BUCHAREST, Romania -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was joking when he threw a salute to U.S. President George Bush during the NATO summit in Romania.Rudd denied he was trying to take over as Bush's "deputy sheriff," a moniker the president gave Rudd's predecessor, causing concern among Australia's Asian neighbors, The Age reported Friday.In 2003, Bush called John Howard, Australia's former prime minister, his deputy sheriff in the Asia-Pacific region because of his ... [full story]

STANFORD, Calif. -- The man who was Martin Luther King Jr.'s confidant and attorney says the state of race relations in the United States would sadden the civil rights icon.Clarence Jones, who smuggled King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," which explained why civil disobedience was necessary, wrote a book as a partial response to his anger, USA Today reported Friday."What Would Martin Say?" was released to coincide with Friday's 40th anniversary of King's assassination in ... [full story]

PURCELL, Okla. -- Kevin Ray Underwood, convicted of murdering a 10-year-old Oklahoma neighbor with cannibalism in mind, has been formally sentenced to die, court officials said.McClain County District Judge Candace Blalock set June 13 for the execution date, the Daily Oklahoman said Friday.The jury in the 28-year-old Underwood's Purcell, Okla., trial imposed the death penalty last month after taking only 25 minutes to find him guilty of killing Jamie Rose Bolin.The girl's body was found ... [full story]

BUCHAREST, Romania -- NATO and Russian officials have agreed to allow non-lethal military equipment and food shipments headed for Afghanistan to be shipped through Russia.The alliance had hoped Russia would allow troops and munitions to cross its territory but said the agreement reached during the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, the Financial Times reported Friday. However, NATO officials said the agreement was a move toward Russian cooperation, which they said they sought.The agreement came as ... [full story]

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's ruling party met Friday to discuss the country's elections, and President Robert Mugabe is set "to fight to the last," an official said.Mugabe appeared to be headed for a runoff after losing unofficially to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. But one senior member of the president's party says the election actually ended in a "stalemate."The parliamentary elections, which Tsvangirai's MDC party also appeared to have won, also were not official.The MDC said ... [full story]

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Barack Obama has put his war chest to use, pushing beyond Pennsylvania to advertise in North Carolina and Indiana, a move observers say his rival can't match.Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, spent $250,000 in each state over the past week, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Pennsylvania primary is April 22; North Carolina and Indiana primaries are May 6.His campaign's aggressive advertising "forces Hillary Clinton to spend money in Pennsylvania -- ... [full story]

TOKYO -- The U.S. military in Japan says it handed over to Japanese authorities a Marine suspected in the robbery and slaying of a Japanese taxi driver.The 22-year-old suspect was turned over at the Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Tokyo, in the March 19 death of 61-year-old Masaaki Takahashi, who was found stabbed in the neck near the base, CNN reported.The incident came amid growing criticism of the U.S. military presence in Japan, and of ... [full story]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A storm moving across central Arkansas spawned at least one tornado that caused damage in Little Rock, Ark., and other locations, emergency personnel said.Damage was reported at a shopping center and car dealership near Interstate 30 between Benton and Bryant, Little Rock television station KTHV reported Friday. A security camera at the car dealership recorded the tornado as it swept through the business, flipping cars.A mobile home park in the Benton ... [full story]

BEIJING -- China said the Dalai Lama and his supporters have been ruining Tibet in the name of religion and human rights.The People's Daily, quoting Basang Wangdui, a researcher with the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The Dalai Lama and his supporters, representatives of the feudal serf owners of old Tibet, have never done anything good for the Tibetan people in the past 50 years."China has been attacking the Dalai Lama since the Tibetan ... [full story]

SEOUL -- South Korean officials, responding to North Korea's escalating war of words, Friday stressed the need for mutual respect for achieving prosperity.South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong said the South is prepared to wait until its "true intention" of achieving cooperation and co-prosperity with North Korea are understood, Yonhap news agency reported.He, along with South Korea's new President Lee Myung-bak, have been the main targets of North Korea's attacks in recent weeks.Kim said North ... [full story]