NEW YORK — Microsoft is dropping its instant-messaging program and forcing most users to switch to Skype.

Maintaining Windows Live Messenger made less sense after Microsoft Corp. bought Skype for $8.5 billion last year. A new version of Skype released a few weeks ago allows...

 TEKNAF — Officials said Wednesday that 23 people were rescued after an overcrowded boat capsized off the Bangladesh coast, but about 50 others remained missing.

The boat was reportedly carrying about 70 illegal migrants, mostly Rohingya Muslims, to Malaysia when it sank in the...

 NEW YORK — The case of a U.S. man whose leg had to be amputated after a 600-pound (270-kilogram) crucifix fell on him will go to trial in January.

Attorney Kevin Kitson says his client, David Jimenez, prayed to the crucifix outside St. Patrick's Church in New York state after...

 LONDON — Millwall football club has banned a 13-year-old supporter indefinitely after he admitted racially abusing Bolton striker Marvin Sordell.

The fan has issued a written apology for abusing Sordell during the English second-tier club's 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers on Oct....

 NEW YORK — Coastal residents of New York and New Jersey faced new warning to evacuate their homes and airlines shut down flights as a new storm took aim Wednesday, more than a week after Superstorm Sandy left dozens dead and millions without power.

Forecasters said the latest...

 OLSO — Statoil on Wednesday evacuated 326 oil rig workers from a North Sea platform after the structure began to tilt, the Norwegian oil company said.

Company spokesman Ole Anders Skauby said that most of the 374 people on the "Floatel Superior" were airlifted by helicopter...

BEIRUT — Syrian rebels made a new push into Damascus on Wednesday, clashing heavily with troops in the rebellious suburbs of the capital and firing mortars into the sprawling Palestinian refugee camp, activists said.

The regime stronghold of Damascus has seen a surge in violence...

 FORT BRAGG — A female U.S. Army captain testified that her commanding general initiated a sexual affair during a combat tour in Iraq and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone.

The woman said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair was extremely controlling, even telling...

 LONDON — A British MPwas suspended by her party Tuesday after she swapped the political jungle for the Australian rainforest and became a contestant on a reality TV show.

Conservative legislator Nadine Dorries was under fire for taking part in "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out...

 PESHAWAR — A police officer says a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan has killed five people, including three policemen.

Asif Iqbal says the attack Wednesday targeted the vehicle of a senior police officer outside a police station in a crowded market in the city of Peshawar....