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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Radiocarbon dating of rat bones and rat-gnawed seeds reinforces a theory that human settlers did not arrive in New Zealand until 1300 A.D. — about 1,000 years later than some scientists believe, according to a study released Tuesday. The first settlement date “has been highly debated …

WASHINGTON – A global credit crisis and record oil prices will be competing with traditional trade and currency issues when top officials from the United States and China gather in Annapolis, Md., later this month. However, there is little expectation the fourth round of these high-level discussions will produce any …

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats are planning a vote on Tuesday that will momentarily refocus the body on a subject that’s a bit dicey these days for them — Iraq. Despite military and some political successes in that country lately, the vote will no doubt be warmly welcomed for opposite reasons …

HAVANA, Cuba – Nearly a half century of rule by Fidel Castro was ending Sunday as Cuban lawmakers chose his replacement — widely expected to be his younger brother Raul. • Click here to watch video. The transition was not likely to bring a major shift in policies of the …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote Tuesday whether to place the words “scientific theory of” in front of the term “evolution” in proposed science standards. A Department of Education spokesman says the option of applying that label to all scientific theories mentioned in the …

Eating fast food every day and not exercising may be damaging to the liver, a small study finds. The findings, published in the journal Gut, are based on 18 slim, healthy people (12 men and six women) who took a “fast food challenge” for four weeks, and a comparison group, …

Twin brothers Clay and Christopher Parkman, 17, arrived at their home near Olympia, Wash., Monday to discover a back door window shattered. They assumed someone had broken in, but did not know the intruder was still in the house, kirotv.com reports. The Parkmans chased the burglar into a bedroom and …

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik required lifesaving surgery after severing his carotid artery, his agent told The Associated Press on Monday. Zednik had surgery Sunday night and was in stable condition at a Buffalo hospital after losing a significant amount of blood during the game at Buffalo …

NEW YORK – A multimillionaire financier, once engaged to marry President George W. Bush’s former sister-in-law, is suing her for the return of an 11-carat ring that he says is worth $434,000. Gerald Tsai Jr., 78, says he and Sharon Bush, 55, agreed to marry in October 2006 and he …

WASHINGTON – Fresh off impressive coast-to-coast primary wins, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain laid claim Wednesday to front-runner status, while Barack Obama declared delegate superiority over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. But the Democratic outcome was not immediately clear, with hundreds of delegates still being tallied. Even though Clinton took eight …