The latest from the Political Grapevine: Niger and Iraq Negotiated?President Bush (search)has been called a — “liar” for saying last year that, according to British intelligence officers, Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy uranium from Africa. But an investigation by the British government has now found that British intelligence officers …

Michael Jackson Jacko DACould Be Tossed from Case Rumors swirled that District Attorney Tom Sneddon, arch enemy of Michael Jackson and the one trying to convict Jacko of child molestation, will be asked to step down from the case Tuesday after his very public showdown with the defense attorney and …

WASHINGTON – Now that military operations in Iraq aremoving from armed force to reconstruction, the Bush administration is trying to avert congressional paybackaimed atnationsthatopposed the war. Instead, the White House is asking contemptuous Capitol Hill lawmakers to curb their hostilities toward anti-war countries and use this time to demonstrate U.S. …

JERUSALEM – Israel says it has foiled a ring that smuggled iron, electronic equipment and other prohibited materials to Hamas to rebuild its infrastructure following last year’s war. Israel’s internal security agency says Hamas paid the Israeli companies at least $375,000 to store and deliver the goods, which entered through …

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania has begun transporting natural gas to Moldova, as the former Soviet republic moves toward the European Union and becomes less dependent on Russia. “It is the first time that gas goes from West to East,” said Moldova Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman during a visit to Bucharest. …

DAVOS, Switzerland – A top official at the European Central Bank says getting the euro down was not a prime consideration of the bank’s recently announced 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion) stimulus. Benoit Coeure, an executive board member at the ECB, told a panel at the World Economic Forum in the …

PARIS – An 8-year-old boy from the south of France who claimed to support the men who attacked the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was detained and questioned by police for defending terrorism. Fabienne Lewandowski, deputy director for public security in the Alpes-Maritimes region, said Thursday that the boy declared “I …

MADRID – Spain says 400 African migrants tried to storm border fences separating its North African enclave Melilla from Morocco and has warned of a buildup in numbers across the frontier. The Interior Ministry said the migrants charged past Moroccan border forces Sunday by throwing rocks, but were repelled by …

YAOUNDE, Cameroon – A Cameroon military official says Boko Haram militants have killed at least 12 people in attacks on two Cameroonian villages on the northern border with Nigeria. Col. Jacob Kodji told The Associated Press on Friday that the Islamic extremists entered the villages of Bia and Diana late …

BEIRUT – Syrian activists say government airstrikes have killed at least 11 people in rebel-held areas in the capital’s suburbs. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the airstrikes on Wednesday in Harasta, a suburb northwest of Damascus, killed at least nine people, including two women, and wounded others. …