Bill Chappell

One day after staging a coup, Thailand's military summoned leaders of the ousted government and other political figures to a meeting Friday. More than 150 people were ordered to convene at the Royal Thai Army auditorium — or risk arrest and possible charges.

Update at 10:30 a.m. ET: Ousted PM ...

Some 2,000 new trains that were meant to help France expand its regional rail network are instead causing headaches and embarrassment, as officials have been forced to explain why the trains aren't compatible with hundreds of station platforms. The new trains are just a few centimeters too wide to fit.

A U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria has failed, after Russia and China voted against the measure Thursday.

The resolution seeking accountability for wartime atrocities was introduced by France and had the backing of the U.S.

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Norman Rockwell's The Rookie has sold for $22.5 million at auction Thursday. The 1957 painting of baseball players in a locker room was sold by Christie's auction house — heady heights for a work that first appeared on a magazine that sold for 15 cents.

Update at 12:50 p.m. The ...

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was pulling his country's troops back from its border with Ukraine. Thursday, NATO officials said they're seeing signs Russia's troops might withdraw, although many soldiers remain near the border.

NATO's leader reports seeing "limited Russian troop activity" close to the border, ...

Pro-Russian separatists attacked a military checkpoint in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 13 soldiers and wounding about 30, according to Ukraine's acting prime minister. The country is preparing to hold national elections on Sunday.

A separatist commander told The Associated Press that one of his men also died.

Thailand's army is now running the country. Two days after declaring martial law — and saying it wasn't staging a coup — the military has changed its mind, Thailand's army chief says.

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha announced the coup d'etat on national television, saying the military is taking over to give ...

A coordinated attack on an outdoor market in northwest China has left 31 people dead and dozens wounded, prompting promises of a vigorous government response. Bombs and cars were used to inflict damage on people at the market.

The Chinese government called the early morning attack in Urumqi, the capital ...

Online marketplace eBay says it was the target of a cyberattack in which hackers accessed a database of its encrypted passwords. The auction site says no financial data were revealed — but it's urging its users to update the passwords on their accounts.

EBay says that it hasn't seen any ...

A bill making it a misdemeanor crime to bully anyone from kindergarten age up to 25 years old failed in Carson, Calif., last night, despite receiving unanimous support when the City Council held an initial vote earlier this month. But in its final vote Tuesday, the council axed the measure, ...

Anybody found to have manipulated or falsified Veterans Affairs records "will be held accountable," President Obama said Wednesday. The president condemned the reported widespread problems at the VA, defending Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.

Obama spoke after he and Shinseki met in the Oval Office Wednesday morning with White ...

In an effort to broaden its international appeal, a Japanese college is phasing out its titter-inducing name. Osaka's Kinki University is named for its home region in south-central Japan. But school officials say the name is distracting; they note that foreigners who attend conferences there often make jokes about their ...

The Supreme Court will review Missouri's plans to execute Russell Bucklew Wednesday, after Justice Samuel Alito granted a stay of Bucklew's execution late Tuesday night. The inmate has a rare medical condition that his attorneys say makes it likely that a lethal injection could go wrong.

Alito issued his order ...

The world, as you've no doubt noticed, has its problems. But some folks seem to be dealing with them pretty well, according to poll results released Wednesday. Countries in Latin America dominated the top of Gallup's "positive experience index," while Syria set an all-time low.

"At least seven in 10 ...

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Ray Bradbury's Los Angeles house is for sale. The bright yellow three-bedroom house where the author of Fahrenheit 451 lived with his wife costs $1.495 million. As The Los Angeles Times' Carolyn Kellogg notes, Bradbury wrote ...

Deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has been sentenced to three years in prison and a fine, after a court found him guilty of embezzling public money. Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were given four-year sentences; the three were accused of using public funds to pay for work on their own ...

Did a band from Los Angeles get ripped off by Led Zeppelin? That's the claim in a new lawsuit by representatives of the band Spirit, which played some dates with the British rock legends in their early days in America.

The story is a familiar one: A band plays a ...

A drug safety agency says that 32 percent of French citizens are regular or occasional users of prescription drugs such as antidepressants and sleeping pills. France's National Drug Safety Agency warns that the pills are prescribed too often.

"France has long been known as having a high prescription drug use ...

A White House official says the CIA will no longer use vaccine programs as cover for spy operations, answering health experts' complaints that it had hurt international efforts to fight disease.

The CIA famously used a vaccination program as a ploy to gain information about the possible whereabouts of Osama ...

After late wrangling that included a threat to withdraw his guilty plea, J. Everett Dutschke accepted a 25-year prison sentence Monday, a year after he was arrested for sending poison-laced letters to President Obama and others.

Dutschke, 42, is a former martial arts instructor who prosecutors say attempted to ...