World champions South Africa held off a second-half rally from New Zealand to win their Tri-Nations opener 28-19 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The All Blacks were trailing 17-3 early in the second half and got within four points before the Springboks sealed victory when Jaque Fourie went over eight minutes from time. All Blacks took the lead through Stephen Donald's early penalty, but South Africa hit back with 17 points without answer. Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar kicked ...

You recently wrote about the complex feelings Abraham Lincoln held toward black people. Could you expand on that? Bill Bre, BREMEN, GERMANY A fundamental part of Lincoln's moral compass was his opposition to slavery. But it took him a long time to embrace black people. We were raised with a fairy-tale representation that because he hated slavery, he loved the slaves. He didn't. He was a recovering racist. He used to use the N word. He told darky ...

At least 20 people were killed and 40 injured Friday as a result of a major road accident in southern Russia, officials said. Winehouse was accused of assaulting a woman at a London charity ball last year. She had pleaded not guilty to the charge of common assault. "Amy would like to thank her family, friends, and her legal team for their support during this difficult time," said a statement issued by her spokesman. "She has always maintained her innocence ...

A Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer said Thursday he will "never apologize" about how he handled the arrest of prominent black Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. "That apology will never come from me as Jim Crowley, it won't come from me as sergeant in the Cambridge Police Department," Sgt. James Crowley told Boston radio station WEEI. "Whatever anybody else chooses to do in the name of the city of Cambridge or the Cambridge Police Department which are beyond my ...

Tyler Perry is known today as the first African-American to own a major film and TV studio. He's a pioneer whose own life story is a rags-to-riches tale that reads like a screenplay. Now a writer, actor, director and producer -- Perry's success grew out of a troubled home in a poor neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. Strong on faith, Perry named his first play "I Know I've Been Changed," after an old Negro spiritual. It was a gospel musical ...

Singer Amy Winehouse went on trial Thursday on charges that she assaulted a woman at a London charity ball last year. Winehouse pleaded not guilty to the charge of common assault in March. The charge relates to a September incident in which Winehouse allegedly hit a fan after agreeing to pose for a photo at the ball, British media reported. The Grammy-winning singer returned to Britain this month after spending six months on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. ...

Principal Steve Perry doesn't believe in cursory inspections. For him, every single detail matters. T's are always crossed, I's are always dotted. Shirts are always buttoned and tucked in. During his daily morning hallway inspections, he reprimands a student not wearing the Capital Prep school approved sweatshirt with a "That's not our gray." He then quickly peers into another classroom to witness a student acting up. "Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't do it!" he warns sternly. The student ...

Skywatchers are gathering from parking lots in western India to music festivals on remote Japanese islands to witness what NASA describes as an "exceptionally long" total solar eclipse that will cross half the planet on Wednesday. "This eclipse has the potential to be observed by more people than any eclipse in all of history," said MIT astronomer Richard Binzel, who will be in Shanghai leading an expedition of observers and a group of eclipse chasers. "Essentially, every inhabitant ...

From the outside, Johnny and Shanna Woodbury looked like the perfect couple. They had been married 13 years, owned multiple properties and were successful managers. They also had four beautiful children -- a son and a daughter fresh out of college they had prior to getting married and a 12-year-old daughter on the cheerleading team and an 8-year-old son on the honor roll. Together they had built and moved into their 7,200-square-foot dream home in Prince George's County, Maryland, with ...

It takes seven minutes to execute a death row inmate, according to the state of Texas. At that rate, Mike Graczyk has spent about 40 hours of his life watching men -- and a few women -- die. Graczyk, a correspondent for The Associated Press, is believed to hold a macabre record. He's almost certainly watched more executions than anyone else in the United States. "I can't possibly imagine there's been someone present at more than Mike," said Michelle Lyons, ...