Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody. But it happened five days ago, when the 30-weeks-pregnant woman forgot to pay for her snack while grocery shopping.
"It was the most ridiculous chain of events that happened," she said while sobbing Monday. "It's still hard to believe what happened."
Full StoryU.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.
The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan's guidance, officials told The Associated Press.
Full StoryA new album of recordings by the late soul singer Amy Winehouse will be released in December, Island Records said Monday.
It said "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" will contain 12 songs — previously unreleased tracks, alternative versions of existing hits and brand new songs — recorded by the beehive-wearing singer who died at her London home on July 23.
Full StoryA new study suggests that when parents are deployed in the military, their children are more than twice as likely to carry a weapon, join a gang or be involved in fights.
And that includes the daughters.
Full StoryAfter a years-long delay, an Earth-observing satellite blasted into space early Friday on a dual mission to improve weather forecasts and monitor climate change.
A Delta 2 rocket carrying the NASA satellite lifted off shortly before 3 a.m. from the central California coast. The satellite separated from the rocket about an hour after launching, unfurled its solar panels and headed toward an orbit 500 miles above Earth.
Full StoryA prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.
The study of the world's surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.
Full StoryHonda's quarterly profit tumbled 56 percent, battered by the strong yen and production disruptions from the March tsunami disaster that are likely to be compounded by flooding in Thailand.
The automaker, which makes the Accord sedan and Odyssey minivan, said Monday that net profit for the July-September fiscal second quarter fell to 60.4 billion yen ($788 million).
Full StoryThe "Shrek" spinoff "Puss in Boots" landed on all fours, opening with an estimated $34 million to lead the box office.
The DreamWorks 3D animated film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, proved the popular character voiced by Antonio Banderas was a big enough draw outside the "Shrek" franchise.
Full StoryBig Bird and Oscar the Grouch are nowhere in sight. But there's Elmo. And new creatures too, like Baily, a kindly donkey who loves to sing, and Haseen O Jameel, a vain crocodile who lives at the bottom of a well.
Sesame Street is coming to Pakistan but not as generations of Americans know it.
Full StoryJapanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony Corp. is expected to post another quarterly loss when it reports results Wednesday as a strong yen and its struggling TV business drag on its bottomline.
It's been a tough year for Japanese exporters such as Sony, and the latest quarter is likely to reflect ongoing currency-related woes. The yen has hit multiple record highs against the dollar, which has faltered along with the U.S. economy.
Full Story