RESIGNS--Investigating officer Hilton Botha, sits inside the court witness box during the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

by Christopher Torchia

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The former lead detective in South Africa's investigation of the murder case against Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has resigned from the police force, police said Thursday.

GOODWILL AMBASSADOR--North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Feb. 28. (AP Photo/VICE Media, Jason Mojica)

by Jean H. Lee

Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman hung out Thursday with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on the third day of his improbable journey with VICE to Pyongyang, watching the Harlem Globetrotters with the leader and later dining on sushi and drinking with him at his palace.

LOSES CANCER BATTLE-- In this May 14, 2004 file photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gives a press conference at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch, File)

by Frank Bajak

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez was a fighter. The former paratroop commander and fiery populist waged continual battle for his socialist ideals and outsmarted his rivals time and again, defeating a coup attempt, winning re-election three times and using his country's vast oil wealth to his political advantage.

SHARING THE ROAD--Cars and Bikes Share the Roads in China. (Photo by Ann Ragland/NNPA)

by George E. Curry

For New Pittsburgh Courier

(SECOND IN A SERIES)

BEIJING (NNPA) – When Julia Wilson visited China for the first time in 2002, no one had to tell the former Los Angeles television reporter why China was known as “the Kingdom of Bikes.”