Turkey's prime minister continued his outspoken criticism of China's crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs on Saturday. In remarks published by the official Anatolian Agency, Recep Tayyip Erdogan denouncing what he called "savagery" and called on the Chinese government to "give up efforts to assimilate" the country's Uyghur minority. On Friday, Erdogan went a step further, announcing to journalists upon his return to Ankara from the Group of Eight summit in Italy that "the incidents in China are a genocide. There's no ...

With local economies flailing, communities across the U.S. are trying to drum up more action on Main Street. "Buy Local" campaigns are one way to go. But many towns--from Ojai, Calif., to Greensboro, N.C.--are considering going a step further and printing money that can only be spent locally. Issuing an alternative currency is perfectly legal, as long as it is treated as taxable income and consists of paper bills rather than coins. In the U.S., where local currencies ...

There are at least a few in every college dorm: students who seem to exist in their own time zone, in bed hours before everyone else and awake again at daybreak, rested and prepared for the morning's first lecture. Sleep researchers refer to these early risers as larks , and new data presented this week at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies suggest that a student's preferred sleeping schedule has a lot to do with his or her ...

A court in Saudi Arabia has granted an 8-year-old girl a divorce from her 47-year-old husband, after twice denying the divorce request previously, local media reported Thursday. Biden made the remarks on NBC's "Today Show," after he was asked what he would tell a family member about traveling to Mexico, where the first cases of the virus -- technically known as 2009 H1N1 -- were detected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, is advising people to ...

Taliban militants who implemented Islamic law in Pakistan's violence-plagued Swat Valley last week have now taken control of a neighboring district. Control of the Buner district brings the Taliban closer to the capital, Islamabad, than they have been since they started their insurgency. Islamabad is 60 miles (96 km) from the district. "Our strength is in the hundreds," said Moulana Mohammad Khalil, as heavily armed men openly patrolled the roads in pickup trucks, singing Islamic anthems. The militants had taken ...

Scientists in Colombia have unearthed the remains of a true prehistoric monster believed to be the biggest snake ever to have lived on Earth. Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the snake would have weighed 1,140 kilograms (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) nose to tail tip -- dwarfing the largest modern pythons and anacondas which can grow to 6 meters (19.5 feet). Scientists believe it slithered around the planet between 58 and 60 million years ago. Geologist David Polly, ...