Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the Nobel Prize for economics for work on how community institutions can prevent conflict, the Nobel Committee announced Monday. Ostrom becomes the first woman to win the prize in its 40-year history. The award was a "great surprise... I'm still a little bit in shock," she said by phone at the news conference announcing the prize. Ostrom, a professor of political science at Indiana University, was praised "for ...

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will include rugby union sevens and golf as sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced. Two months ago the IOC's executive board voted to include the sports in the program, a proposal that was ratified by the body's members at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday. Rugby sevens garnered 81 votes in favor of their inclusion while eight were against and one abstained. Golf was ...

Who is stealing -- and crashing -- airplanes in Washington state? Since November, police say, at least three small, private planes have been stolen and flown off. Whoever was behind the throttle didn't go very far. The latest plane to go missing crash-landed last week in a clearing in Granite Falls, Washington, after running out of fuel, police said. The rough landing damaged the Cessna 182, which along with its instruments is worth more than $500,000. But authorities ...

Water is a lifeline for the farmers and fishermen who live along Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines. The rich ecosystem also serves as a reservoir to catch floodwaters to save Manila, on its western shore, from drowning. But water became the Philippines' biggest enemy last week as Typhoon Parma dumped as much as 36 inches of rain in some parts of this nation of islands, compounding misery in areas already flooded by earlier storm Ketsana. Fears ...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Sunday in San Bernardino County as a fast-moving wildfire burned through a national forest, threatening homes and forcing hundreds of evacuations. "The Sheep Fire has now scorched 3,500 acres and is only 10 percent contained," said Carol Underhill, a public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for the entire community of Wrightwood and parts of Lytle Creek in San Bernadino County, the ...

President Obama urged the International Olympic Committee on Friday to pick his hometown of Chicago as the host of the 2016 Games, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit. Obama's address to the 106 IOC members gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the highlight of the Chicago bid committee's final presentation before the vote to choose the host city. "Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different, just as we ...

The arrest of a local imam for allegedly lying to the FBI about tipping off a suspected terrorist sent shock waves through the Afghan community in New York. Ahmad Wais Afzali, a prominent imam in Queens who runs an Islamic burial service for the Muslim community, has maintained his innocence in the case. He's charged in connection with a terror probe that revolves around 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi. Prosecutors said Zazi received explosives training with the intent to bomb a high ...

An underemployed Spanish matador is breaking tradition and carrying advertising on his capes in the bullring -- promoting a soft drink aimed at gays. While fighting bulls, matador Joselito Ortega will use capes embroidered with the words "Gay Up," the name of the energy drink. The move has many in the macho-steeped world of bullfighting seeing red. But Ortega, 29, told CNN, "I'm glad to be the first person (in bullfighting) whom the gay community will take as an icon." ...

ACORN filed suit Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, against two filmmakers who secretly recorded videos embarrassing to the agency, claiming the pair violated state law by recording their conversations without permission of the employees involved. The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the further distribution of the videos. The recordings represented "clear violations of Maryland law that were intended to inflict maximum damage to the reputation of ACORN," the community organizer's attorney, Arthur Schwartz, said. "Unfortunately, they succeeded." Defendants James O'Keefe and ...

A legally insane killer who escaped in Washington state during a field trip was recaptured Sunday, the Yakima County Sheriff's Department told CNN. Phillip Paul's capture came three days after he escaped in Spokane County, Washington. After escaping, he was the subject of a massive manhunt. Details of the capture weren't immediately available. Though Paul had been confined in a mental institution because of a murder confession, he was allowed to be part of Thursday's trip to ...