The attack hit in a district of Kandahar Province that was a showcase for the American troop surge — and the birthplace of the Taliban.    

U.S. REIT returns were more than three times those of the broader equity market in April.

The 5.4 percent earnings yield is considerably below its historical average but nearly triple the 1.9 percent yield of the 10-year Treasury.

Known for his outspoken, unapologetic support of migrants in Mexico, the Rev. Alejandro Solalinde is bringing his message to the United States.

The Albuquerque zoo says it doesn't plan to cage its peacocks but does plan to put up more warning signs in the wake of an attack on a 2-year-old girl.

Jena Dearmond says a peacock lunged at her daughter, Lexi, and jumped on her head last week.

That left the girl with blood on her face from a forehead wound requiring two stiches at a hospital.

According to television station KOAT, Dearmond says the zoo should put the peacocks in an enclosure.

Dearmond says her daughter was more than six feet away from the peacock and that the attack was unprovoked.

Zoo officials say peacocks are more aggressive during mating season. They believe they have identified the culprit are removing him from the grounds until the season is over.

President Obama's proposal to forgive billions in student debt will encourage students and parents to continue to make poor choices and embolden colleges to push up tuition.

In some ways, it's just a number, but it's a big number with enormous implications.

European finance ministers responded to the U.K.'s announcement it would publish a draft bill on European Union (EU) membership.

Authorities say a North Texas man remains in jail on a murder charge after fatally beating his 75-year-old mother on Mother's Day.

Bond has been set at $1 million for 49-year-old Kirk Alan Heithecker. He's being held in the Wise County jail, about 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

Sheriff's Lt. Brent Hamilton says Heithecker offered no plea during his arraignment Monday in the death of Nancy Heithecker.

Deputies on Sunday went to the home the Heitheckers' shared after receiving a call requesting a welfare check. The elder Heithecker's body was found and it was determined she died of blunt force trauma and strangulation.

Authorities say Kirk Heithecker admitted to the killing but added there's no clear motive.

Jail records did not indicate an attorney representing him.

A U.S. diplomat disguised in a blond wig was caught red-handed as he tried to recruit a Russian agent in Moscow, Russia's security services announced Tuesday, claiming the American was a CIA officer.

Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was carrying special technical equipment, disguises, written instructions and a large sum of money when he was detained late Monday, Russia's Federal Security Service said.

The FSB, which is the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Fogle was trying to recruit a Russian counterterrorism officer who specializes in the Caucasus, a region in southern Russia that includes Chechnya and Dagestan. The suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings are ethnic Chechen brothers and the elder brother spent six months last year in Dagestan, now the center of an Islamic insurgency.

U.S. investigators have been working with the Russians to try to determine whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev had established any contacts with the militants operating in Dagestan.

Fogle, who was handed back to U.S. Embassy officials, was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Russia immediately, the Foreign Ministry said. He has diplomatic immunity, which protects him from arrest.

It was the first case of an American diplomat publicly accused of spying in about a decade and seemed certain to aggravate already strained relations between Russia and the U.S.

The Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador Michael McFaul to appear Wednesday in connection with the case. McFaul, who was doing a question-and-answer session on Twitter when the detention was first announced, said he would not comment on the spying allegation.

Noting recent efforts by the two countries to improve cooperation in countering international terrorism in the wake of the Boston bombings, the Foreign Ministry said "such provocative actions in the spirit of the Cold War do nothing to strengthen mutual trust."

Despite the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States still maintain active espionage operations against each other. Last year, several Russians were convicted in separate cases of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.

Russian state television showed pictures of a man said to be Fogle, wearing a baseball cap and what appeared to be a blond wig, lying face down on the ground. The man, now without the wig, was also shown sitting at a desk in the offices of the FSB. Two wigs, a compass, a map of Moscow, a pocket knife, three pair of sunglasses and packages of 500 euro notes were among the items displayed on a table.

Russian state television also displayed a typewritten letter it described as instructions to the Russian agent who was the target of the alleged recruitment effort. The letter, written in Russian and addressed "Dear friend," offers $100,000 to "discuss your experience, expertise and cooperation" and up to $1 million a year for long-term cooperation. The letter also includes instructions for opening a Gmail account to be used for communication and an address to write. It is signed "Your friends."

In Washington, the White House referred questions about the detained diplomat to the State Department. There was no immediate response from the State Department. The CIA declined to comment on the case.

Little was immediately known about Fogle. A third secretary is an entry level position in the State Department, the lowest diplomatic rank in the foreign service.

President Vladimir Putin has stoked anti-American sentiments among Russians in recent years in what is seen as an effort to bolster his support at home. He also appears to have a genuine distrust of Russian nongovernmental organizations with American funding, which he has accused of being fronts that allow the U.S. government to meddle in Russia's political affairs. Hundreds of NGOs have been searched this year as part of an ongoing crackdown.

Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University who studies the Russian security services, said the public exposure of Fogle and the pictures splashed across Russian television suggest a political purpose behind the detention. He said these kinds of spying incidents happen with some frequency but making such a big deal of it is rare.

"More often, the etiquette is that these things get dealt with quite quietly — unless they want to get a message out," Galeotti said. "If you identify an embassy staffer who is a spy for the other side, your natural impulse is to leave them be, because once you identify you can keep tabs on them, see who they talk to, and everything else. There's no reason to make a song and dance, detain them, eject them."

Russia and the United States have been at odds lately over Syria, the adoption of Russian children and U.S. sanctions against Russian officials accused of human rights abuses.

Galeotti, however, said the Fogle case was unlikely to affect the recent increased cooperation between U.S. and Russian counterintelligence agencies over the Boston Marathon bombings.

"Everyone goes into intelligence sharing knowing there's a parallel process where everyone spies on everyone else," he said.

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Associated Press writer Max Seddon contributed to this report.

Swimmers were sent scurrying after a young black bear stumbled into their backyard. CNN's John Vause has more.

Reporters say they're concerned that the government probe will compromise relationships with sources.

An Arizona State University student who passed out from drinking tequila was left in wheelchair in a hospital lobby with a Post-it note to tell doctors that he took part in a drinking competition.

Tempe police say the 19-year-old student was found early Saturday morning in the emergency room lobby of St. Luke's Hospital.

Police say a sticky note on the student's body gave his name and said he'd been drinking and needed help. Hospital staff noticed the student and helped him.

Sgt. Michael Pooley says the student consumed about 20 shots of tequila and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.47 percent, nearly six times the legal limit for driving.

Police say criminal charges could be filed against the friends who left the student.

You can't always get what you want -- unless you're a member of a Las Vegas area high school choir wanting to share the stage with the Rolling Stones.

Students from Green Valley school in Henderson will do just that Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for an encore performance of "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Choir director Kim Ritzer told KLAS-TV she thought it was a joke when she first got the invitation in a Facebook message to sing backup for the famous rockers. She later learned a friend who teaches at the University of Southern California recommended them. They sealed the deal with an audition via Skype.

Ritzer isn't sure who's more excited -- the 24 kids or their parents.

Opinion: The VA and Department of Defense together see around 15 million patients a year.

Federal court documents show the man who killed six people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was actively using the Internet to become increasingly radical in his white supremacist beliefs in the months before the shooting.

An unsealed FBI search warrant reveals that federal agents quickly collected evidence of Wade Michael Page's connections to white power groups. The documents say Page became increasingly interested in conspiracy theories and videos online. The warrant doesn't say what Page was viewing, but that it disturbed his girlfriend, Misty Cook.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/10uCGat ) reports the documents say Page was typical of others who use the Internet to become increasingly radical. The FBI eventually concluded Page acted alone in the shooting rampage. Page also injured four people before killing himself.

The press secretary is full of appreciation -- often when he doesn't have answers.

Two bald eagles locked together by their talons in a midair battle survived a crash landing onto a runway at a northeastern Minnesota airport.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Randy Hanzal says the adult eagles couldn't separate Sunday before slamming into the tarmac at the Duluth International Airport.

Hanzal tried to take the birds to a Duluth wildlife rehabilitation center. He covered them with blankets and jackets on the back of his pickup and held them down with webbing straps. En route, Hanzal says, he heard a ruckus and saw one bird jump out and fly away.

The Duluth News Tribune (http://bit.ly/12rDalM ) says the other eagle made it to the rehab center and is now being cared for by the University of Minnesota in St. Paul's Raptor Center.

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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com

One of the first officers at the scene where three women were held captive in a Cleveland house for about a decade says the emotion of the moment was overwhelming.

Officer Anthony Espada, in response to a request from top police brass, wrote down his recollections and they were posted on a Cleveland police department blog.

Estrada says it was emotionally overwhelming when he and a partner recognized Amanda Berry approaching their patrol car. When Berry mentioned that Gina DeJesus (deh-HAY'-soos) and another women were inside the house, Estrada said it felt like a bombshell.

The officer says he replays the scene in his mind every day.

The home's owner, Ariel Castro, has been charged with kidnapping and rape.

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Online:

http://clevelandpolice.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/patrol-officer-recounts-finding-missing-women/

Pablo Pantoja says he's switching parties over a Heritage Foundation analyst's controversial paper.