This Sept. 14, 2013 photo shows British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor from the film "12 Years A Slave," in New York. Ejiofor portrays Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted and sold into slavery in this pre-Civil War drama. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP) by Jake CoyleAP Entertainment Writer TORONTO (AP) — Chiwetel Ejiofor arrived, he thought, prepared for the first day of shooting "12 Years a Slave." To play Solomon Northup, a free man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery and who later chronicled his experience in a book, Ejiofor had studied Northup's memoir, visited plantations and learned how to, as Northup did, play the violin. But all that work could scarcely ready him for the intense reality of performing a slave's labor in a Louisiana summer.
Gold medallist Simone Biles of the U.S. competes to win the floor exercise during the apparatus final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe) ROME (AP) - The head of Italy's gymnastics federation Thursday condemned "every form of racism and discrimination" following offensive comments by one of the country's gymnasts. The president of USA Gymnastics considers the matter closed.
AP Graphic shows how countries scored in international adult literacy test by Kimberly Hefling Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — It's long been known that America's school kids haven't measured well compared with international peers. Now, there's a new twist: Adults don't either.
Lawyers acting for the plaintiff, Slim ben Achour, left, and Felix de Belloy talk during a press conferene in Paris, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) PARIS (AP) — A French court on Wednesday rejected claims that police identity checks on 13 people from minority groups were racist, saying officers didn't overstep any legal boundaries.
This July 23, 2013 file photo shows jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter performing at the 5 Continents Jazz Festival, in Marseille , southern France. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File) NEW YORK (AP) — At age 80, Wayne Shorter isn't ready to rest on his reputation as one of the greatest composers in jazz history. Instead, whenever he performs the saxophonist can't resist the urge to "de-compose" his works and create something anew. "Jazz to me is something that doesn't have to sound like jazz," said Shorter, speaking by telephone from his home in the Hollywood Hills. "The word 'jazz' means I dare you. I dare you to go beyond what you are. You have to go beyond your comfort zone, to break out of the box. ... You're talking about not just music, you're talking about life."
Marcello Demeter stands on the balcony of his apartment in a Stockholm suburb. (AP Photo/David Mac Dougall) by Malin RisingAssociated Press WriterSTOCKHOLM (AP) — In his suburban Stockholm apartment, Marcello Demeter sits at the kitchen table with two of his daughters — and wonders how they got on the list that has sent Sweden into an uproar. About a week ago, the 42-year-old Swede found out that he and his wife, their three children and at least three of their grandchildren were on a secret police register purportedly created to help fight violent crime. The reason? They are Gypsies.
Mary Italo, center, grieves with other relatives for her son Thomas Abayo Italo, 33, who was killed in the Westgate Mall attack, as they wait to receive his body at the mortuary in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013. Thomas was an accountant and the breadwinner of the family who helped look after Mary who is sick, according to relatives. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) by Jason Straziuso, Andrew O. Selsky, and Tom Odula Associated Press Writers NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Working near bodies crushed by rubble in a bullet-scarred, scorched mall, FBI agents began fingerprint, DNA and ballistic analysis Wednesday to help determine the identities and nationalities of victims and al-Shabab gunmen who attacked the shopping center, killing more than 60 people.
A Kenyan soldier runs through a corridor on an upper floor, shortly before an explosion was heard, at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) by David Rising and Tom OdulaAssociated Press Writers NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The terrorists who took control of a Nairobi mall and held off Kenyan security forces for four days have been defeated after killing at least 67 civilians and government troops, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday. He said those killed include 61 civilians whose bodies have been recovered so far and six security forces, while nearly 200 were injured, including 62 who remain hospitalized.
Actor and politician Charles M. Huber takes part in a benefit run for children held by the local fire-brigade youth in Griesheim, Germany. (AP Photo/dpa,: Fredrik von Erichsen,file) by Frank Jordans BERLIN (AP) — A chemist and an actor — both with family roots in Senegal — have become Germany's first Black federal lawmakers, according to official election results released Monday.
