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KABUL – One of the two Afghans on a U.N.-backed commission looking into vote fraud in the August presidential election resigned Monday, citing interference by foreigners. Officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication have plagued the investigation into alleged cheating in the August ballot. Once the election results become clear, President …

LONDON – A coast guard official says he has found a bottle on a British beach containing an anguished message of heartache from a French-speaking woman to her married lover. Coast guard manager Martin Leslie says he found the letter and a lock of brown hair in a beer bottle …

SHREVEPORT, La. – One man is dead and a landmark church steeple toppled onto a car in Louisiana after a line of thunderstorms spawned several tornadoes there and in neighboring Arkansas. Authorities said an unnamed 20-year-old driver died when his car hit a tree felled by the storms Thursday near …

TAMPA, Fla. – Hundreds of files containing addresses, Social security numbers and other personal information have been found in a shuttered mortgage company’s trash bins. A salon owner tipped off police after finding a batch of the records in her own garbage. The documents were traced to Creative Financial Services, …

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge has entered a not guilty plea for a man accused of robbing an Indianapolis check-cashing business after hugging and praying with a clerk. Twenty-three-year-old Gregory Smith apologized on television last week for the robbery and says he was driven to it after losing his job. Defense …

LONDON, Ky. – Authorities released the body of a part-time census worker found in a remote Appalachian forest nearly a month ago with a rope around his neck and “fed” scrawled across his chest, but they still will not say if someone killed him. Josh Sparkman told The Associated Press …

Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – NASA is zipping through the final hours of the countdown for space shuttle Endeavour, on track for a Saturday morning launch. Forecasters are sticking with their 90 percent “go” weather forecast. NASA plans to begin fueling the spaceship late Friday night. The crew of seven will …

Oakland is set to become the third U.S. city to issue identification cards to all its residents, including illegal immigrants. The city council approved the proposal Tuesday, but it won’t start until council members approve a plan for implementing it, The Oakland Tribune reported. The intent is to help anyone …

TEHRAN, Iran – Thousands of people waving Iranian flags and pictures of the country’s supreme leader massed Tuesday at a rally organized by the clerical regime in an apparent attempt to reclaim the streets hours after saying it would recount some disputed presidential ballots. Later, a “massive” crowd supporting reformist …