WASHINGTON,Reuters - Regulators seized five U.S. banks on Friday, driving up the tally in what is expected to be a busy year for bank failures.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. ally Pakistan is reaching out to "all levels" of the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage reconciliation in its war-torn neighbor, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The battle lines have been drawn in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa over its shock decision this week to suspend controversial cleric Paul Verryn.

Parenting is all about love and making sure your child grows up to be a humble and committed person.  A new study on whether the popular belief that children need both a mother and a father in their life, has been carried out.

Haiti's government has made the "heartbreaking" decision to declare the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, the UN says.

With award season well underway, last night’s People’s Choice Awards gave a glimpse of who was truly successful in the music, television, and movie business this year in the eyes of audience members.

A "not guilty" plea has been entered on behalf of the Nigerian man accused of attempting to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.

CONAKRY- Guinea's caretaker leader, Sekouba Konate, is in good health, an official of the ruling junta said on Friday, denying media reports he was being evacuated to Senegal for hospital treatment.

KAMPALA — An Air Uganda flight to Sudan was diverted back to Kampala Saturday after the US embassy in Khartoum warned American travellers of a "potential threat" to commercial flights between Uganda and South Sudan.

World Cup boss Danny Jordaan says South Africa's hosting of the tournament will not be affected by the attack on Togo's team bus at the Africa Cup of Nations.

(HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified the cause of a major hurdle in efforts to develop an AIDs vaccine.

Amid reports that his wife Elin Nordegren is consulting with a high-powered divorce attorney, Tiger Woods and his estimated net worth of $600 million – considered one of the biggest in professional sports, thanks in large part to sponsorship endorsements worth some $1 billion – is coming under scrutiny, should a divorce necessitate a need to divide his estate.

WASHINGTON — The United States said Friday it is urging the Ugandan leadership to block a bill calling for draconian measures against homosexuals, warning it would be a setback in fighting AIDS.

COPENHAGEN — A UN conference on Saturday rammed through a battle plan against climate change forged by US President Barack Obama and other top leaders, sidelining smaller states which lashed the deal as betrayal.

Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most common cancers — skin and lung — a move they say could revolutionise cancer care.

THERE has been no substantial change in the number of adult brain tumours since mobile phone usage sharply increased in the mid-1990s, Danish scientists say.

When President Obama visits China for the first time on Sunday, he will, in many ways, be assuming the role of profligate spender coming to pay his respects to his banker.

Is there water on the Moon?

If Fabio Capello can read anything significant into this game he should consider pondering tea-leaves as a sideline. That's if he can find any tea-leaves. These days they seem to be more of a rarity than fit England players.

BEIJING, Nov. 14 -- Amid piles of paperwork in his simple office on the outskirts of Beijing, a 28-year-old public welfare lawyer pauses to say his job is special because he feels a kinship with the most powerful man in the United States.