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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Episcopal General Convention approached another defining vote a day after electing its first female presiding bishop: whether the church should temporarily bar gays from becoming bishops to preserve Anglican fellowship. Delegates have been considering a moratorium at the request of world Anglican leaders, who remain angry …

NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. – Two teenage boys have been charged with assault in the school bus beating of a 10-year-old that was recorded by a surveillance camera. The tape shows the 13- and 14-year-old boys taunting and teasing Chester Gala on their way home from Anchor Bay Middle School North …

LOS ANGELES – The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are competing to design the nation’s first new nuclear bomb in two decades. Scientists at both facilities are working around the clock on plans that will be …

WASHINGTON – Separate smoking sections don’t cut it: Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke, says a long-awaited surgeon general’s report. Some 126 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, what U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona repeatedly calls …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – American troops detained a top Sunni religious leader for a few hours after a raid seeking terror suspects Saturday, while a bomb killed two U.S. soldiers patrolling south of Baghdad during a mammoth military operation trying to secure the capital region. The slayings, along with the announcement …

GENEVA – About 1.4 billion people worldwide will be living in slums by 2020 unless action is taken to improve conditions for the urban poor, according to a U.N. report released Friday. The number of slum-dwellers globally is expected to grow from the current 1 billion — nearly all in …

EAGLE, Colo. – Eagle’s town manager was cited for disorderly conduct after he allegedly tried to go through a roadblock that had been set up for Vice President Dick Cheney‘s motorcade. William Powell, who denied the allegations, was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and obstructing a peace officer for …

Maybe it’s the warm weather. Or maybe it’s just California. This much is for sure: in the Golden State, clothing appears to be optional. From naked dining to mass-mooning an Amtrak train, California offers a little something for the budding exhibitionist — or voyeur — in all of us. Naked …

MIAMI – U.S. officials who want terror suspect Jose Padilla to wear handcuffs and ankle chains during open court appearances must first show he poses a direct safety threat, a federal judge said Friday. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke made the statement after Padilla appeared in the shackles for his …

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan – Cross-border firing from Afghanistan hit the tent of a nomad family on the Pakistan side of the frontier, killing two women and injuring at least four children, two Pakistani officials said Sunday. The Pakistani officials said four rockets or shells were apparently fired by the U.S. …