BERLIN – Two German engineers returned to Berlin on Wednesday a day after they were released unharmed following 99 days in captivity in Iraq — a result one said “we don’t take for granted.” Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke stepped down from a plane at Tegel military airport. The pair …

ABUJA, Nigeria – Sudanese rebels cautiously welcomed U.S.-backed proposals to salvage a peace agreement for Darfur Thursday and the international community urged them to finally accept the deal aimed at resolving a crisis that has cost at least 180,000 lives. Four pages of last-ditch revisions to the 85-page peace plan …

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Friday charged Liberty Mutual Group, the sixth largest U.S. property casualty insurer, with rigging bids and making payoffs to steer business its way. The civil complaint in New York State Supreme Court says Boston-based Liberty Mutual conspired with Marsh & …

BEIJING – China’s official Roman Catholic church named a new bishop Sunday — reportedly with papal approval — as Beijing rejected Vatican criticism of the unauthorized ordination of two other bishops. The Rev. Paolo Pei Junmin was named assistant bishop of Shenyang, the biggest city in China’s northeast, said Liu …

WASHINGTON – Chemistry professors Phil DeShong and Bryan Eichhorn are separated physically by only one floor in their classroom building in College Park, Md. But their research into the uses, applications and possible health effects of nanotechnology are essentially worlds apart. Nanotechnology is the broad term used to describe both …

A San Francisco Bay Area company has submitted a request for spectrum to launch a free high-speed broadband Internet service across the entire United States. Startup M2Z Networks, Inc. on May 5 submitted a request to the Federal Communications Commission for a license to a vacant 20-megahertz band in order …

LOS ANGELES – The assignment for hosting the awards show honoring television’s best work is going to NBC’s Conan O’Brien. The 43-year-old comedian will host the “58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” on Aug. 27. The show will air live from the Shrine Auditorium on NBC. O’Brien hosted the Emmys in …

HONOLULU – Twelve species of rare flies known for their elaborate courtship displays and found only in the Hawaiian Islands are now protected under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the protected status for the highly valued picture-wing flies Tuesday. The Arizona-based Center for Biological …

2. THE KAHUNA’S RANT O’ THE WEEK: Don’t Believe Everything You Hear I continue to be amazed that Americans can be so gloomy over the state of the economy with 4.7 percent unemployment rates. But then I remember that there are millions of people who honestly believe that the tax …

CHICAGO – America may be the world’s superpower, but its survival rate for newborn babies ranks near the bottom among modern nations, better only than Latvia. Among 33 industrialized nations, the United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with a death rate of nearly 5 per 1,000 …