An exceedingly rare 1787 gold Brasher doubloon has been sold for $7.4 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a gold coin. Blanchard and Co., the New Orleans-based coin and precious metals company that brokered the deal, told The Associated Press the doubloon was purchased by a Wall Street investment firm. Identities of […]

Russell Hoban, the prolific fantasy and children’s author perhaps best known for “Riddley Walker,” a post-apocalyptic novel that relied on a language he created, has died, his publisher said Thursday. He was 86. The former illustrator, painter and decorated World War II veteran passed away in London on Tuesday night, Bloomsbury Publishing said. The cause […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — Entering 2012, President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects are essentially a 50- 50 proposition, with a majority saying the president deserves to be voted out of office despite concerns about the Republican alternatives, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Obama’s overall poll numbers suggest he’s in jeopardy of losing, even as […]

NAGPUR, India (AP) — A high school student in central India was recognized as the world’s shortest woman by Guinness World Records today as she turned 18 and said she hopes to earn a degree and make it in Bollywood. Jyoti Amge stood just 24.7 inches tall — shorter than the average 2-year-old — when […]

Court agrees to hear Assange’s appeal LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition. Assange is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual assault and molestation. He denies wrongdoing. The British government has approved his extradition, but the Supreme Court said today that it […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress appears on track to avert a government shutdown this weekend, even as President Barack Obama’s push to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for another year is encountering snags. Those hiccups in finding spending cutstopayforextendinga2percentage point cut in Social Security payroll taxes and jobless benefits for millions have prompted […]

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidates are plunging into the final weekend of campaigning before the holidays, with Newt Gingrich looking to maintain his lead while Mitt Romney and other rivals work to tear him down. With the candidates’ last debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses behind them, the campaign will be […]

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars and stuck in Earth’s orbit will come crashing back next month, but its toxic fuel and radioactive material on board will pose no danger of contamination, the Russian space agency said today. Between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe with a total […]

Maker of blowout preventer settles NEW ORLEANS ( AP) — Cameron International, the maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer that failed to stop last year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has agreed to pay $ 250 million to BP under a legal settlement, BP said today. BP said it was “ […]