KHAO LAK, Thailand – Initially, Boonlue Mongkhol objected to his village being used for a TV miniseries about the 2004 tsunami. He lost his loved ones in the disaster and didn’t want to relive the tragedy. But when the British Broadcasting Corp. advertised for extras, the 38-year-old businessman put aside …

VIENNA, Austria – The United States warned Iran it will not have much time to respond once it is offered an international package of rewards to encourage it to suspend uranium enrichment, suggesting that the window could soon close and be replaced by penalties. “It really needs to be within …

DUBLIN, Ireland – Ireland passed an emergency bill Friday on under-age sex, and the Supreme Court ordered a man at the center of the controversy to be reimprisoned for having sex with a 12-year-old girl. Both developments came after public outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision last week to declare …

DETROIT – Eminem‘s publishing companies have settled a lawsuit filed in what they said was an effort to illegally sell the Grammy-winning rapper’s songs as cell phone ring tones. Michigan-based Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated filed the lawsuit last October in U.S. District Court against five companies. The lawsuit …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Hamas-led government agreed Wednesday to withdraw a controversial private militia from public areas of Gaza in an agreement with the rival Fatah movement aimed at halting weeks of bloody infighting. The black-clad Hamas militia has been at the center of the power struggle. “They …

LAS VEGAS – When Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) launched its video-capable iPod last year, some questioned whether consumers would embrace watching video on a 2.5-inch screen or endure holding the gadget to their faces for anything but the shortest of clips. Now, with funky eyewear from MicroOptical Corp., which it …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan began an investigation Sunday into a road crash involving a U.S. military vehicle that sparked Kabul‘s worst riots in years, officials said. After a day’s delay, investigators began holding meetings and looking at vehicles wrecked in the May 29 crash that ignited anti-foreigner unrest, said Maj. …

WASHINGTON – The productivity of American workers rebounded at a rapid clip at the start of this year and wages posted a solid gain as well, the government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said that productivity, the key factor in rising living standards, rose at an annual rate of 3.7 …

WASHINGTON – The nation’s top climate scientists are giving “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore‘s documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy. The former vice president’s movie — replete with the prospect of a flooded New York City, an inundated Florida, more and nastier hurricanes, worsening droughts, retreating glaciers and …

LUBBOCK, Texas – A woman has been charged with kidnapping the 4-day-old baby of a mother she befriended while posing as a hospital worker, and then leaving the newborn in stifling heat a day later. Stephanie Lynn Jones, 33, was indicted Tuesday on charges of kidnapping and abandoning a child. …