NEW YORK – The New York Police Department is creating a new unit to patrol Times Square amid growing complaints over panhandling costumed characters and topless women. Chief of Department James O’Neill said Wednesday officials will recruit 50 additional officers to the Crossroads of the World, bringing the number there …

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Former U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson wants the Obama administration to keep alive a South Carolina project to turn weapons-grade materials into commercial nuclear reactor fuel. In a letter dated Aug. 21 to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and obtained by The Associated Press this week, Richardson …

SANAA, Yemen – Security officials say gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead the head of security in Yemen’s port city of Aden. The officials say Col. Abdelhakim al-Sanidi was killed Sunday while driving on a busy street in al-Mansoura neighborhood. Last week, high-ranking police officials in Aden said hundreds of …

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s state-run news agency says police are searching the premises of a business and media group known to be close to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom the government accuses of trying to destabilize it. The Anadolu Agency said police on Tuesday were searching 23 companies in Ankara …

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean prosecutors have asked for a 15-year prison term for the man they say slashed the U.S. ambassador during a breakfast forum in March. The Seoul Central District Court says prosecutors made the request Thursday at the end of the trial of Kim Ki-jong. The …

TORONTO – The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an attempt by oil giant Chevron to block Ecuadorian villagers from using an Ontario court to collect billions in damages over rainforest pollution. The 7-0 ruling Friday allows the case to proceed in Canada. Lawyers have fought for years in several …

VIENNA – The head of the U.N. atomic energy agency says satellite imagery of North Korea’s main nuclear site indicates that the country is expanding its atomic program. Yukiya Amano spoke Monday at the opening of a 35-nation board meeting of his International Atomic Energy Agency. Most of the focus …

TORONTO – Some 300 prominent Canadians have sent a letter Canada’s prime minister urging him to take action to get Al-Jazeera English journalist Mohamed Fahmy freed from an Egyptian prison and returned to Canada. Former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour and author Michael …

CHISINAU, Moldova – Protesters have met with Moldova’s prime minister to discuss their demands after an anti-government demonstration went into its fifth day. A few hundred protesters have been camped out in a pedestrian main square since tens of thousands rallied against the government on Sept. 6, demanding a probe …

HONOLULU – Detectives have found the spear that was taken from King Kamehameha’s (cah-MEH’-ha-MEH’-ha) statute on Hawaii’s Big Island. The top section of the spear held by a statute of the Hawaiian warrior was reported missing Sunday. Detectives returned to the scene to continue investigating Tuesday when they found the …