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North America

Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule
Facing a wave of lawsuits over what government can tell religious groups to do, the Obama administration is proposing a compromise for faith-based ...
Clinton out, Kerry in as secretary of state
Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned Friday as America's secretary of state, capping a four-year tenure that saw her shatter records for the ...
Scott Brown says he won't seek Kerry's Senate seat
Former Sen. Scott Brown said Friday he would not run in a special Senate election in Massachusetts, dealing a setback to Republican hopes of winning ...
Montana man made up sob story that got him pizza
A Montana man whose tearful reluctance to rob a pizza restaurant earned him free food apparently made up the sob story that gained him the clerk's ...
APNewsBreak: Family sues over Minn. office attack
The family of a man who was among six people gunned down at his Minneapolis office last year is suing the company, claiming it botched the firing of ...
Detroit, Toyota see big US sales gains in January
American consumers ignored tax increases and trudged through winter weather to buy new cars and trucks at an unusually strong pace last month. It was ...
33 die in Mexico oil company office building blast
A blast that collapsed the lower floors of a building in the headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company, crushing at least 33 people beneath ...
Engagement, Grammy nods makes Clarkson 'Stronger'
Kelly Clarkson says she's extremely happy she's nominated for three Grammy Awards, but there's something else the pop singer is more thrilled about: ...
Suicide bomber kills guard at US Embassy in Turkey
In the second deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in five months, a suicide bomber struck the American Embassy in Ankara on Friday, killing a ...
Mahony defends legacy on church abuse in blog
Retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony defended his tattered legacy in a sharply worded letter to his successor, a day after Archbishop Jose ...
Authorities release photo of accused Ala. abductor
After four anxious days, only the slimmest of details has come to light in a police standoff with an Alabama man who is accused of holding a ...
SUPER BOWL WATCH: Katrina, Coin flip bets, Modell
Around the Super Bowl and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of everything surrounding the game: ...
NBA union head Hunter placed on indefinite leave
NBA players put union chief Billy Hunter on an indefinite leave Friday, two weeks after a report they commissioned questioned Hunter's leadership and ...
Ind. DNR wants charges dropped in deer rescue case
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources said Friday it is asking a prosecutor to drop charges against a couple who nursed an injured baby deer ...
Cuba, US spar over blame for poor ties
A senior Cuban official sharply criticized U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday for suggesting Cuba was stuck in the past, saying the only ...
Waitress fired for posting customer comment online
The note at the top of the restaurant receipt read simply, "I give God 10%, why do you get 18?" The snarky comment has created a furor online after ...
Chicago takes leading role in national gun debate
They are counting the dead from gunfire again in Chicago, a city awash in weapons despite having one of the strictest gun-control ordinances in the ...
Review: Politics and old-style humor in 'Fiorello'
What goes around comes around. It's a key principle in politics, and apparently in musical theater, too. In the 1940s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia saved ...
White House: Hagel will win Senate confirmation
The White House on Friday dismissed criticism of Chuck Hagel's hesitant congressional testimony and insisted that it expects the Senate to confirm him ...
X Games permit to undergo thorough scrutiny
The death of snowmobile rider Caleb Moore and another accident involving a driver-less snowmobile that careened into a fence and injured a spectator ...
Shriek! Texts on missing kids startle cell users
The next time a child is abducted near you, your cellphone may shriek to life with an alert message. A new national Amber Alert system officially ...
Police chief: No sign of fear from slain attorney
Authorities don't know whether a Texas prosecutor who had extensive experience with organized crime feared for his life before he was fatally shot, ...
NASA marks 10 years since loss of Columbia, crew
Schoolchildren joined NASA managers and relatives of the lost crew of space shuttle Columbia on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy and ...
Harkin campaign aide gave Iowa State a donor list
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin's campaign fundraiser gave Iowa State University a list of possible donors to his namesake research institute, records show, ...
Ed Koch, New York's feisty mayor, dies at 88
When Ed Koch was mayor, it seemed as if all of New York was being run by a deli counterman. Koch was funny, irritable, opinionated, often rude and ...