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U.S. Marines boarded and seized control Thursday of a cargo ship that had been captured by pirates the day before off the coast of Somalia.

President Barack Obama on Thursday said a Florida church's plans to burn dozens of Qurans this weekend would be a "recruitment bonanza" for al Qaeda.

A car exploded in the Russian republic of North Ossetia-Alania on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring many more, government officials said.

A major Islamic group will announce an initiative Thursday to distribute 200,000 Qurans to replace what it says are 200 copies that a Florida church plans to burn in a gesture that has sparked controversy worldwide.

Colorado officials will reopen three subdivisions to residents Thursday as the fire threat lessened in some sections of a canyon, west of Boulder.

Los Angeles' police chief was booed during a community meeting as protests over an officer-involved fatal shooting continued for the third night Wednesday.

When Jenny Frank decided to become a teacher, she thought she was going into a profession that could weather any recession.

Shifting plans for an Islamic center near ground zero would encourage radicals, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told "Larry King Live" late Wednesday.

The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning said he wants proof that his mother's adultery and murder case has been put "on hold."

Thursday marks Kyron Horman's 8th birthday. And four months after a criminal investigation began into the Oregon boy's disappearance, officials continue to ask the public for leads and tips.

Prosecutors in the Anna Nicole Smith drug trial paid rent, utilities and moving expenses so a key witness could testify this week, according to testimony Wednesday.

Nearly 200 commercial pilots in China falsified their flying experience, Chinese aviation officials have discovered.

The imam behind plans for an Islamic center near ground zero told "Larry King Live" that moving it to another location would embolden Islamic radicals.

At least four tornadoes spawned by Tropical Depression Hermine touched down in and around Dallas, Texas, sending up debris and swirling around buildings.

A small asteroid passed within the moon's distance from the Earth on Wednesday morning, and another will do likewise later in the day, space watchers say.

A tell-all book by a former "Girls Gone Wild" photographer alleges that Paris Hilton once smuggled illegal drugs into Europe using a cigarette box hidden inside her body.

The mayor of El Naranjo, Mexico, in the central state of San Luis Potosi was gunned down and killed inside his office Wednesday, officials said.

Burning the Quran would be an "outrageous and grave gesture," the Vatican said Wednesday, joining a chorus of voices pleading with a small Florida church not to burn Islam's holy book on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

MGM Resorts defended its safety practices Wednesday after amateur video surfaced showing a lion attacking its trainer inside its habitat at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, as horrified visitors to the hotel looked on.

The smart money in Washington and Chicago, Illinois, says it's all but a certainty that within weeks Rahm Emanuel will throw his hat into the ring to replace retiring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. So the parlor game over who will replace Emanuel as White House chief of staff has already kicked into high gear.