The complete online text of Stepping Backwards by W. W. Jacobs.

W. W. Jacobs, remembered today almost exclusively for his horror story "The Monkey's Paw" (The Lady of the Barge, 1902), was one of the most popular English humorists of the early twentieth century. His stories, many of them amusing tales of life along t...

Gov. Brad Henry vetoed nearly all of a $6.9 billion appropriations bill Wednesday, claiming he had been shut out of a budget process that failed to address several key issues.The bill passed unanimously in the state Senate, where Democrats and Republicans share power, but Democrats...

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took steps Friday to make an inexpensive generic version of an AIDS drug made by Merck & Co. available in Brazil despite the U.S. drug company's patent.Silva issued a "compulsory license" that would bypass Merck's patent on the AIDS...

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is offering $95 million to settle more than 140 claims of sexual abuse by priests, according to financial documents.The diocese would offer 143 individuals anywhere from $10,000 to $800,000, depending on the degree of abuse and other factors,...

The State Department criticized Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday for retreating on his promise to support deployment of U.N.-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, calling the Sudanese position "not acceptable to the international community."Al-Bashir outlined his new stand in a letter to U.N. Secretary General...