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TAMPA, Fla. – Local flag retailers aren’t flying high this Fourth of July as concerns over high gas prices, job losses and the troubled economy are causing a dip in sales. Tony Clayton, who operates Head’s Flags with grandfather Floyd Head, estimates the number of walk-in retail customers at their …

TOKYO – Frozen in much the state it died some 37,500 years ago, a Siberian mammoth undergoing tests in Japan could finally explain why the beasts were driven to extinction — and shed light on climate change, scientists said Friday. The calf, unearthed in May by a reindeer herder in …

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that sending U.S. Marines to Afghanistan will keep pressure on the Taliban and doesn’t “reflect dissatisfaction” with NATO countries’ performance. He was trying to smooth over comments a day earlier that sparked an international furor. The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that …

WASHINGTON – WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday against four British men who contend they were systematically tortured and their religious rights abused throughout their two-year detention at Guantanamo Bay. In a suit against ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and individual U.S. military officials, the four British men …

Several of the U.S.’s NATO allies were in an uproar following comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which he criticized NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan of lacking proper experience in counter-insurgency warfare, according to a report in the Times of London on Wednesday. Click here for more on …

ORLANDO, Fla. – Mark and Barbara Willard were at home in Wickford, England two weeks ago checking the weather forecast on the Internet before packing for their trip to Orlando — sunny and 70 degrees. On Saturday afternoon they had the hoods on their brand new coats pulled tight around …

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The wife of one of Iran’s opposition leaders accused the nation’s supreme leader Sunday of allowing violence and abuses to crush opponents, including the alleged beating of her son during last week’s protests. Fatameh Karroubi claimed her son Ali was savagely attacked inside a mosque …

NAIROBI, Kenya – Danish special forces stormed a ship captured by armed Somali pirates Friday and freed the 25 crew on board, marking the first time a warship has intervened during a hijacking, naval spokesmen said. After the vessel Ariella sent out a distress signal early Friday, the Danish warship …

BUCHAREST, Romania – A 25-year-old woman weighing 528 pounds gave birth to her first baby on Thursday at a hospital equipped to treat obese people. “The baby is the fruit of the love between me and my future husband who is slimmer, weighing just 154 pounds,” said Victoria Lacatus. “I …

SALT LAKE CITY – Rescue crews have reached a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that crashed Wednesday morning in remote Utah mountains as it flew toward its home base after providing security for the Olympics in Vancouver. Officials said two crew members reportedly suffered serious injuries, one had minor injuries and …