JERUSALEM – Israel on Tuesday stood by its new policy of firing artillery shells at rocket squads operating from populated areas in Gaza, even after a round killed an 8-year-old Palestinian girl. The military intensified its offensive against Palestinian rocket fire after the Islamic militant group Hamas took charge of …

DARMSTADT, Germany – After a 250 million-mile journey, a European space probe reached orbit around Venus on Tuesday on a mission to explore the planet’s dense, hot atmosphere. Mission controllers at the European Space Agency control center in Darmstadt cheered, applauded and embraced as they picked up the signal from …

WASHINGTON – President Bush accused Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Thursday of “single-handedly thwarting” action on immigration legislation, and got a brisk retort in return. “President Bush has as much credibility on immigration as he does on Iraq and national security,” shot back the Nevada Democrat. The exchange was …

TUCSON, Ariz. – An 18-year-old woman who gave birth in the desert used nail clippers to cut her baby girl’s umbilical cord before being rescued by U.S. Border Patrol agents, authorities said Wednesday. The woman was spotted Monday night by a Border Patrol helicopter pilot about 25 miles north of …

HONIARA, Solomon Islands – Mobs of Solomon Islanders looted stores, torched buildings and cars, and pelted police with stones Tuesday after lawmakers elected a new prime minister associated with a previous administration accused of corruption. Seven officers were injured. Six of the injured officers were Australians, who are in the …

MORIOKA, Japan – A former Japanese soldier was reunited with relatives Thursday, the first time he had seen them since he went off to fight for the emperor more than 60 years ago. Ishinosuke Uwano, 83, and his brother Ushitaro Sadate, 80, looked at each other for a few seconds …

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Defense lawyers for Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui will have to persuade a jury to spare their client’s life without the help of his Al Qaeda comrade, would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid. Testimony resumes Monday in Moussaoui’s death-penalty trial with the defense in flux. Moussaoui took the …

DURHAM, N.C. – Several Duke University alumni questioned the school’s president Saturday about suspending two lacrosse players charged with raping a stripper at a team party, with one saying his alma mater is guilty of “a tremendous rush to judgment.” “It was convenient to throw the lacrosse team overboard along …

PASADENA, Calif. – NBC’s political drama “The West Wing,” which briefly made bureaucrats hip and won four Emmy awards for best drama, will end this spring with the inauguration of a new fictional president. NBC announced the series’ conclusion after seven seasons on Sunday. In the end, it fell victim …

LONDON – Oslo has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city, according to a survey published Tuesday. Tokyo had held the top spot for 14 years in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s biannual survey. Of 17 U.S. cities featured in the survey, the most expensive were New York (27th), Chicago …