BIG SUR, Calif. – Every summer thousands of tourists travel to this rugged stretch of California coast whose soaring mountain cliffs and sweeping ocean views have inspired writers from Henry Miller to Jack Kerouac. But many of the rustic inns, restaurants and art galleries that dot the coastal highway here …

ELIZABETH, N.J. – It’s now up to a judge to decide how much alimony and child support to award the soon-to-be ex-wife of New Jersey’s gay former governor, following three weeks of testimony laying bare the couple’s dire finances. Lawyers delivered their final arguments Wednesday, wrapping up the money phase …

WASHINGTON – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend still doesn’t like to talk publicly about her memories of the June 6, 1968, death of her father, Robert F. Kennedy. But she clearly remembers — and freely talks about — the letter her father gave her the day her uncle, President John F. Kennedy, …

CHICAGO – Is menthol a flavor that should be banned from cigarettes? That’s a tricky question, according to the American Medical Association whose members on Tuesday found themselves opposing some government health heavyweights. Menthol flavoring would not be banned under a bill before Congress that gives control of tobacco products …

LOS ANGELES – Mel Ferrer, the tall, darkly handsome star of such classic films as “Lili,” “War and Peace” and “The Sun Also Rises,” as well as producer and director of movies starring his then-wife, Audrey Hepburn, has died at age 90. Ferrer died Monday at a Santa Barbara convalescent …

TOKYO – A Japanese zookeeper was mauled to death by a tiger Saturday while he was cleaning the animal’s cage, police said. Atsushi Ito was attacked by the 330-pound male tiger at the Kyoto City Zoo in western Japan. A female visitor to the zoo found Ito lying bleeding in …

A 17-month-old baby boy from Germany is fighting a rare bacterial infection that is literally eating him alive, the UK’s Daily Mail reports. Simon Seyfarth, of Erfurt in Germany, is suffering from Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome, a rare form of meningitis. He has had to endure 24 operations, it is reported. …

AUGUSTA, Georgia – The death toll from a Georgia sugar refinery explosion has risen again. A hospital spokeswoman in Augusta says another burn patient has died from injuries suffered in the blast at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth. That means 11 people have died since the Feb. 7 explosion. Beth …

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Opposition parties dealt a crushing electoral blow to allies of President Pervez Musharraf, a private TV network reported Tuesday, winning enough seats to form a new government that could threaten the eight-year rule of America’s close ally in its war on terror. The party of slain former …

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The tiny Pacific islands nation of Kiribati declared the world’s largest marine protected area Thursday — a California-sized ocean wilderness that includes pristine reefs and eight coral atolls teeming with fish and birds. The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, or PIPA, lies about halfway between Hawaii and …