Gordon Brown, superhero? The prime minister of England will be the star of a new comic book, the Daily Mail of London reported. Brown fights aliens and sports not a leotard and cape but a business suit in Marvel Comics’ “Captain Britain and MI:13,” according to the Mail. Brown took …

LOS ANGELES – He was the comedian who actually said the seven words you can never say on television, but close friends and family members remembered George Carlin as a man who, when he was off stage, had only a kind word for everyone he met. At a private memorial …

NEW YORK – Big Brown has an appointment with his manicurist. The bay colt is set for some last minute patch-up work Friday afternoon, the day before he races in the Belmont Stakes for a shot at winning the first Triple Crown in 30 years. Hoof specialist Ian McKinlay, who …

WASHINGTON – Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday. “No bees, no crops,” North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because …

PARIS – Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner. The court also ordered Bardot to pay $1,555 in damages to MRAP. …

CLEVELAND – A teenager accused of plotting a school attack wrote that he wanted “instant recognition” for shooting a record number of victims and that he wouldn’t feel sorry about it, according to documents unsealed Tuesday. A black spiral notebook authorities obtained from the 16-year-old boy’s locker at Penn High …

What’s in a kiss? That’s what a Hicksville, N.Y. mother would like to know after her young daughter’s kiss left her with hearing loss and tinnitus, Newsday reported. When Gail Schwartzman’s daughter, who is now 6, kissed Schwartzman’s ear, it wasn’t the sound that damaged her hearing, it was the …

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Ayan Ali Hassan decided to leave Mogadishu when militiamen boarded her school bus and kidnapped two screaming boys. For Abdi Gadir Osman, the moment came when a mortar slammed into his mother’s home, killing her while she slept on a hot afternoon. They are among some 20,000 …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Islam must do away with the dangers of extremism and present the religion’s positive message, Saudi King Abdullah said Wednesday as he opened a conference of Muslim figures aimed at launching a dialogue with Christians and Jews. The three-day gathering in the holy city of Mecca …

Detectives in the U.K. are investigating after a man choked to death while taking part in a competition with friends to see how many fairy cakes they could eat at once. Adam Deeley, 34, collapsed at the Monkey Cafe in Swansea early Friday morning after downing several of the bite-sized …