The Wire

  • Conn. rail service returns to normal

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:28am

    (AP) — Regular train service returned to Connecticut on Wednesday, five days after a derailment injured scores of commuters and damaged tracks.

  • Mortar lands in Congo as UN chief arrives

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:27am

    (AP) — A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo says that a mortar landed in a neighborhood of Goma, a major city in eastern Congo, which last year was briefly overrun by a rebel group. The explosion comes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Congo's distant capital for a two-day visit that is expected to take him to Goma.

  • North Korean leader sends special envoy to China

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:23am

    (AP) — After months of ignoring China's warnings to give up its nuclear program, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a high-level confidant to Beijing on Wednesday, in a possible effort to mend strained ties with its most important ally and the latest sign that Pyongyang may be giving diplomacy a chance.

  • Republican divisions may hinder party's momentum

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:22am

    (AP) — A string of unrelated events is highlighting divisions among Republicans just when they'd like to show a united front and take full advantage of President Barack Obama's latest political problems.

  • Life-saving face transplant performed in Poland

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:19am

    (AP) — Doctors in Poland say they have performed an urgent total face transplant on a 33-year-old man whose face was torn off in an accident which also crushed his jaws.

  • Vatican releases 1st report of financial watchdog

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:12am

    (AP) — The Vatican has taken another step in trying to show greater financial transparency by publishing a first annual report from its new financial watchdog agency.

  • Mais non! French universities may teach in English

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:06am

    (AP) — France's National Assembly is taking up an education reform bill that would allow public universities to hold some courses — like science or economics classes — in English, a plan that has alarmed language purists and the political far-right alike.

  • 7 Egyptian security men kidnapped in Sinai freed

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:06am

    (AP) — Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country's military spokesman said.

  • Gosling misses Cannes premiere, sends his regrets

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:04am

    (AP) — The Cannes Film Festival is missing one of its biggest stars of this year's festival: Ryan Gosling.

  • IMF softens views on UK government's policies

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 7:01am

    (AP) — The International Monetary Fund has softened its assessment of the British government's economic policies, saying in a report Wednesday that it did well to ease its pace of austerity cuts, but stressing more was needed to support the recovery.

  • Investors edgy ahead of Bernanke testimony

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:52am

    (AP) — Investors were edgy Wednesday ahead of the appearance of U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke before lawmakers in Congress.

  • Lowe's 1Q profit rises, but results miss Street

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:52am

    (AP) — Lowe's first-quarter net income rose almost 3 percent, even as a wet and cool spring dampened sales of gardening products.

  • Irishman charged with 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:46am

    (AP) — A 61-year-old Irishman has been charged with the Irish Republican Army bombing of the queen's ceremonial cavalry in Hyde Park in 1982 that killed four soldiers and seven horses.

  • Pussy Riot member declares hunger strike in prison

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:44am

    (AP) — An imprisoned member of the punk band Pussy Riot says she is going on hunger strike after a judge refused to allow her to attend a court hearing where she was seeking release on parole.

  • Germany backs terror label for Hezbollah militants

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:41am

    (AP) — Germany says it supports adding the military wing of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah to the European Union's list of terrorist groups.

  • Germany celebrates composer Wagner's 200th

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:39am

    (AP) — Germany on Wednesday celebrated the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner, the 19th-century composer whose music has been hailed as sublime art at the height of Western culture even as he remains tainted by his visceral anti-Semitic views, which later found favor with the Nazis.

  • Ahead of the Bell: HP's 2Q results likely to sag

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:36am

    (AP) — Hewlett-Packard will provide an update on its efforts to rise above the sinking PC market when it releases quarterly earnings Wednesday after the closing bell.

  • Kenya's truth report: Killings, land grabs, graft

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:31am

    (AP) — Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report whose findings show that his father, the country's first president, presided over a government responsible for numerous human rights violations, including political assassinations and illegal allocation of land.

  • Lowe's 1Q profit rises, chilly spring hurts sales

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:28am

    (AP) — Lowe's first-quarter net income rose almost 3 percent, even as a wet and cool spring dampened sales of gardening products.

  • US auto factories cutting back on summer downtime

    Posted on May 22, 2013 at 6:22am

    (AP) — Detroit auto factories are forgoing their traditional two-week summer break and speeding up production to meet buyers' growing demand for new cars and trucks.