MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin and Sepp Blatter just can’t stop praising each other. The Russian president, speaking with Swiss TV on Monday, said the embattled head of FIFA deserves a Nobel Prize for his work. Two days after Putin and Blatter hosted the preliminary draw for the 2018 World Cup, …

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s prime minister, indicted on wide-ranging corruption charges, has called for his case to be resolved quickly. Victor Ponta was questioned by anti-corruption prosecutors on Thursday for a fourth time. He emerged after nearly two hours saying he had cooperated with prosecutors. Prosecutors indicted Ponta in July …

WASHINGTON – Police evacuated the massive Capitol Visitor Center near the end of visiting hours Monday after finding an unattended bag at its entrance. An investigation found nothing hazardous. A suspicious package was reported about 3:30 p.m. EDT, Capitol Police said in a news release. Fire trucks and other emergency …

BEIJING – China is sticking to its planned launch of a controversial Internet censoring software in about one week, an official newspaper said Tuesday, despite Washington’s concerns over the move’s possible impact on trade and access to information. The China Daily said the plan to require the Web-filtering Green Dam …

ROCKFORD, Ill. – There was high water along the northern Illinois rail line where a freight train derailed, setting off a fiery explosion and killing one person, federal authorities said Sunday. It’s unclear what the exact water levels were during Friday’s crash and what role if any water played in …

A mass shooting Thursday at Fort Hood in Texas was the latest in a series of violence incidents at the military post in the past two years. In September 2008, a 21-year-old Fort Hood soldier shot to death his lieutenant during a confrontation at his off-base apartment before turning the …

PORTLAND, Oregon – The United States’ first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration’s move to relax policing of medical use of the drug. The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold …

MIAMI – A South Florida woman has been charged with calling in a bomb threat to keep her boss from missing a flight. An arrest reports says 31-year-old Claudia De La Rosa was charged Thursday with making a false report of planting a bomb. Miami International Airport officials received a …

BEIJING – Kidnapping villagers who have traveled to Beijing to lodge complaints with China’s central government and keeping them in unofficial jails to silence them has evolved into a lucrative cottage industry that police refuse to crack down on, a human rights group said Thursday. The report by New York-based …

A Georgia teacher reportedly has been placed on paid administrative leave after being charged with making terroristic threats against a 16-year-old student. Randolph Forde was arrested last month after being accused of asking the student at Mundy’s Mill High School whether or not he was gay, threatening to hit the …