DUBLIN — “Banjo” Barney McKenna, the last original member of the Irish folk band The Dubliners, died Thursday while having a morning cup of tea with a friend. He was 72 and had just marked his 50th year with the troupe. Irish classical guitarist Michael Howard, who was with McKenna when he died, said he was […]

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Court documents say the Vermont prep school teacher killed after she allegedly responded to a call for help from the man who used to plow her driveway suffered a severe beating. And the details of a search warrant used by Vermont State Police detectives investigating the death of 33-yearold Melissa Jenkins […]

ATLANTA ( AP) — The health care think tank created by Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is going out of business. The Gingrich Group, also known as the Center for Health Transformation, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday. The bankruptcy filing marks an abrupt turn for a group that […]

SEATTLE ( AP) — Russ Berkman’s dream came true when he won a lottery for four passes to Wednesday’s practice round at the Masters golf tournament in Georgia. But the Seattle area resident’s stomach turned when he found his dog, Sierra, had eaten them. Berkman told KJR radio on Tuesday he was determined to go. […]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Springfield police say a man who got stuck in a roof vent while trying to break into a closed restaurant where he once worked lost his pants during the rescue. Police say 26-year-old Robert Kuhn tried to climb through a vent at Lido Ristorante on Wednesday, but got stuck. The restaurant’s […]

PARIS ( AP) — Nicolas Sarkozy, fighting for a farfrom assured second term as French president, promised Thursday to slash public spending and increase taxes to set his indebted country on a more balanced path. His critics on the left said his pledges would unfairly hurt the poor and that he’s in part to blame […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Living in an outlying Chicago suburb, Jeff Wehrli recalls a heady time not too long ago when city dwellers poured in and developers couldn’t build McMansions fast enough. Now boom has turned to bust, as in many of the nation’s “exurbs,” and Wehrli can’t help but wonder when, or if, things will […]

DUBLIN (AP) — The names of 3,700 dead from Northern Ireland’s conflict were read aloud in a Dublin church on the 14th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement, an annual ceremony designed to underscore the terrible scope of lives lost. The Unitarian Church beside the capital’s central park remembers the dead each Good Friday […]

LONDON (AP) — British ministers say a ban on displaying packs of cigarettes inside supermarkets and other large stores will send a message that smoking is no longer acceptable. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said today — as the restrictions came into force — that the ban would show that Britons “no longer see smoking as […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A fuel tanker overturned and caught fire in southern Afghanistan today, killing seven people, police said. Kandahar provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq said three other civilians were seriously wounded in the morning incident in Panjwai district. The Taliban claimed they fired a rocket at the fuel tanker, causing it to […]