MICHAEL ASTOR

Associated Press
Add To Watchlist

AP Interview: Ebadi details Iran injustice in book

With her legs barely reaching the floor from atop a sofa, Shirin Ebadi doesn't look much like a thorn in the side of the Iranian regime.

Continue reading this entry ...

The Ballad of Bob Dylan serves beginners and fans

"The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait" (Harper), by Daniel Mark Epstein: At one point in "The Ballad of Bob Dylan," the author is asked to pitch a plot for a musical featuring the folk-rock star's songs.

Continue reading this entry ...

Obreht makes powerful debut with `Tiger's Wife'

"The Tiger's Wife" (Random House), by Tea Obreht: In Tea Obreht's powerful debut novel, "The Tiger's Wife," the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and plenty of the guilty as well.

Continue reading this entry ...

'Play Dead' draws on seances, old-time spook shows

Teller, the silent partner in the magic-comedy duo Penn & Teller, stabs his knife into the gravy-spattered meat loaf before him and puzzles over how to make the off-Broadway show he has co-written and directed scarier.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazilian superstar Ivete Sangalo plays NY arena

The most Earth-shattering event in Brazil this weekend took place in New York, where singer Ivete Sangalo played a sold out show at Madison Square Garden. Too bad, few Americans even noticed.

Continue reading this entry ...

Panel: Journalists lives more at risk

The changing nature of warfare and the media has put reporters' lives more at risk than ever, journalists said Monday at a panel discussion sponsored by Reporters Without Borders.

Continue reading this entry ...

Wars, elections main threats to reporters in 2009

2009 was one of the most dangerous years on record for journalists, especially those covering wars and elections, including the largest massacre of media workers ever killed in one day, watchdog groups say.

Continue reading this entry ...

Group: HIV/AIDS among Top 10 crises of the year

Dwindling funding for HIV/AIDS threatens to leave an estimated 10 million infected people without treatment in the developing world, making it one of 2009's Top 10 humanitarian crises, according to Doctors Without Borders.

Continue reading this entry ...

'Groovaloo' takes breaking back to birthplace, NYC

The off-Broadway show "Groovaloo" marks a roundabout sort of homecoming for break dancing, a style that was born on the city's gritty streets 30 years ago and exploded into an international sensation.

Continue reading this entry ...

Story told of contradictory Civil War general

"Devil's Dream" (Pantheon Books, 335 pages, $26), by Madison Smartt Bell: In "Devil's Dream," Madison Smartt Bell has chosen as his subject a Confederate general and slave trader who would go on to become one of the leaders of the early Ku Klux Klan.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil's president says he spoke with Zelaya

Brazil's president said Tuesday he asked deposed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya not to provide a pretext for coup leaders to invade the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya has been staying since slipping back into the country.

Continue reading this entry ...

UN says financial crisis boosts organized crime

The world financial crisis offers organized crime a unique opportunity to return to the global banking systems from which it had been barred by sanctions imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the U.N.'s top anti-crime official said Wednesday.

Continue reading this entry ...

UN chief criticizes Myanmar and Zimbabwe

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the governments of Myanmar and Zimbabwe Wednesday and said a year of multiple crises has put human rights on trial.

Continue reading this entry ...

Bono says Africa could become breadbasket

Bono says Africa has the potential to become a major food producer rather than the epicenter of much of the world's starvation.

Continue reading this entry ...

Credit crisis casts cloud over UN

Wall Street's credit crisis maintained a shadow over the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday with leaders expressing concern that any global economic downturn will make it harder to meet key development goals.

Continue reading this entry ...

Oil slick kills more than 200 penguins in Brazil

More than 200 oil-slicked penguins have washed up dead on the beaches of a popular Brazilian resort, and officials say they are searching for a cause.

Continue reading this entry ...

Scientists say oil exploration threatens Amazon

Oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest represents the latest, perhaps greatest, threat to preserving what remains of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness, scientists said Wednesday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil temporarily frees US nun's killers

Two men convicted in the 2005 killing of American nun and rainforest defender Dorothy Stang will be allowed to spend Brazilian Fathers' day at home, court officials said Thursday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Penguins wash up closer to equator in Brazil

Penguins from frigid waters near the bottom of the world are washing up closer to the equator than ever before, Brazilian wildlife authorities said Wednesday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Hundreds of baby penguins found dead in Brazil

Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil police target top financiers

Brazilian police arrested a former Sao Paulo mayor and two prominent financiers Tuesday in a case that grew out of an influence-peddling scandal involving senior government officials.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil extends Amazon soy ban

Grain crushers have extended a two-year-old moratorium on the purchase of soybeans planted in areas of the Amazon rain forest cut down after 2006, Brazil's environment minister said Tuesday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazilian cop denies torturing journalists

A police officer accused of heading a paramilitary militia has denied any part in the kidnapping and torture of two journalists.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil soldiers accused in gang killings

Eleven Brazilian soldiers were arrested after allegedly turning over three shantytown residents to a drug gang that executed them and left their bodies in a garbage dump, police said Monday.

Continue reading this entry ...

Brazil creates 3 new Amazon reserves

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created three nature reserves in the Amazon on Thursday, while warning foreigners they lack the "moral authority" to tell Brazilians how to preserve the rain forest.

Continue reading this entry ...