning despite an Internet campaign to get passengers to gum up the works on one of the busiest days of the year by refusing full-body scans.

A U.S. aircraft carrier group set off for Korean waters on Wednesday, a day after North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island, in a move likely to enrage Pyongyang and unsettle its ally, China.

Ireland unveiled the harshest budget measures in its history Wednesday, a four-year plan to slash deficits euro15 billion ($20 billion) so it can get a massive bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Elation over a possible rescue attempt quickly turned to anguish for the families of 29 New Zealand miners missing underground since last week when a second powerful blast ended any hope for another mine miracle.

Rescuers found the burned bodies Wednesday of two islanders killed in a North Korean artillery attack — the first civilian deaths from a skirmish that marked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the rival Koreas.

It was no crime of fashion, but Wendy Gigliotti’s bulky sweater and ankle-length skirt made her a target of airport screeners.