In this Feb. 26, 2012 file photo, actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, in West Hollywood, California. (AP-Yonhap News)U.S. actress Katie Holmes's divorce agreement with actor Tom Cruise includes $400,000 in annual child support, the gossip Web site TMZ reported Friday.The actress who was a regular on the former teen drama series "Dawson's Creek" and appeared in

Samsung's loss Friday in a U.S. lawsuit brought by Apple Inc. has set an amber light before the future of the Google-backed Android operating system.More than a year of courtroom fights between Samsung and Apple mean more than just patent disputes between the arch-rivals in the world's smartphone and tablet computer markets.Also at issue is Apple's claim that the Android operating system, which ru

(123rf)A protein in semen acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation and the same molecule regulates growth and nerve cell survival, Canadian researchers say.Gregg Adams of the University of Saskatchewan said male mammals have accessory sex glands that contribute seminal fluid to semen, but the role of this fluid and the glands that produce has not been well understood."From the results of our r

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican federal police fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle and wounded two U.S. government employees Friday after their vehicle drove into a rural, mountainous area outside the capital where the officers were looking for criminals, Mexican and U.S. officials said.The two embassy employees were hospitalized, one with a leg wound and the other hit in the stomach and hand, according t

VIENNA (AP) -- Iran has shrouded a building that the U.N. nuclear agency suspects was used for secret work on atomic weapons, meaning spy satellites can no longer monitor Tehran's alleged efforts to clean up the site, diplomats told The Associated Press on Friday.For months, satellite images have recorded what the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects is an attempt to sanitize the site. At t

NEW YORK (AP) -- A laid-off clothing designer fatally shot an executive at his former company outside the Empire State Building on Friday, setting off a chaotic showdown with police in front of one of the world's best-known landmarks. Officers killed the gunman and at least nine others suffered minor wounds, likely all of them by stray police gunfire, authorities said.The gunshots rang out on the

MADRID (AFP) -- Standard and Poor's on Wednesday affirmed Spain's credit rating at BBB+ with the outlook still negative on fears that measures to help the eurozone struggler will fall short."In our view, Spain's commitment to the ongoing implementation of a comprehensive fiscal and structural reform agenda remains strong," S&P said, referring to a raft of new austerity measures passed by the conse

South Korea's Jung Kyung-eun, left, and Kim Ha-na play against Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova, or Russia, during a women's doubles badminton match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 30, 2012, in London. (AP-Yonhap News)Two South Korean women's badminton doubles pairs were among those tossed from the London Olympics Wednesday for trying to throw their matches to ensure a favorable draw, o

ATHENS (AP) -- Greece's Socialist party remains at odds with its conservative coalition partners over a proposed round of new austerity cuts needed for country to remain in an emergency loan program, a senior party official said Wednesday.Socialist official Panos Beglitis made the remarks, hours before leaders of three parties in the coalition are to hold a third meeting in a week to try and hamme

Korea and Turkey signed their free trade deal on Wednesday, paving the way for South Korean firms to tap deeper into the Eurasian nation, Seoul's trade ministry said.Seoul Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho and Turkish counterpart Zafer Caglayan signed the pact on merchandise in the Turkish capital of Ankara earlier in the day, according to the ministry."The Korea-Turkey FTA is expected to serve as a good

LONDON (AP) -- The IOC says a female gymnast from Uzbekistan has been formally expelled from the London Olympics after her backup "B'' sample also came back positive for doping.IOC spokesman Mark Adams says Luiza Galiulina has been kicked out of the athletes' village after the second test confirmed the initial finding for use of the banned diuretic furosemide.Galiulina -- a lesser-known name with

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Bombings and shootings ripped across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 103 people in the deadliest day this year. The coordinated attacks in 13 cities sent a chilling warning that al-Qaida is slowly resurging in the security vacuum created by a weak government in Baghdad and the departure of the U.S. military seven months ago.Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility, th

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Europe is on the brink again. The crisis over too much debt in the 17 countries that use the euro flared dangerously on Monday.Fears that Spain was next in line for a full-blown government bailout intensified following a weekend of bad news about Europe's fourth-biggest economy. Madrid's borrowing costs on its 10-year bonds -- an indicator of market confidence in a count

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Chinese offshore oil and gas giant CNOOC Ltd. said Monday it has agreed to buy Canadian producer Nexen Inc. for $15.1 billion in China's biggest-ever overseas energy acquisition.CNOOC and other big state-owned Chinese energy companies have stepped up purchases of oil and gas assets in the Americas in the past several years as part of a wider strategy aimed at securing access to re

LONDON (AP) -- The British government is considering whether to require the identification of individuals who sponsor tax avoidance schemes.The proposal was disclosed Monday as the government's tax office launched a formal consultation on a range of measures to crack down on plans designed purely to avoid tax.Treasury minister David Gauke says the measures are aimed at plans which are clearly cont

BEIJING (AP) -- As China's flood-ravaged capital dealt with the aftermath of the heaviest rain in six decades Monday, including the deaths of 37 people, questions were being raised about whether the city's push for modernization came at the expense of basic infrastructure such as drainage networks.Rescuers were still searching buildings that collapsed during Saturday night's torrential downpour an

 LONDON -- North Korean table tennis officials here on Monday reacted angrily to South Korean journalists who attempted to take pictures of their practice ahead of the upcoming London Olympics, in the latest display of strained ties between the two countries.North Korean table tennis players had practice at ExCeL South Arena, which will also serve as the venue for the Olympic competitions from Jul

Korea's left-wing party said Monday it will this week expel two of its lawmakers suspected to have been involved in a rigged primary, after initially failing to do so because of strong opposition from the party's main faction.The embattled Unified Progressive Party (UPP) was engulfed in turmoil over allegations that its primary vote, conducted in March to name proportional representation candidate

HONG KONG -- Taiwanese steel manufacturers have filed anti-dumping complaints on South Korean stainless steel products, saying they are sold at excessively low prices, South Korea's trade agency said Monday.Taiwan's leading stainless steel makers Yieh United Steel Corp. (YUSCO) and Tang Eng Iron Works Co. submitted complaints to the country's ministry of commerce, claiming South Korean products ar

The presidential office drew up plans in 2008 to purge leftist artists, an opposition lawmaker claimed Monday as he denounced the move as South Korea's equivalent to China's Cultural Revolution.The purge of "human resources in a leftist group should be constantly carried out without a sound," the alleged presidential document said, according to Jung Cheong-rae of the main opposition Democratic Uni