World News

SYDNEY - Authorities were conducting an air and marine search Thursday off Australia's east coast for two cruise passengers who were believed to have fallen overboard the night before.

BEIJING, China - Authorities are investigating whether one of China's top film directors has fathered seven children in violation of the country's strict family planning laws, state media and a local official said Thursday.

SYDNEY - Authorities were conducting an air and marine search Thursday off Australia's east coast for two cruise passengers who were discovered missing after their ship docked in Sydney Harbour at the end of a 10-day journey.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - A fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh killed eight people, including a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group, as the death toll from the collapse of another garment building passed 900 on Thursday.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - The death toll from a garment factory building that collapsed outside the Bangladesh capital has climbed past 900, as recovery workers continue pulling bodies from the wreckage more than two weeks after the disaster.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A choreographer and television personality who was a key witness in Michael Jackson's successful defence against child molestation charges is seeking permission to file a claim against the singer's estate alleging the pop superstar sexually abused him as a child, court records and an attorney said.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A neighbour who helped free three women from nearly a decade in captivity in Ohio has become a star, offering moments of levity in an unspeakably horrible story, free publicity for a restaurant chain and unexpected lessons in race relations.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - A fire broke out in an 11-story building housing a garment factory and apartments in Bangladesh's capital, killing at least eight people, officials said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - A former top diplomat in Libya on Wednesday delivered a riveting minute-by-minute account of the chaotic events during the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last September, with a 2 a.m. call from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and confusion about the fate of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.