John William Yettaw, the American facing charges in Myanmar for visiting the compound of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been admitted to hospital after suffering convulsions. Yettaw, 53, was admitted Monday night to Yangon General Hospital, according to staff. Myanmar's ruling junta accused Yettaw of trespassing and violating immigration laws after a May 3 incident in which he allegedly swam across a lake and stayed at Suu Kyi's home for two days, violating the terms of her house ...

Marion Bartoli of France upset warm favorite Venus Williams 6-2 5-7 6-4 to win the WTA tournament at Stanford in California. It was the fifth tour title for Bartoli, who was beaten by Williams in the Wimbledon final in 2007. Bartoli, who was seeded eighth, took advantage of a lackluster display from Williams and led 6-2 5-3 before the second seed burst into life to win the next four games and level at one set all. But Bartoli, who lost ...

Swiss diplomats are trying to meet with three American hikers being held in Iran, the Swiss Embassy in Tehran said Monday. The embassy would not say whether Iranian authorities had responded to their request or if diplomats had met the Americans. Four American friends -- seasoned travelers -- were hiking through Iraq's Kurdistan region last week before three of them crossed the unmarked border with Iran, where Iranian authorities detained them. Kurdish officials identified the hikers as Shane ...

As the House and Senate prepare to embark on their summer recess without having passed any health-care-reform bills, President Obama's dreams of radically restructuring the system have, at least for now, bumped up against the reality of Washington politics. But even if Congress manages to overcome the many obstacles and pass some kind of meaningful reform this fall, the goal of covering some 50 million currently uninsured Americans will encounter a whole new range of hurdles. Chief among them ...

Ford Motor Co. saw an increase in domestic sales this July over last, a Ford official told CNN Radio on Sunday. It was the first monthly sales gain claimed by a major automaker since the financial crisis began last year. Ford will release its official U.S. sales figures on Monday. While details were not immediately available, Ken Czubay, the automaker's U.S. sales and marketing chief, said retail and vehicle sales increased over July of last year. And the government's ...

Iranian security forces arrested three Americans, accusing them of illegally entering the country from Iraq's Kurdish region, Iran's official Press TV said on Saturday. The network's Web site quoted a wire story saying the three Americans were backpackers and that a Kurdish official had warned them not to hike in the mountains because of the proximity of the Iranian border. Officials say the case is under investigation, Press TV said. Four Americans -- two of them students in ...

An American who says he went to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan told interrogators that about the time he became an al Qaeda member he came across several Belgian and French militants. Belgian counter-terrorism sources said the group traveled to Pakistan's tribal areas at the beginning of 2008, also intent on fighting in Afghanistan. The Europeans -- four Belgians and two French citizens, all of North African descent -- were recruited, Belgian police say, by Malika el Aroud and Moez ...

When Bryant Neal Vinas spoke at length with Belgian prosecutors last March, he provided a fascinating and sometimes frightening insight into al Qaeda's training -- and its agenda. Vinas is a young American who was arrested in Pakistan late in 2008 after allegedly training with al Qaeda in the Afghan/Pakistan border area. He was repatriated to the United States and in January pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, ...

On September 10, 2007, almost exactly six years after al Qaeda attacked the United States, Bryant Neal Vinas, a 24-year-old American citizen born in Queens, New York, boarded a flight from the city en route to Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, determined to fight jihad in neighboring Afghanistan. Brought up a Catholic by his Latin American immigrant parents, who divorced when he was young, Vinas tried to join the U.S. army in 2002 but dropped out after just a few weeks. ...

Michael Phelps has lost his men's 200-meter individual medley world record -- a mark he has held for six years -- after fellow-American Ryan Lochte claimed gold in the world swimming championships in Rome in a new best time. Lochte came home first in a time of one minute 54.10 seconds, bettering the mark of 1:54.23 set by Phelps when winning Olympic gold in Beijing on August 15 2008. Hungarian Laszlo Cseh was second in 1:55.24 and American Eric Shanteau ...