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BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Iranian foreign minister on Friday rejected a U.S. offer of direct talks on Iraq because he said the Americans had raised “other issues.” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Baghdad that Tehran had decided to hold the talks but changed its mind. He …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set an 11-week 2006 alligator hunting season, an increase by six weeks over last year, officials announced Monday. Hunters also will be able to purchase more than one permit for the hunt set for Aug. 15 through Nov. 1. …

ATLANTA – Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale have surpassed John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as the U.S. president and vice president who have lived the longest since leaving office. As of Tuesday, Carter and Mondale had lived 25 years and 123 days since leaving the White House in 1981. That’s …

BOMBAY, India – “The Da Vinci Code” will be released in movie theaters across India on Friday — one week late — after the censor board and its distributor reached an agreement to display statements saying the film is fiction. The movie didn’t hit movie theaters in India along with …

LOS ANGELES – Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards agreed Friday to extend a temporary restraining order requiring the actor to stay away from his estranged wife. A judge issued the order in April after the 35-year-old actress alleged in court papers that Sheen pushed, shoved and threatened her and her …

WASHINGTON – Women for the first time have a vaccine to protect themselves against cervical cancer. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved use of the vaccine, Gardasil, for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26. It works by preventing infection by four strains of the human …

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide attacker detonated his explosives-filled car Wednesday near a military convoy in Kandahar, killing one and wounding nine — including two Canadian soldiers, Afghan and coalition officials said. The troops were on their way back from a patrol in a light-armored vehicle when they were hit …

KIEV, Ukraine – Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced in parliament Thursday that she and other allies from Ukraine‘s Orange Revolution had reunited into as a majority coalition and would start forming a government. “Today we start our struggle so that our country can be democratic,” Tymoshenko said. “We were …

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two civil liberties groups sued in federal court Wednesday to remove a picture of Jesus that has hung in a high school for more than 30 years. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union say the painting, “Head …

LOS ANGELES – About one-fifth of the nation’s organ transplant centers don’t meet federal standards for patient survival or perform the required minimum number of operations annually, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times. TheU.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has allowed 48 heart, liver and lung …