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SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from at least three defense contractors. The sentence is the highest ever for a former member of Congress, prosecutor Jason Forge said. Cunningham was taken into custody after sentencing, he said. The 64-year-old Cunningham, a former U.S. representative from California, pleaded guilty November 28 to con ...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A man has died of suspected H5N1 avian influenza in southern China, just over the border from Hong Kong, a local newspaper said on Saturday. The 32-year-old man frequently visited wet markets where chickens were often slaughtered, the South China Morning Post said. He developed fever and pneumonia on February 22 and died on March 2, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement late on Friday. Hong Kong lies less than two hours away from Guangzhou by ...

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) -- A court sentenced a publisher to prison for defamation Friday after his newspaper published the names of prominent alleged gays and lesbians in a case that has riveted this conservative West African nation. Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, publisher of the weekly L'Anecdote, was ordered to serve a four-month jail term and pay a fine of 1 million CFA francs (about $1,800 or 1 ...

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for collecting $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress. It was the longest term ever meted out to a congressman. He was immediately taken into custody. Cunningham, who resigned from Congress in disgrace last year, was spared the 10-year maximum by U.S. District Judge Larr ...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- After four years of secrecy, the Pentagon released the names of hundreds of detainees held at a U.S. military prison on Friday because of a victory by The Associated Press in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush had hidden the identities, home countries and other information about the men, who were accused of taking up arms against the United States. But a federal judge rejected administration arguments ...

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Hamas' leader on Friday ruled out any softening of the militant Palestinian group's hostility to Israel after high-profile talks in Moscow at which Russia called on it recognize the Jewish state and abandon violence. Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal welcomed the outcome of the meetings with Russian officials including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, telling a news conference they were "good, constructive and open." He did not give details. But a statement  ...

By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Briton Mark Malloch Brown was named deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, the second highest post in the organisation, to replace Canadian Louise Frechette, the United Nations announced on Friday. Malloch Brown, 52, became Annan's chief of staff in January 2005 in a reshuffle aimed at instituting U.N. managing reforms and combating scandals in the oil-for-food program in Iraq and sexual abuse by peacekeepers. His promotion had been rumour ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- President Bush arrived in Pakistan amid nationwide protests Friday, prior to his anti-terrorism talks with President Pervez Musharraf. "On my trip to Islamabad, I will meet with President Musharraf to discuss Pakistan's vital cooperation in the war on terror, and our efforts to foster economic and political development so we can reduce the appeal of radical Islam," Bush said in a speech in New Delhi, India, before his departure. "I believe that a pro ...

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- At this year's Academy Awards ceremony, politics may be unavoidable. One best picture nominee concerns a gay love affair between two ranch hands. Another is a tale, ripe with coincidence, about prejudice and perception. Then there's the story of the news anchor who helped bring down a red-baiting senator, the film about an emotionally roiled Israeli team of assassins pursuing the Munich Olympic terrorists, and the picture about the great writer who sacrifices h ...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) -- The college student dubbed the "cell phone bandit" was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday for robbing banks while chatting on the phone with her boyfriend. Candice R. Martinez, 20, told the judge she was still unsure what prompted the crime spree. "It happened in a matter of weeks, but it seemed like seconds," she said. Martinez, wearing a black-and-white prison uniform, tearfully apologized to the bank tellers -- two of whom were in court. ...