ROME — The U.N. has new weapons to fight hunger, boost nutrition and reduce pollution, and they might be crawling or flying near you right now: edible insects.

A lone, painted white bicycle sits at the side of Usery Park Road near Bush Highway.

LOS ANGELES — Lily Tomlin's admiration for elephants began when she met Ruby and Billy.

Local entrepreneurs are in the final stages of getting their portable medical clinic repurposed from a steel shipping container sent to Kenya.

Arizona shoppers are getting a bit of a financial reprieve as prices for meat took an unexpected -- and potentially unexplained -- drop during the first quarter of the year.

Up there with “Stoker” and “Like Someone in Love” as one of the best films to hit theaters this spring, “War Witch” is devastating, beautiful and truly not to be missed. An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this gut-wrenching tale of a child soldier has been reeling in the accolades: Best Actress awards for young star Rachel Mwanza at both the Berlin and Tribeca film festivals, along with a whopping 10 honors (including Best Picture) at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

LOS ANGELES — A grave 12-year-old African girl, abducted from her village by vicious armed rebels and forced to wage war as a child soldier, guides the viewer through the horrors of Canadian director Kim Nguyen's engrossing Oscar-nominated drama "War Witch." Managing to be neither sentimental nor sensationalistic, the film tells its story from the heart, and from the simple, straightforward viewpoint of young heroine Komona, warmly played by the talented Rachel Mwanza in her screen debut.

Get a child’s ticket free with the purchase of an adult ticket when your child colors a coloring page for the Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival on Friday, March 8.

VATICAN CITY — Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. And on Monday, the Vatican announced that the leader of the world's billion Roman Catholics was stepping down — the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

There is no drearier time at the multiplex than the first two months of any given year. All those commonplace horror flicks and mediocre blockbusters that studios have little faith in are mercilessly dumped into theaters, leaving us cinephiles to go see “Zero Dark Thirty” for a third or fourth time.

“Ben Arredondo violated the public trust to enhance his personal wealth and image in excess of the legal and moral limits. There are few lower than him in society, maybe only child molesters. Now his buddies, Democrats, act like he is a persecuted choir boy.”

One of three Americans killed in a raid by Al Qaida in Algeria called the Valley home for many years.

As a kid, the only thing that could make whizzing through space on my bicycle more fun would have been to ride it someplace unusual — like an empty shopping mall.

Trying to save money on food?

As a dark veil began to sweep over Europe in 1939 — the pale hint of what would come from Nazi rule — a stockbroker from England took a course of action that would save the lives of nearly 700 children.

Mike McClellan’s commentary (Dec. 19) was so full of inaccuracies and blatant lies that I felt compelled to respond.

Just before Christmas we had a guest in our home. A young man who is a U. S. Army staff sergeant, a soldier, an infantryman who has led men in combat on the fields of battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was passing through on his way to his latest tour of duty in Afghanistan where people want to kill him. He’s been to war a half-dozen times now since he enlisted a dozen years ago after graduating from high school. Going to war has been his adult life.

Though black-eyed peas have been around forever, they generally don't get a lot of attention. But I think you really ought to give them a second look.

Gift giving feels good, and can feel even better if you know your purchase is helping those less fortunate. Luckily, a number of home décor retailers partner with charitable organizations; many do so year-round, with additional initiatives during the holiday season.

Here are The Associated Press’ reviews of selected holiday albums:

Gift giving feels good, and can feel even better if you know your purchase is helping those less fortunate. Luckily, a number of home décor retailers partner with charitable organizations; many do so year round, with additional initiatives during the holiday season.

Through Dec. 29 soft toys purchased at Ikea will help provide quality education to children in developing countries.

Pulp author Robert E. Howard is widely regarded as the godfather of the sword & sorcery saga and everyone knows his most famous character, Conan the Barbarian, who has thrilled genre fans since his creation in 1932. But in 1928, four years before Howard envisioned the surly Cimmerian, he created another swashbuckling character who uses a rapier instead of a broadsword and who, unlike Conan, would never indulge in the “pleasures of women.” His name is Solomon Kane.