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LOS ANGELES – The carpet was, of course, chocolate brown, as cast and crew of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (search)” made their way into Grauman’s Chinese Theater for the film’s Hollywood premiere. Headliner Johnny Depp (search) was greeted with screams from the hundreds of stargazers lined up across Hollywood …

LONDON – The full horror at King’s Cross unfolded over several hours — during a desperate battle to free maimed victims. Bodies were trapped in the mangled wreckage while hundreds of terrified passengers fought for breath amid clouds of thick black smoke. London’s second coordinated terror blast at 8:56 a.m. …

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – Two men convicted of trying to drive a black family out of the neighborhood, burning a cross in the family’s yard and hanging a noose on the door, have been sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison. Jeremy Kratzer (search), 25, and Ricky “Chase” Hobbs (search), …

The FDA has approved a first-of-its-kind implantable electrical nerve stimulator device to treat severe depression. The device, called the Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) System, was approved for adult patients with long-term or recurrent major depression that has not responded adequately to four or more antidepressant treatments. VNS consists of a …

An experimental drug may help some people with diabetes avoid vision loss. The drug, from Eli Lilly, is still going by its generic name, ruboxistaurin or RBX. It’s being tested in a large-scale clinical trial. Results of a smaller trial, reported in the July issue of Diabetes, bring both good …

One mosquito bite can paralyze you for life. But hey, why worry about it? That attitude is frustrating public health officials worried about the spread of West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases. Mid-July means the U.S. is entering peak West Nile virus season. Yet most Americans still aren’t doing …

BOMBAY, India – India’s (search) financial capital was paralyzed Wednesday by the strongest rains ever recorded in the nation, with torrential downpours marooning drivers, snapping communication lines and leaving at least 200 people dead statewide. At its worst, the rainfall descended in what looked like a solid wall of water, …

BURBANK, Calif. – Burt Reynolds (search) said on the “Tonight” show that if he’d have been gay, it would have saved him “millions,” and he joked that Willie Nelson (search) might have been his choice. Reynolds, who worked with the great country singer in the new remake of “The Dukes …

NEW YORK – The Conference Board’s (search) gauge of future economic activity rose strongly in June, but economists expressed concern that weaknesses were developing in the nation’s industrial sector. The New York-based Conference Board said its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators (search) rose 0.9 percent in June to 137.7 …

LOS ANGELES – A photographer who took topless pictures of Cameron Diaz (search) before she became a star was convicted of forgery, attempted grand theft and perjury on Monday for a scheme to sell the images back to the actress 11 years later for millions of dollars. Photographer John Rutter …