Cross-border traffic between North and South Korea returned to normal Tuesday, ending eight months of restrictions imposed by the North, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Pyongyang limited access to the North Korean border city of Kaesong in December as relations worsened between the nations. The decision restricted traffic to and from a jointly run industrial complex there. Kaesong is also a popular tourist destination. The loosening of border controls means workers and raw materials will be able to cross ...

"Doctor, I have this strange dream — that every three years there's a movie about some guy who has a strange dream about people who die in some awful calamity — and that he acts on the dream by saving his friends, who then begin dying in grotesque ways — and that, each time, it's really the same movie, just with a different calamity each time — and, this is the weirdest part, large numbers of moviegoers keep paying ...

For 18 years, a girl who was whisked away into a secret backyard compound was forced to grow up in isolation. By the time authorities discovered Jaycee Lee Dugard, she was a 29-year-old mother of two who had spent more than half of her life in sheds. One of the alleged abductors, Phillip Garrido, is the father of her two daughters, according to police. Garrido and his wife, Nancy, face 29 felony counts, including kidnapping for sexual purposes, forcible rape ...

A South Korean fishing boat and its four crew members were heading home Saturday after being held for a month in North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The Yeonan-ho and its crew were handed over to a South Korean patrol boat waiting at the sea border Saturday evening, Yonhap reported, citing South Korean maritime police. North Korean officials captured the vessel and its crew July 30 after the boat strayed deep into North Korean territorial waters, North's Korean ...

With the new General Motors Corp. expressing second thoughts about selling Opel to Canadian partsmaker Magna International Inc. — or anyone else, for that matter — a flip side to GM's indecision has emerged. Why would Magna want Opel when acquisition of the bankrupt European carmaker could jeopardize billions of dollars in business with existing customers — and possibly lead to its ruin? Negotiations between GM and Magna — based in Aurora, Ont., it's one of the world's ...

When it comes to taking spirited vacations, wandering a vineyard falls flat in the face of handcrafted brew. With more than 1,500 breweries across the United States, beer is not just a drink -- it's a destination. "What's happened is that the old world has influenced the new world; the U.S. is now a travel destination for beer, [even] for people from outside of the country," said Julia Herz, craft beer program director at the Brewers Association. "What's so great ...

Al Qaeda's second-in-command called on Pakistanis to back Islamic militants in the country's tribal areas against what he called an ongoing assault by American "crusaders" and the Pakistani army. Punishment from God was promised for Muslims who did not follow the words of Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video that appeared on radical Islamist Web sites Thursday. "The war in the tribal areas and Swat [Valley] is an inseparable part of the crusaders' assault on the Muslims the length and breadth ...

For almost 50 years, Sen. Ted Kennedy pushed unsuccessfully for legislation that would reform the health care system and ensure coverage for every American. Ironically, his death might bring about a change of tactics that would help reach the goal he was unable to achieve in life, one veteran political analyst says. "Kennedy's departure may in fact increase the chances that we get a more sweeping health care bill," American Enterprise Institute analyst Norman Ornstein recently told CNN. As Congress ...

Toyota is poised to slash production by as much as 580,000 vehicles -- or almost 6 percent of global capacity -- in an effort to stem losses amid the sharp downturn in car sales. Japan's largest carmaker, which is forecasting its second consecutive net loss this year, said it would shut a production line in western Japan from next spring through to the second half of 2011, reducing output by 220,000 vehicles. Toyota is also looking to pull out of ...

Jesse Ray Beard said he was constantly in trouble, even when he behaved. It took being accused of the racially charged attempted murder of a white classmate in the Deep South to turn his life around. Beard, 18, now interns at a New York law firm as he prepares for his senior year next month at Canterbury School, a Connecticut prep academy where Beard is highly regarded among peers and teachers. "I didn't change the way I act. I didn't ...