Search results for

The Justice Department says about half of all international criminal organizations have links to extremist groups, such as Hezbollah, the Taliban and FARC rebels in Colombia. But diffuse priorities are hindering U.S. efforts to combat this growing problem of transnational, organized crime.

Two hundred residents of the small city of Lewiston, Maine, are homeless after a series of dramatic fires downtown. On three different nights, neighbors have been awaked by smoke and flames as old wooden apartment buildings were engulfed. Susan Sharon reports a pair of arrests after the first two fires has done nothing to ease people's fears.

Nelson Mandela had a bewildered look and was largely unresponsive when President Jacob Zuma stopped by earlier this week. After the visit was televised, some South Africans began criticizing the president, saying the images were disrespectful to the iconic figure.

Businesses around Copley Square are hoping the Boston Marathon bombings won't be officially declared an act of terrorism. That's because they stand to lose insurance money. Many have business interruption insurance to pay for lost income — but that doesn't apply to terrorism and few businesses pay extra to cover it.

How hard can it be to measure the health of a population? Oregon is finding out it's difficult to decide even what to track. But the state received almost $2 billion in federal funds to improve the health of its residents and to cut costs. The state faces substantial fines if it can't prove it has done the job.

While the ATF is a fraction of the size of its sister agency, the FBI, it runs the show when it comes to tracing weapons at crime scenes and investigating bombs and arson. But the agency has been without a permanent director for almost seven years.

Automatic budget cuts have pushed Air Force bases to slash their flying budgets even though it means grounding pilots and reducing readiness. The cancellations are boosting the arguments of those who want the military excepted from sequestration cuts.

While its true that noroviruses are "perhaps the perfect human pathogens," as The Journal of Infectious Diseases reports, it also seems that Noma could have spared some of its diners from the pathogens if the staff had read emails from health inspectors.

CBS has capitalized on its consistently high ratings with shows like CSI and NCIS, but the network is trying out a new formula. It is combining crime-of-the-week stories with longer ongoing story arcs in show like Elementary and Golden Boy, which starts Friday. TV critic Eric Deggans says CBS is trying to keep interest going in the shows so it can capitalize on syndication deals.

Dale Stephens says many students would be better off ditching college and finding alternate ways to complete their educations. His new book, Hacking Your Education, explores that idea. "When you think about education as an investment, you have to think about what the return is going to be," he says.