The Saudi foreign minister says the owners of a hijacked oil tanker are negotiating with the pirates that are holding it. Prince Saud Al-Faisal spoke Wednesday after talks in Rome with his Italian counterpart. Asked if he could confirm reports that a ransom had been demanded, he said the owners …

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – They canceled their cell phone service and stopped their Social Security benefits. They prepaid their 2008 income taxes, heating and electric bills and left tips for the housekeepers in their Florida vacation home. They even left their attorney stamps to pay the bills. Dr. Rajaeskar Sham …

BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand’s government backed off Friday from its threat to forcibly remove protesters occupying Bangkok’s two airports, dashing hopes of a quick resolution to a standoff that has stranded thousands of travelers and tarnished the country’s image. Government spokesman Nattawut Sai-Kau said police would avoid violence and attempt …

COLUMBIA, S.C. – TVs and laptops won’t be the only hot items in South Carolina this Black Friday. The state is offering an unusual perk to shoppers: no sales tax on handguns, rifles and shotguns. The so-called “Second Amendment Weekend” is thanks to a little-debated amendment legislators tacked on this …

The number of women committing suicide has increased dramatically over the past decade and is driving up the nation’s suicide rate as a whole, a new study finds. The rate of suicide in the United States has risen for the first time in a decade and, for once, middle-age women …

Convicted murderer Scott Peterson is writing the Florida woman accused of killing her missing toddler, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel. Sources tell the paper that the California death-row inmate has been writing Casey Anthony in the Orange County Jail. Peterson was convicted three years ago of killing …

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – A Florida teenager has been sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for coaxing his senile grandmother into holding a gun and threatening to shoot “all the pigs” in a homemade “gangsta rap” video. Eighteen-year-old Michael Alfinez pleaded guilty Tuesday to elder abuse charges. His …

Lie: That was my most amazing orgasm ever! Truth: That was No. 4 on my list. Mmm … You’re the best. I love how you do what you do! From faking the Big O to recalling sexual history to feigning partner approval, lovers lie about a lot of things. In …

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – Two D.C. men have been sentenced to life in prison for raping a woman several times at gunpoint after she was forced to drive them to her Forestville home. Nineteen-year-old Michael Wright and 20-year-old Jonathan Edmonds were both charged with first-degree rape for attacking a 27-year-old …

BEIJING – More than 10,000 children remained hospitalized after being sickened in China’s tainted milk scandal, eight of whom were in serious condition, officials said. The Health Ministry said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday that 10,666 children were in hospitals after drinking milk powder contaminated with the …