So here's what free speech has come to on campus: "Name the freshman sluts!" an anonymous post demands on the Indiana University page of a multischool gossip site. So-and-so "has herpes!" proclaims an unsigned post on Texas Christian University's page. Among the profundities on the University of Alabama page: "Frats=fags." Horny guys, lowbrow debates and run-of-the-mill spam all seem to be in abundant supply on CollegeACB.com . But what sets this site--and others like it--apart from the coarse ...

California, you may have heard, is an apocalyptic mess of raging wildfires, soaring unemployment, mass foreclosures and political paralysis. It's dysfunctional. It's ungovernable. Its bond rating is barely above junk. It's so broke, it had to hand out IOUs while its leaders debated how many prisoners to release and parks to close. Nevada aired ads mocking California's business climate to lure its entrepreneurs. The media portray California as a noir fantasyland of overcrowded schools, perpetual droughts, celebrity breakdowns, illegal ...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is calling for additional security for U.N. staff in Afghanistan, citing a "dramatically escalated threat" due to the world body's support for that nation's electoral process.Ban also said the U.N. is "exploring the feasibility of bringing in additional security units to guard U.N. facilities." The U.N. currently has hundreds of staff in Afghanistan offering technical and operational support for Afghanistan's elections. Various other U.N. agencies are involved in humanitarian work in the war-torn nation.

International officials arrived in Iran on Sunday to inspect a newly disclosed nuclear facility near the city of Qom, state media reported. Tehran is studying the draft proposal and will have an answer next week, Iranian diplomat Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on state-run Press TV. Iran informed IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei that it is "considering the proposal in depth and in a favorable light, but it needs until the middle of next week to provide a response," according to ...

A $5 million prize to reward good leadership in Africa was dramatically awarded Monday to ... nobody. It was the first time in the three-year history of the Mo Ibrahim Prize that the committee did not name a winner. "The Prize Committee has considered some credible candidates. However, after in-depth review, the Prize Committee could not select a winner," the committee said in a statement. Democratically elected African presidents and prime ministers who have left office within the ...

Just weeks after trumpeting the results of a military offensive in the Swat Valley, the Pakistan army suddenly finds itself under attack on multiple fronts. A day after an elite unit of army commandos secured the release of 39 hostages, bringing to an end a 22-hour siege of its military headquarters that left 25 people dead over the weekend, the Taliban struck again. In the fourth major attack in eight days, a suicide bomber killed 41 people in a ...

Mexican federal police have arrested a fugitive on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, Mexican authorities said. Jorge Alberto Lopez Orozco is wanted in Elmore County, Idaho, on charges that he shot and killed three people, the FBI said. The charred remains of a woman and her sons, ages 2 and 4, were found inside a burned-out vehicle on August 11, 2002, it said. Each victim had been shot in the head or chest. The FBI was still working Friday ...

Myanmar's military junta allowed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Friday with three diplomats -- from the United States, Britain and Australia, according to her spokesman and a government official. "The meeting is a consequence of her letter she submitted to Senior General Than Shwe, she sent on September 25," said Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer and her political party's spokesman. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the meeting. She requested the meeting with ...

Iran has notified the Swiss government that it can have access to three American hikers detained near the border with Iraq, two senior U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday. According to the U.S. officials, Iran said the Swiss can pay a "consular" visit to the three, meaning they can see them to check their condition. Iranian authorities detained Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd after they were believed to have strayed into Iran in late July while hiking in a part ...

The U.S. State Department is calling on Honduras' de facto president to immediately rescind an emergency decree that limits constitutional rights such as freedoms of expression, travel and public congregation. "The freedoms inherent in the suspended rights are inalienable and cannot be limited or restricted without seriously damaging the democratic aspirations of the Honduran people," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly in a statement late Monday night. Earlier Monday, Roberto Micheletti announced he would repeal the law, but it would ...