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ROME – A dispute between Israel and the Vatican (search) over Pope Benedict XVI’s comments on terrorism appears to have been resolved, after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent a letter calling the pontiff “a true friend of Israel,” Israel’s ambassador said Friday. Israel’s top diplomat at the Holy See, …

WASHINGTON – Sen. Edward Kennedy (search), in a back-to-school challenge to Republicans, used the Democratic Party’s radio address Saturday to lobby for more federal money for education. “We need our Republican colleagues to join us in giving education the high priority that it deserves at the national level,” said Kennedy, …

BATAVIA, Ohio – Batavia, Ohio, typifies much of the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which hasn’t sent a Democrat to Washington in nearly 40 years. But with a special election set for Tuesday, the competitive race for the seat has surprised many election watchers. Click in the box near the top …

WILTON, Minn. – Longtime friends Chase Torgerson and Cody Charpentier were driving along a northwestern Minnesota highway near Wilton when they saw a car fly through the air and crash into a median. They jumped out to help — only to turn around moments later and see one of the …

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas – A Starr County grand jury has indicted the police chief of the small South Texas town of La Grulla on a charge of soliciting sex from a minor. According to the indictment released Thursday, the grand jury believes Alfredo Hernandez tried to talk a girl …

A 7-year-old South Florida boy facing grand theft auto charges is now accused of beating up his grandmother at a Wal-Mart after a dispute over chicken wings. Vikkita Stratford told WPBF-TV in Palm Beach, Fla., that her grandson beat her up Monday after he ordered chicken wings without her permission …

PHOENIX – A state appeals court says two relatively new state school voucher programs are unconstitutional. The programs were designed to provide money to let foster and disabled children attend private schools. The 3-0 ruling Thursday by a Court of Appeals panel in Tucson reverses a trial judge’s decision that …

George Clooney and his girlfriend Sarah Larson have called it quits after a year of dating, In Touch and People magazine are both reporting. “George is relieved to be single again,” an unidentified source told In Touch. “He thinks Sarah is sweet and that is why it was so hard …

HOUSTON – Three teenagers were arrested after two of them told police they dug up a secluded grave north of Houston, removed the skull from the coffin and converted it into a marijuana bong. Police found a grave in the city of Humble that had been disturbed, but were still …

RANGOON, Burma – Burma’s military regime allowed the U.N. humanitarian chief into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour Monday, a U.N. official said. But the United Nations said its foreign staff were still barred from the delta and described conditions there as “terrible,” with hundreds of thousands of …