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LONDON – Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday downplayed the decision of the Sun tabloid to switch its allegiance from the Labour Party to the opposition Conservatives. Brown told the BBC during an interview at this week’s Labour Party conference that the views of voters — rather than a publication …

WASHINGTON, Pa. – Police say a southwestern Pennsylvania woman raped a man and burned him with a curling iron to get him to comply. Police say the 22-year-old man knows his alleged attacker, 23-year-old Samantha Harvey, of Washington, Pa. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Harvey who is …

DOVER, Del. – Dating back almost a decade, there were complaints and investigations involving Dr. Earl Bradley, a well-known Delaware pediatrician who authorities say may have molested more than 100 children. There were jokes among colleagues, who thought Bradley had an unusual practice with his carnival-like office filled with toys …

LOS ANGELES – The online dating service eHarmony has agreed to settle a California lawsuit that claimed it discriminated against homosexuals. Under a proposed settlement filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, eHarmony will link its straight and gay Web sites and allow people to use both without paying double …

HANOI, Vietnam – Nearly half of moms-to-be surveyed in China were delivering by Caesarean sections, the world’s highest rate recorded by the World Health Organization, which warned Tuesday that a boom in unnecessary surgeries is jeopardizing women’s health. Rates of C-sections have reached “epidemic proportions” in many countries worldwide, the …

SAN’A, Yemen – Yemeni airstrikes on Wednesday targeted one of the country’s most wanted Al Qaeda figures for the second time in a week, security officials said. The target was Ayed al-Shabwani, who officials accuse of providing sanctuary for top Al Qaeda figures in the country. Yemeni forces bombed a …

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – A woman who survived an attempt to cut her unborn baby from her womb has come face to face with her alleged attacker in a Prince George’s County courtroom. Teka Adams attended a preliminary hearing Tuesday where a judge found probable cause to proceed with attempted …

WASHINGTON – Authorities have some evidence that suspected terror surveillance information on five financial buildings was looked at again and perhaps updated in January, a top homeland security official said Friday. Separately, President Bush defended the decision to issue terrorism warnings last weekend based on the information. James Loy, the …

Grassy knoll? More like assy knoll. In her most recent music video, Erykah Badu removes all of her clothes while walking along the path where JFK was shot. It’s like strip poker for Oliver Stone. How daring! How edgy! How flabby. No surprise: The Washington Post describes the video as …

One of the best new TV shows is HBO’s Bored to Death. Jason Schwartzman plays a wannabe private eye with an addiction to white wine. That totally goes against the film noir version of private dicks, who drink gimlets and martinis at every meal and snack. However, just as the …