The U.S. military closed its detention facility in southern Iraq on Thursday after a plane carried the last remaining prisoners to another facility in Baghdad. The United States has been releasing detainees or transferring custody to the Iraqi government, a goal spelled out in the bilateral security agreement negotiated last year between the two nations. Since February, the Americans have released about 750 detainees from its detention facilities and transferred 200 more to Iraqi authorities each month, the military said. ...

The death toll in a train crash in Turkey has risen to five, Turkish State Railways said Friday. An operation to retrieve the recorder has begun, said a statement from investigator Ali Abdou Mohamed. The Airbus 310 crashed into the Indian Ocean, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members. It originated in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and went down just miles from Moroni, the capital of the Comoros Islands. One person, a 13-year-old French girl, survived. The recorder could contain information ...

Search teams have found the flight data recorder from the Yemenia Airways plane that crashed off the Comoros Islands in June, killing 152 people, the chief investigator said Friday. An operation to retrieve the recorder has begun, said a statement from investigator Ali Abdou Mohamed. The Airbus 310 crashed into the Indian Ocean, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members. It originated in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and went down just miles from Moroni, the capital of the Comoros Islands. One ...

New 800 meters world champion Caster Semenya received a rousing welcome after touching down in Johannesburg with her South African team-mates on Tuesday. The 18-year-old, who made global headlines last week after doubts were raised over her gender at the World Championships, was accompanied by the country's two other medallists from Berlin -- men's 800m champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and long-jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena. Thousands of supporters crammed the OR Tambo International Airport -- waving placards, singing, dancing ...

A North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday to mourn former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, best remembered for trying to foster better relations between the two neighbors, the South's media reported. "Mourning the passing of the late president Kim Dae-jung ..." said the great white wreath adorned with a black ribbon delivered on behalf of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The six-members of the delegation bowed their heads in front of the altar set ...

The only man ever convicted over the Lockerbie passenger plane bombing was Thursday released and allowed to return to Libya on compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill. Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi 57 was serving a life sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, resulting in the deaths of 270 people. The White House, which has urged Britain to keep al Megrahi behind bars, said it "deeply regrets" the decision. Scottish Justice Secretary ...

Beware: this new $599, All-You-Can-Jet flight pass from JetBlue, which allows unlimited travel for customers between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8, is making some people act insane. Take Seth Miller, an aerophile who for some baffling reason enjoys nothing more than sitting on planes and lounging in airports. Between 10 PM on Friday, Sept. 11 and 10 AM that Monday, he's flying from New York to Ponce, Puerto Rico back to New York to Las Vegas to Long ...

A Scottish court is expected to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, senior State Department officials tell CNN. Al Megrahi, 57, is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. He is serving a life sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. The Scottish government has informally notified the U.S. State Department of the decision, the senior officials said. But they added that the conditions of his ...

A pregnant British woman, who was jailed in Laos on drug charges, arrived in London Friday after being handed over to British authorities to serve her sentence at home. Lao authorities had agreed to release Samantha Orobator and John Watson, another Briton jailed on drug charges, after signing a deal with British authorities last week. The 20-year old was flown from the Lao capital, Vientiane, on Thursday. In a statement Orobator said: "I am enormously relieved and happy to ...

Two days before leaving Tehran and three weeks after Iranian Intelligence had come around looking for me, I was taking no chances. The notes, essays and photos on the protests I had been regularly sending back for publication would have to be sent to the States separately...with my grandma. She had a flight to the U.S. one month after mine and although the training manuals at Langley likely do not recommend it, I spent the better part of ...