Fidel Castro, the longtime communist leader of Cuba, met with visiting members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday, a day after his brother, Raúl, who succeeded him as president, did the same, according to a U.S. official in Havana. The meeting with Fidel Castro, 82, comes amid speculation that the United States is considering a shift in relations with the Communist nation that sits just 90 miles from the Florida Keys. According to the source -- a U.S. ...

Authorities in South Dakota and Nebraska on Friday suspended a search for a missing Nebraska family after a relative told authorities he spoke to his kin and said they are doing well. Law officers still don't exactly know the location of Matthew Schade of Creighton, Nebraska; his wife Rowena, and their two children -- a daughter, 11, and a son, 8. But authorities think they might be in Nebraska because officials received a tip that a brush truck they suspect ...

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. If you want to reduce citizens' exposure to dangerous and illegal activities online, why not gather up all the URLs for sites that promote such acts — child pornography, extreme violence, weapon-making and so on — and have Internet Service Providers simply block them? Wouldn't that make the internet safer for families and children? Actually no, as the Australian Communications and Media Authority is ...

David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" films, has revealed he is suffering from prostate cancer but is still feeling "fantastic." Prowse, who wore the black suit and helmet to play the Dark Lord of the Sith, told a British radio station he had been undergoing radiotherapy at a hospital in south London and was helping its fundraising appeal. "I'm involved with the Royal Marsden Hospital appeal because I'm undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, would ...

When he first heard about a Vatican-sponsored course on exorcism for priests, journalist Matt Baglio was intrigued by the idea of this ancient ritual taking place in the modern world. In his new book The Rite, Baglio follows American priest Father Gary — sent to Rome to train as an exorcist — and his apprenticeship with Father Carmine. Baglio talked to TIME about belief, skeptical priests, and the particulars of the exorcism ritual. The thing that inspired this book ...

When you think of Prince, do you expect to get more and pay less? Probably not, but that hasn't prevented Target, the 1,677 store discount chain, from striking a deal with his royal funkiness to be the exclusive retail outlet for Prince's new three-disc set. The Prince collection features two predictably tough to spell-check original studio albums, LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND, and a third record, Elixer, which will introduce the world to Bria Valente, the next in the long line of ...

It's often said that a real Southerner can "claim kin" with anyone. Tony Rand realized the same could be true for him. Rand, whose family can trace its roots back to the 1700s, is a Democratic state senator in North Carolina. Until he watched the 2008 CNN documentary "Black in America," he had no idea that some of his relatives were black. Although firmly anchored in the South, the Rands are spread across the country. What connects them is ...

"Slumdog Millionaire," the little film about a poverty-raised teaboy who goes on a game show as a way to find his lost love, won best picture Sunday night, earning a total of eight Oscars at the 81st annual Academy Awards. As the stage filled with the film's huge cast, producer Christian Colson talked about "Slumdog's" "extraordinary journey." "Most of all we had passion and we had belief, and our film shows if you have those two things, you have everything," ...

"Slumdog Millionaire," the little film about a poverty-raised teaboy who goes on a game show as a way to find his lost love, leads all films at the Oscars with six Oscars at the 81st annual Academy Awards. "Millionaire" has won Oscars for adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), score (A.R. Rahman), song ("Jai Ho," co-written by Rahman), cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), sound mixing and film editing. "All my life I've had a choice between hate and love, and I chose love, ...

Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Sunday. His parents and sister accepted the award for the actor, who died in January 2008. "This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here -- his peers -- within an industry he truly loved," said Ledger's father, Kim. Ledger is only the second actor to ...