ATLANTA – Lawyers for Wayne Williams, blamed for the murders of two dozen children and young men in the late 1970s and early ’80s, have asked to perform DNA testing on dog hair, human hair and blood. A motion seeking the testing was filed Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court. …

SYDNEY, Australia – Australia‘s top Islamic cleric said Friday he will resign if an impartial panel rules that he was inciting rape in a recent sermon by suggesting that women who don’t wear Islamic head scarves encourage sexual assault. Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, mufti of Australia since 1989, took indefinite …

NEW YORK – Shar Jackson, the mother of two of Kevin Federline‘s children, says the media should stop ridiculing the aspiring rapper, who with his break-up from Britney Spears appears to have an even bigger punch-line target on his back. “He’s such a nice guy,” the 30-year-old actress tells “Inside …

SANTIAGO, Chile – Mapuche Indians in Chile are trying to take global software giant Microsoft to court in a legal battle which raises the question of whether anyone can ever “own” the language they speak. The row was sparked by Microsoft’s decision last month to launch its Windows software package …

NEW YORK – A construction worker was jailed without bail Tuesday after confessing to the slaying of an actress left hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom of a Manhattan apartment. Diego Pillco, 19, made written and videotaped statements implicating himself in the slaying of Adrienne Shelly, Assistant District …

CALCUTTA, India – A bomb exploded and tore through two cars of a passenger train Monday in a remote area of eastern India, killing at least eight people and wounding about 60 others, officials and Indian media said. Suspicion for the blast in West Bengal state quickly fell on two …

The wife of a Marine charged with murdering another Marine who was pregnant is visiting her husband in a Mexican jail, which has the North Carolina prosecutor in the case worried. Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said the Marine Corps granted leave to Lance Cpl. Christina Laurean to visit …

BEIJING – Thousands of angry residents attacked police in a southern Chinese city Friday after a man on a motorcycle was hit by a police officer’s radio and he crashed into a pole and died, a state news agency reported. Police set up a checkpoint to catch illegal motorists in …

WASHINGTON – Veterans of past wars have long found companionship over beer and conversation at their local veterans hall. But many of those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan seek that companionship elsewhere — online. Hoping to tap into that virtual community, a public service campaign that started Tuesday — …

LOS ANGELES – A Missouri woman knew her 13-year-old neighbor was depressed and suicidal when she sent cruel Internet messages to the teenager, her former assistant testified. The girl killed herself after being told the world would be better off without her. Ashley Grills, 20, told jurors Thursday she helped …