In NC, long-standing rivalry between progressives and conservatives gets boost from outsiders

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina's population has nearly doubled since 1970, fueled by an economic expansion that brought an influx of Midwesterners, Northeasterners and nonwhites and turning the state from a Republican presidential stronghold into a battleground.

Among the new residents: Carol Fentiman, 66, a Chicago native who retired with her husband to the western Carolina mountains seven years ago from California and is a Democratic Party volunteer. And Piper Phillips, 18, a college student who moved here a year ago from Ohio and who will cast her first presidential ballot this year for Barack Obama.

Spaniard tried in Cuba dissident death; no verdict

BAYAMO, Cuba (AP) -- A Spanish political activist was tried Friday on charges of negligently causing the car crash that killed a prominent Cuban dissident. Several government opponents including noted blogger Yoani Sanchez were detained around this eastern city where the proceedings were taking place.

Defendant Angel Carromero's trial wrapped up in the evening in Bayamo, about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the capital and near the site of the July 22 highway crash in which Oswaldo Paya and another dissident, Harold Cepero, died.

Syrian regime opens new urban front, shells Homs

BEIRUT (AP) -- The Syrian military opened a second urban front Friday, attacking the rebel stronghold of Homs with the most intense artillery barrage in months and putting opposition fighters there and in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, increasingly on the defensive.

Syria's civil war has been locked in a bloody stalemate, and embattled President Bashar Assad could extend his hold on power if he retakes Aleppo and Homs. Amateur video from Homs, a symbol of resistance, showed black columns of smoke rising from the city, as loud explosions went off every few seconds.

While Assad stepped up attacks at home, tensions with neighboring Turkey flared again Friday, reviving fears that the 18-month-old conflict in Syria could ignite a regional conflagration.

American man shoots, kills chef at Israel hotel

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A young American shot and killed a chef at a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat Friday, before forces from an anti-terror unit shot the gunman dead, police said. The incident appeared to be based on a personal dispute.

The attacker was on a Jewish work and study program and was employed at the hotel until earlier this week.

Eilat police official Eitan Gedassis told Israel Radio the attacker snatched a gun from a hotel security guard and fired a number of shots at the Leonardo Club hotel in the Red Sea resort city, killing the chef.

Report says EU nuclear plants need better safety

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The cost of needed improvements to the 145 nuclear reactors in the European Union could run as high as (EURO)25 billion ($32 billion) over the coming years, the bloc's energy commissioner said Thursday.

A new EU report released Thursday said that stress tests carried out in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan showed that almost all of the EU plants needed safety improvements.

Officials said earlier that the tests did not reveal the need to close any of the EU nuclear plants immediately.