Air France plane went down in region known as ‘birthplace of our strongest storms on Earth’

Air France Flight 447 vanished in a zone of ferocious weather over the Atlantic Ocean known as the birthplace of some of the world’s strongest storms — just as the plane was encountering a 400-mile-long maze of lightning, hail, driving rain and fierce 100-mph updrafts.

At Guantanamo, detainees say upgrades under Obama do little to ease despair

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — As visiting journalists walked by, two of the inmates held up sketch pads on which they had scribbled “We need freedom.” One of them shouted: “Is Obama communist or democrat?”

Fiat 500 remake shown off on streets of New York, day after judge approves Chrysler-Fiat deal

NEW YORK — Italian officials touted the remake of Fiat’s iconic 500 compact as the perfect city car for a new America, a day after a bankruptcy judge gave Chrysler LLC approval to sell most of its assets to the Italian automaker and hours after General Motors entered bankruptcy protection.

French airliner missing over Atlantic, 228 on board (Second Lead)

PARIS/RIO DE JANEIRO - An Air France flight with 228 people on board went missing over the Atlantic Monday morning, sparking a major search and rescue mission off the Brazilian coast, according to reports in both countries.

Pig farm shows how agriculture can turn one cause of global warming to partial solution

STERKSEL, Netherlands — The 2,700 pigs on the farm that John Horrevorts manages yield more than ham and bacon. A biogas plant makes enough electricity from their waste to run the farm and feeds extra wattage into the Dutch national grid.

AP IMPACT: More foreclosures in hurricane-prone communities mean more danger if storm strikes

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Mike Manikchand points toward his neighbors — a half-dozen empty, foreclosed-upon homes, sitting on weed-strewn yards — and he wonders: What will happen if a hurricane slams into southwest Florida this year?

Trial looms for Ga. Tech student accused of plotting ‘violent jihad’ against bases, refineries

ATLANTA — Armed with a handheld video camera, a Georgia university student drove with a friend in April 2005 to Washington, D.C., and captured scenes of the Capitol, the Pentagon and other locations.

After the crash, has the sun set on America’s ‘Sun Belt’?

ORLANDO, Fla. — We first heard the term decades ago: The “Sun Belt” was just starting a run of phenomenal growth — and no wonder. It conjured a sunny state of mind as well as a balmy place on the map.

‘Afraid Pak moved 75 percent of its air force to LOC after Mumbai attacks’

NEW DELHI - Pakistan wary of Indian Air Force’s capability moved 75 percent of its air force to the Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Old dissidents still a voice in Russia, but their influence fades under Putin

MOSCOW — They would meet in secret, terrified of a KGB knock on the door. They laboriously typed out banned publications. Many ended up in prison, labor camps and exile.

Pakistan military says it has regained full control of largest town in Swat from Taliban

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani troops have retaken the largest town in the Swat Valley from the Taliban as the army presses its offensive against militants in the country’s northwest, the army spokesman said Saturday.

Obama launches cyberspace security plan

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama Friday declared the country’s digital infrastructure a “strategic national asset” whose protection needs to be overseen from within the White House.

Oklahoma drugstore shooting stirs debate over self-defense, turns a pharmacist into folk hero

OKLAHOMA CITY — Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore’s security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor.

Future of women in Air Force is ‘extremely bright’: IAF chief

NEW DELHI - Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major on Wednesday said that permanent commission to women could be granted in other branches of the Indian Air Force, and their future in the armed forces is extremely bright.

Pak Army chief visits Buner, reviews security operation against Taliban

Buner (NWFP, Pakistan), - Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani visited Daggar in the North West Frontier Province’s Buner District on Thursday to review the progress of security operations against the Taliban on ground.

Tejaswini Sawant shoots bronze at Munich World Cup

NEW DELHI - Tejaswini Sawant won a bronze in the women’s three position rifle event of the shooting World Cup at Munich Tuesday.

Spanish study shows traces of cocaine, other drugs in the air in Madrid, Barcelona

MADRID — Air pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities, but scientists now say it is not just smog that chokes people as they walk to work or stroll through the park. A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney insists he did nothing at inquiry

TORONTO — Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney denied Tuesday any wrongdoing in his dealings with a German arms dealer who claims the Canadian leader agreed to take money from him while still in office.

White House document says EPA regulation of greenhouse gases will have serious economic costs

WASHINGTON — An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could lead to regulating the gases blamed for global warming will prove costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions, according to a White House document.

Florida boy, 11, set for last leg of 1,200-mile walk to Washington to benefit homeless kids

TAMPA, Fla. — At age 11, Zach Bonner has already walked farther and done more for charity than many grown-ups.

NASA begins countdown for Monday launch of space shuttle Atlantis to Hubble Telescope

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA began the countdown for its final trip to the Hubble Space Telescope on Friday as the astronauts who will attempt the daunting repairs arrived at the launching site.

Father chokes up discussing 2 sons who died when scallop boat sank off NJ

CAPE MAY, N.J. — Royal Smith Sr. tried to tell a Coast Guard hearing Thursday how he and his sons made safety modifications to the scallop boat they bought in 2001 — a vessel that sank in March.

Honeywell sees growth in India despite recession

BANGALORE - Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. sees more growth in India on growing demand for its products and services despite a global economic downturn.

Death toll from floods increases to at least 30 in northern Brazil and Amazon region

SAO PAULO — Authorities struggled Wednesday to reach dozens of small cities in northern Brazil after floods and mudslides washed out roads and highways. The death toll from the flooding rose to at least 30 people.

House Dems agree on cash for clunkers, differences remain on other energy, climate provisions

WASHINGTON — Key lawmakers agreed Tuesday on a strategy for replacing gas-guzzling cars with more fuel-efficient models, but much tougher negotiations lie ahead on a bill that would, for the first time, limit emissions linked to global warming.

US supports reducing climate-warming gases, but won’t propose it under UN ozone treaty

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners “a very significant” threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.’s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.

US supports reducing climate-warming gases under UN ozone treaty, but won’t propose it

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners “a very significant” threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.’s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.

Obama voices hope virus will run its course as scores more schools close, more people sickened

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama voiced hope Friday that the swine flu virus will run its course “like ordinary flus” as officials reported more than two dozen new cases and scores more schools shut down.

Congress to end coal use in power plant as part of green initiative to help environment

WASHINGTON — The 99-year-old Capitol Power Plant, which provides steam for heat and hot water in congressional buildings, is ending its distinction of being the only coal-burning facility in the District of Columbia.

Questions unanswered or unanswerable: 6 things we still don’t know about swine flu

Government officials, public health experts and business leaders have faced a lot of questions about swine flu this week, and three words keep popping up in their answers: “We don’t know.”