MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's parliament on Wednesday gave overwhelming preliminary approval to a measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children, a harsh retaliatory move against U.S. human rights legislation.

Top Russian officials have expressed unease about the proposal, an apparent indication

LONDON (AP) - Institutional chaos and confusion - but not a cover-up - were to blame for the BBC's disastrous handling of pedophilia allegations involving one of its best-known children's television personalities, an internal review found Wednesday.

The review, carried out by former Sky News boss

HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas landowner and TransCanada Corp. are taking their argument over whether tar sands are crude oil before a judge.

Nacogdoches County Court-at-Law Judge Jack Sinz will hear arguments Wednesday. Landowner Michael Bishop wants all pipeline work on his 20-acre property to stop until the judge rules on whether the product TransCanada

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) - The new Syrian rebel military commander said he is "very afraid" a cornered Syrian President Bashar Assad will unleash chemical weapons on his own people but the opposition does not have the means to seize and secure them.

Gen. Salim Idris, who defected from the Syrian army in