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Gilligan, a scholar of economics and political science, will assume his post on Sept. 1. He will succeed John Raisian, who has served more than 25 years at the helm of the public policy research center. Thomas W. Gilligan, dean of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, will be the next director of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, Stanford President John Hennessy announced. Gilligan, a scholar of economics and political science, will assume his post as the Tad Taube Director of the Hoover Institution on Sept. 1. He will succeed John Raisian, who announced his intention to depart after more than 25 years at the helm of the public policy research center.

Mixed-reactions have continued to trail the comment credited to popular Ghanaian singer, Belinda Ekua Amoah, a.k.a Mzbel, who reportedly said she does not believe in the existence of Jesus Christ.

By Kizito Makoye Dar es Salaam — Tanzanian police said on Wednesday they had found the mutilated body of a one-year-old albino boy whose abduction renewed calls for tougher action to stop the killing of albinos for their body parts, prized in black magic. An armed gang snatched Yohana Bahati from his mother at their home in northwestern Tanzania's Geita region on Sunday, a month after the government announced a nationwide ban on witch doctors, who are accused of encouraging attacks on albinos.

Club captain Steven Gerrard accused match-winner Mario Balotelli of acting mischievously and showing disrespect to stand-in Liverpoolskipper Jordan Henderson after ignoring team orders and taking the penalty that earned victory over Besiktas.

HARTFORD — Expanding and transforming the city's aging XL Center into a modern, competitive arena could cost more than $250 million, while demolishing the venue and building a new one on the same spot would almost double the price tag, a consultant's report says.

What is a lobbyist? That's the question at the heart of a bill being proposed by the Office of State Ethics, as reported by Courant columnist Kevin Rennie. The answer is troubling, because the bill threatens to erect roadblocks to free speech.

PRESIDENT OBAMA defends his administration's approach to the growing terror threat during a White House summit on extremism, standing by his claims that groups like ISIS — which videoed the slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians and vowed, top, to 'conquer Rome' — do not represent Islam, and backed a State Department official's assertion that job creation could help combat extremism.

  A spit test may someday be used to help diagnose children with autism. Children with the complex neuro-developmental disorder often have trouble communicating, and a saliva test - which detects the levels of various proteins - could offer an objective way to identify youngsters with autism.

A new technique tricks the HIV virus into attaching itself to an antibody-like molecule created by the body.

  A fight and stabbing outside a bar early Wednesday left one member of Nicki Minaj's tour dead and another in critical condition. The tour members had flown into Philadelphia for rehearsals two days earlier, Minaj wrote on Twitter.

ISLAMABAD—The United Nations says conflict-related deaths and injuries among Afghan civilians rose 22 percent in 2014, mostly because of an increase in ground fighting between warring parties. The world body blamed the Taliban and other insurgents for most of the civilian casualties.

In a bid to reduce pressure on the naira, which has come under speculative attacks in recent weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday announced the closure of the Retail and Wholesale Dutch Auction Systems of the foreign exchange market.

The African nation of Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, has voted to outlaw the practice of child marriage. Legislators have approved—and President Peter Mutharika is expected to sign—a bill raising the minimum age of marriage from 15 to 18. Currently, nearly 1 in 8 Malawi girls are wed by age 15, and half of those ages 20-24 were married by age 18.

The outcry was so strong against a Colombian women’s cycling team whose uniform made the women look partially naked – that team members felt the need to stage a press conference on Thursday to defend its controversial attire.

David Cameron has said his attempts to persuade his son to support Aston Villa failed after Arthur went "the wrong way" and opted for Chelsea instead.

At least 36 people were killed at a funeral ceremony when an unidentified plane bombarded a village on the Niger-Nigeria border, officials said. "Yesterday... an unidentified plane dropped a bomb on the village of Abadam-Niger... while the population was assembled near a mosque,"

\The U.S. is maintaining a list of about two dozen or so top ISIS operatives in Iraq and Syria it hopes to target in airstrikes according to a senior U.S. official. The list essentially amounts to a kill list, since the U.S. has no troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria to capture ISIS suspects. The number one target on the list is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.

Johannesburg - The 29-year-old woman in whose fridge four dead babies were found appeared in the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, the National Prosecuting Authority said. "The four bodies were found in the fridge in New Brighton, Mthatha, earlier this month by police acting on a tip-off"

Egypt's public prosecutor has referred former President Mohamed Morsi and several officials of the banned Muslim Brotherhood to a military court, on charges of committing violence, state media has said.

Egyptian warplanes staged a second wave of airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya on Monday in retaliation for the slaughter of 21 Egyptian Christians by ISIS militants, Egypt's state-run Ahram Online reported, citing security officials.

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, early on Monday dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He announced his disengagement at his Hilltop Mansion in Abeokuta while hosting PDP leaders from his Ward 11, in Abeokuta North local government. Read here:   http://leadership.ng/news/412040/obasanjo-dumps-pdp-tears-membership-card

He has remained optimistic about the second term of President Goodluck Jonathan even before this time. Now, with the time ticking closer to the presidential election, he appears firmer in his conviction. There is nothing anybody says that will make him to believe otherwise. Not even the “fireworks” from the opposition.

Forget the sexy nurses, the pirates and devils. At the Bloco da Lama Carnival street party, swamp creature is the costume of choice.

A Portland-bound Alaska Airlines flight out of Los Angeles was delayed Saturday night after a passenger was stung on the hand by a scorpion and crew members had to search the plane for other unwanted arachnids.

Croatia's first female president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic pledged to help kickstart the country's ailing economy as she was sworn into office on Sunday.

The Nigerian Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, on Saturday paraded a pastor, Olufemi Timothy, and four others accused of child trafficking in Ibadan. The command also paraded 12 boys and four girls allegedly being used by the accused persons in a slavery ring.

Benjamin Miller of Georgia was injured during the first day of Ciudad Rodrigo’s Carnaval del Toro, requiring a three-hour operation to repair damage to thighs, sphincter and back muscles after being savagely gored during the bullfighting festival.

 In a third incident of murder in Vatva since past two months, a 55-year-old woman was stabbed to death. Sammariya Kushwa, a resident of Vatva, was stabbed in the head and stomach. After the murder the body was abandoned near Vinzol railway crossing in Vatva. Police found the body on Sunday morning.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has released a video purporting to show the killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians kidnapped in Libya.

Lionel Messi marked his 300th La Liga appearance with a record-equalling hat-trick and an assist for Neymar as Barcelona stayed hard on the heels of leaders Real Madrid with a 5-0 romp at home to Levante.

Official Carnival dates this year are Friday, February 13th through Tuesday, February 17th.  For 5 days every February, Brazil turns into the biggest party country in the world hosting the annual Carnival festival. Carnival dates back to 1723 and attracts more than two million people per day on the streets of major cities like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Victoria.