STOCKHOLM – U.N. climate talks began anew Monday in Germany, three months before world governments are supposed to adopt a landmark deal to fight global warming. The climate pact envisioned for Paris in December will be a crucial test for the diplomatic process, which failed to deliver a strong deal …

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A white ex-police chief pleaded guilty Tuesday to misconduct in office in the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed black man and was sentenced to a year of home detention. Prosecutors agreed to drop the murder charge against 38-year-old Richard Combs, the former police chief of the …

Back when I was in school, I performed a scientific experiment in which I poured a liquid of one color into a beaker that contained liquid of a different color. At first the liquid in the beaker was diluted, but as I kept pouring, the poured liquid eventually overtook the …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In the end, the Tennessee Attorney General says the argument all comes down to the lack of a comma. The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/1N7oFeI ) reports that Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued an Aug. 25 opinion that says a city council cannot request the results of a Tennessee Bureau …

LONDON – Prime Minister David Cameron revealed Monday that British forces had used a drone strike over Syria in August to kill three Islamic State fighters, including two Britons. He told Parliament that the attack was legally justified because the militants were plotting lethal attacks against Britain and the fighters …

BERLIN – German prosecutors say they have charged a 25-year-old German man with membership in a terrorist organization over allegations he joined the Islamic State group in Syria. The federal prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that the suspect, identified only as Nils D. in line with German privacy regulations, traveled to …

STAVANGER, Norway – A Norwegian man held hostage by Islamic State militants was a graduate student in political philosophy whose Facebook feed shows a long-held interest in Middle East conflicts and Norse mythology. Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad’s last communicated via his Facebook page on Jan. 24, announcing he had “finally made …

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – Witnesses and officials in Burundi’s capital say the army chief has survived an apparent assassination attempt by gunmen who attacked a convoy of vehicles that was escorting him. Witness Anicet Nkunzimana says gunmen wearing military fatigues and riding a pick-up truck fired on the convoy of the …

MANCHESTER, London – The coach of the North Korean women’s football team sat in his chair and placed on the table a black half-inch thick notebook with the word “COACH” — in English in huge, gray letters — printed on the front. Beside him sat a man who identified himself …

By Mark Lamport-Stokes The Swiss master has been the sport’s dominant figure for the last eight years but could slip to third in the rankings, behind Serb Novak Djokovic, after the Indian Wells tournament starting this week. Federer has compiled a respectable win-loss record of 14-2 this season, with both …