At 678, California has the nation's largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years. But it spends more than $130 million a year on its capital punishment system -- housing and prosecuting inmates and coping with an appellate system that has kept some convicted killers waiting for an execution date since the late 1970s. This is according to a new report that concludes that states are wasting millions on an inefficient death penalty system, ...

An American father jailed in Tokyo has been harshly treated in the Japanese prison system, his attorney said Monday. Attorney Jeremy Morley, in a statement released Monday, said Christopher Savoie -- accused of trying to kidnap his children after his ex-wife took them to Japan -- is being held without trial, interrogated without an attorney present and denied needed medical treatment for high blood pressure. Savoie has also been exposed to sleep deprivation, and denied private meetings with attorneys ...

Three suspects have been arrested in the August slaying of 12 indigenous Awa people in southwestern Colombia, the military announced Tuesday. The three men, at least one of whom is believed to belong to the Marxist guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, were members of Los Cucarachos crime gang, Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said. Los Cucarachos are involved in drug trafficking, extortion and kidnappings, the minister said. The robbery of 3 million Colombian pesos ($1,550) appears to have ...

Early in the morning of Sept. 29, an earthquake deep under the Pacific caused a massive tsunami to devastate the islands of Samoa and American Samoa, killing 111 people, devastating villages and flattening homes. The earthquake itself struck at 6:48 a.m., measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale. By 7:04 a.m., an emergency alert from the Tsunami Warning System, a global network of sensors monitored by scientists, went out. Less than 10 minutes later, the tsunami, with waves measuring nearly ...

When we requested an interview with members of the Communist Youth League, I expected an army of suits with well-rehearsed answers. Instead, we met three students casually dressed in jeans, just 18 to 23 years old. The interview was arranged by the State Council Information Office, in advance of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Unlike many government-sanctioned shoots, it was not carefully choreographed or closely monitored. The students did arrive with a ...

Watch out for the latest scam targeting veterans and their credit card numbers, the Department of Veterans Affairs warns. Scam artists are calling veterans and posing as VA workers who need credit card information to update prescription information, as part of a scheme that fraudsters have recycled over the years. "America's veterans have become targets in an inexcusable scam that dishonors their service and misrepresents the department built for them," said Dr. Gerald Cross, the VA's undersecretary for health. "VA ...

An American Airlines flight out of Florida made an emergency landing Thursday night after a written bomb threat was found in a bathroom, officials said. Scam artists are calling veterans and posing as VA workers who need credit card information to update prescription information, as part of a scheme that fraudsters have recycled over the years. "America's veterans have become targets in an inexcusable scam that dishonors their service and misrepresents the department built for them," said Dr. Gerald Cross, ...

Somalia said a senior al Qaeda operative tied to several attacks in East Africa was killed Monday in a U.S. strike in southern Somalia. Intelligence sources have confirmed to the Somali government that Saleh ali Saleh Nabhan was killed, Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said Tuesday. "We welcome that attack because those people targeted were murderers, and they are unwanted and unwelcome in Somalia," Gelle said. U.S. special operations forces used a helicopter to fire on a car ...

Guy Heinze Jr., the son of one of the victims of last week's killings of eight people in a southeast Georgia mobile home, has been arrested on eight counts of first degree murder, police said Friday. "This arrest is the result of a compilation of physical as well as testimonial evidence," a police statement said. More details were expected at a police news conference set for Friday evening. Heinze, who is unemployed, told police he was not home ...

A Muslim teenager from Ohio says her father threatened to kill her because she converted to Christianity. Rifqa Bary, 17, ran away from her family in Columbus, Ohio, in July and took refuge in the central Florida home of the Rev. Blake Lorenz with the Global Revolution Church in Orlando. The teen heard of the pastor and his church through a prayer group on Facebook. The girl's parents reported her missing to Columbus police, who found her two weeks later ...