As centuries go, this has been one of the most amazing: inspiring, at times horrifying, always fascinating. Sure, the 15th was pretty wild, with the Renaissance and Spanish Inquisition in full flower, Gutenberg building his printing press, Copernicus beginning to contemplate the solar system and Columbus spreading the culture of Europe to the Americas. And of course there was the 1st century, which if only for the life and death of Jesus may have had the most impact of any. ...

A whistle-blower who helped shed light on misconduct among the ranks of contractors working as guards for the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is back home in England sooner than he expected after he resigned in the fallout of the scandal. Terry Pearson, who worked as an operations manager for contractor R.A. International at Camp Sullivan in Afghanistan, said he witnessed mistreatment among the guards employed by ArmorGroup North America, who were housed at the camp. "It was just downright stupid, ...

Singer Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson "kind of drifted apart," but there was "no big bust-up" after Jackson bought the Beatles song catalog, McCartney told David Letterman Wednesday. McCartney appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" to talk about his forthcoming concert at New York's Citi Field, the Beatles' 1964 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" -- taped in the same theater -- and his relationship with Jackson. McCartney said the pair "fell apart" after Jackson secured rights to ...