WASHINGTON – Ten senators led by Sen. John McCain took on the Senate’s much maligned practice of inserting individual members’ special projects, often without the knowledge of their colleagues, into larger spending bills. The “Pork-Barrel Reduction Act,” introduced Thursday by eight Republicans and two Democrats, is the latest in a …

SAN`A, Yemen – One of 23 Al Qaeda convicts who escaped from a Yemeni prison in February has surrendered, a news agency reported Sunday. Hazam Saleh Majali turned himself in to authorities within the past two days, according to Yemen’s official Saba news agency. The Yemeni was convicted of having …

BOSTON – Pick a number. But not just any number. Whatever you do make sure it’s the right number. Pick too high a number and odds are that you will outlive your money. In fact, the higher the number the faster you run out. Pick a low number and odds …

BOSTON – Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law Wednesday a landmark health care bill designed to insure nearly all Massachusetts residents and set a national standard for other states to follow. Even as he signed the bill, surrounded by state and congressional leaders at a ceremony steeped in fanfare at …

PAWTUCKET, R.I. – U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was hit in the face with a hammer when an entrepreneur, demonstrating shock absorption, accidentally sent the hammer’s head flying at Kennedy mouth. Kennedy received six stitches in his bottom lip after the incident on Wednesday during an economic development meeting, his spokeswoman …

CHICAGO – Here are the top five and bottom five nations ranked by rates of sexual satisfaction reported to University of Chicago researchers. The findings are from the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, published in April’s Archives of Sexual Behavior. TOP FIVE 1. Austria: 71.4 percent are satisfied …

TOLUCA, Mexico – A Mexican priest has confessed to strangling his pregnant lover after Easter Mass and cutting her body into pieces, a state attorney general said Wednesday. The Rev. Cesar Torres, 42, admitted killing the 22-year-old woman at his parish on Mexico City‘s eastern outskirts, Mexico state Attorney General …

LOS ANGELES – A woman mistakenly put her 1-month-old grandson through an X-ray machine at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. A startled security worker noticed the shape of a child on the carry-on baggage screening monitor and immediately pulled him out, the Los Angeles Times reported for a story …

DENVER – A high school social studies teacher who was disciplined for comparing speeches by President Bush and Adolf Hitler stands by his lecture but wishes “he’d picked a different dictator,” his lawyer said. Teacher Jay Bennish also promised school district administrators that he would make sure future classroom talks …

BATON ROUGE, La. – A state law that would ban sales of violent video games to minors violates free speech rights and cannot be enforced, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge James Brady said the state had no right to bar distribution of materials simply because they show violent behavior. …