What hoops would I have to jump through to create my own mutual fund? QUESTION: I’m trying to find out what hoops I’d have to jump through to create my own mutual fund. I don’t want to simply build my own diversified portfolio and I don’t want to start an …

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A Lebanese man serving a life sentence in Germany for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a U.S. Navy diver has returned to Lebanon after being paroled in Germany, security and guerrilla officials said Tuesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi arrived in Beirut four days …

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver unveiled plans Monday to create the longest torch relay across one nation in the history of the Olympics. Organizers said they wanted to make the announcement on Canada’s East Coast to show that the Games, particularly the torch …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A Taliban homicide bomber blew himself up Thursday inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan, killing a deputy provincial governor and five other worshippers in the latest assassination of a senior official in President Hamid Karzai’s government, officials said. The attack came hours after a homicide car bomber …

LOS ANGELES – Academy Awards organizers insisted Tuesday their show will go on, though some say the Oscar broadcast could evaporate after the writers strike shut down the Golden Globes ceremony. Without special agreements with the Writers Guild of America, awards planners cannot hire union members to work on their …

The virtual violence of an online video game turned all too real in Russia when a 22-year-old university student allegedly beat to death his Internet rival, Russia Today reported. The suspect charged in the killing is a member of the Coo-Clock Clan, a group of mostly student gamers who were …

PEKIN, Ill. – A woman accused of killing her autistic daughter testified Friday that she attempted to suffocate the 3-year-old with a pillow three days before she succeeded with a plastic garbage bag. Karen McCarron said she couldn’t go through with it using the pillow. When prosecutor Kevin Johnson asked …

BURLINGTON, Vt. – A jury has awarded $8.7 million in damages to a former altar boy who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington over sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a priest. The man, now a 40-year-old mechanical engineer in Lakewood, Colo., sued the Diocese …

BAGHDAD – U.S. President George W. Bush apologized to Iraq’s prime minister for an American sniper’s use of a copy of the Koran for target practice. It was the highest level in a string of statements by U.S. officials trying to soothe anger over the shooting of Islam’s holy book, …

ALBANY, N.Y. – Pioneering rapper Ricky “Slick Rick” Walters, who spent more than five years in prison on a 1991 attempted murder conviction and faced threats of deportation years after rehabilitating his life, was granted a full and unconditional pardon Friday by New York Gov. David Paterson. Walters, 43, has …