Costa Concordia wreck refloated, awaits towing

The wreck of the luxury liner Costa Concordia was refloated on Monday, ready to be towed away for scrap, two and a half years after it capsized off the Italian coast, killing 32 people.

Kerry hunkers down for 'lengthy' Iran talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed his Iranian counterpart on Monday to make "critical choices", six days before a deadline to cut a historic deal that would finally dispel fears about Teheran's nuclear drive.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Israel calls for north Gaza evacuation

Netanyahu: Operation 'might take a long time'; Palestinian toll hits 166

Sarkozy hit by new phone-tap leaks

A corruption scandal surrounding former French president Nicolas Sarkozy deepened further on Saturday with fresh leaks of telephone conversations purporting to show he offered to get a judge a plum job in return for favors.

In brain, sex addiction resembles drug addiction

Pornography triggers brain activity in sex addicts similar to the effect drugs have on the brains of drug addicts, researchers said on Friday - but that doesn't necessarily mean porn is addictive.

Anybody home? Lush Pacific atoll struggles with shrinking population

It was a school once, but there are no children anymore. The lonely building on this remote Pacific island now contains only a punching bag that someone has strung from classroom rafters and a note scrawled on the chalkboard in Niuean: "Keep this place clean," it said, "so it stays beautiful."

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Merkel seeks change in behavior amid spying row

Chancellor says scandal likely won't undermine trans-Atlantic trade deal

Afghan rivals agree to resolve dispute over votes

Afghanistan's two presidential candidates have agreed to a historic deal to audit all eight million votes cast in the disputed election after two days of intense shuttle diplomacy by top US diplomat John Kerry.

Girl who was supposedly HIV-free suffers relapse

A US girl born with the AIDS virus and in remission for years despite stopping treatment now shows signs that she still harbors the human immunodeficiency virus - and therefore is not cured. The news is a setback to those who hoped that very early treatment with powerful HIV drugs might reverse an infection that has seemed permanent once it takes hold.

Dinosaur skeletons returning home to Mongolia

US officials on Thursday turned over to the Mongolian government enough 80 million-year-old dinosaur skeletons to stock a museum, including two relics of a kind of dinosaur that a prosecutor said "memorably stampeded" in a Hollywood movie.