BERLIN – “There is such a lot of unbelievable things here,” 27 year-old Jay Baumgarten told me. Jay was the first newcomer from the East I spoke with in West Berlin after the Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago. It was an incredible moment. For decades East Berlin had been …

ALBANY, N.Y. – Older Americans who were raised on stories of the Great Depression and acquired lifelong habits of thrift now find themselves crowding soup kitchens and food pantries in greater numbers for the first time after seeing retirement funds, second jobs and nest eggs wiped out by recession. “What …

Some predictions work out well, and some don’t – that’s life. But last week, I had the mother of all misfires when I recommended benching Cardinals QB Kurt Warner, who threw for 261 yards and FIVE TOUCHDOWNS against the Bears. I got off a plane Sunday night, checked the scores …

COP SULLIVAN, Afghanistan – There are few songs as mournful and haunting as Taps played for a fallen warrior, and on an isolated combat outpost (COP) in southern Afghanistan it has been sounded for David Baker, a 22-year-old Marine lance corporal who was just six weeks short of going home …

BEIRUT – An Iranian doctor who treated victims of torture at Tehran’s most feared prison has died, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide — raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed. Revelations that protesters detained in Iran’s postelection crackdown were tortured, some to …

BELLEVILLE, Ill. – A southwestern Illinois woman accused of trying to drown her newborn daughter in a toilet has been found mentally fit for trial. Prosecutors accuse 23-year-old Elyse Mamino of Belleville of trying to kill the baby in the bathroom of a Columbia home during a party last November. …

A child who had six internal organs removed during lifesaving surgery has started school on Long Island. Heather McNamara attended her first day of third grade at an Islip Terrace school on Tuesday. Doctors say the seven-year-old was the first child in the world to undergo the groundbreaking surgery in …

Just as our bodies and organs break down as we age, so do our brains. While the cognitive aging process can’t be stopped, there are ways we can slow it down, according to Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurosurgeon and longevity expert. The key, he said, is sending the body …

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel accused China on Friday of using “economic coercion” against Japan by banning imports of Japanese seafood in response to the release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, while Chinese boats continue to fish off Japan’s coasts. “Economic coercion …

Kenneth Walker III rushed for 97 yards and two second-half touchdowns, Jason Myers kicked four field goals and the Seattle Seahawks pulled away in the second half for a 37-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Walker was a star on a day when things didn’t come easily for …