A man in Australia working in a pet food processing plant contracted a syndrome that is usually associated with women who use tampons, according to a report in the May 5 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia. The 41-year-old man developed the human form of toxic shock syndrome from …

MOSCOW – For the first time in post-Soviet Russia, tanks and nuclear missile launchers are to rumble across Red Square on Friday, in a seemingly fearsome parade of military might. The message to the world, two days after Dmitry Medvedev succeeds Vladimir Putin as president, should be clear: Russia is …

NEW YORK – Prosecutors announced an indictment Tuesday against a reputed Russian arms smuggler who they say tried to sell weapons to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization with the goal of killing Americans. The indictment charges Viktor Bout with four terrorism offenses, including conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill U.S. …

CHICAGO – Experts are telling Chicago residents to beware of the birds. The fiercely territorial behavior of red-winged blackbirds is being blamed on several recent dive-bomb attacks. The birds peck at unsuspecting bicyclists and pedestrians and swipe their hair. Just ask Holly Grosso. The businesswoman says she was pecked in …

BAGHDAD – Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr revealed Friday that he plans to create a powerful fighting force to battle what he calls “the occupiers” in Iraq. In a statement read after Friday prayers in the holy Shitte city of Kufa, Al-Sadr called on his nearly 60,000-strong Mahdi Army militia …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Hundreds of Taliban fighters took over several villages in southern Afghanistan on Monday just outside the region’s largest city, and NATO and Afghan forces were redeploying to meet the threat, officials said. Mohammad Farooq, the government leader in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, said around 500 …

PHOENIX – Phoenix police are searching for two suspects involved in a road rage shooting that left a 70-year-old woman dead. Authorities say the victim and her 4-year-old granddaughter were both shot after a heated confrontation that stemmed from a minor traffic accident yesterday afternoon at 19th Avenue and Bethany …

WASHINGTON – Global warming is likely to increase illegal immigration, create humanitarian disasters and destabilize precarious governments in political hot spots, all of which could affect U.S. national security, according to an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia are most vulnerable …

KYOTO, Japan – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she expected developments on North Korea’s long-delayed nuclear declaration within hours, as she arrived in Japan to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said an announcement …

WASHINGTON – The Senate Armed Services Committee voted Thursday to promote Gen. David Petraeus to become the top commander in the Middle East. Senators on the panel also agreed by voice vote that Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno should receive a fourth star and replace Petraeus as chief commander in Iraq. …