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None of the six most-popular midsize sedans earned a top rating in bumper safety in the latest crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Mazda 6 was the only car to receive an “acceptable” rating — one rating below “good,” the top rating — based on …

When Margie and Stephen Zumbrun were battling the urge to have premarital sex, a pastor counseled them to control themselves. The couple signed a purity covenant. Then, when the two got engaged and Margie went wedding dress shopping, a salesperson called her “the bride who looks like she’s 12.” Nonchurch …

OKANOGAN, Wash. – Okanogan County sheriff’s detectives have accused a Tonasket woman of having her husband’s pregnant lover stabbed to death with an ice pick. The sheriff’s office says 33-year-old Lacy K. Hirst-Pavek was arrested Tuesday night and jailed for investigation of murder and manslaughter in the slaying of 25-year-old …

DES MOINES, Iowa – Strong thunderstorms packing possible tornadoes battered parts of the Midwest on Sunday for a second straight day, damaging at least half a dozen buildings and a campground in Iowa and two Oklahoma homes. Tornadoes were reported in eastern Iowa, western Oklahoma and south-central Kansas, but there …

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Federal authorities believe the high school student behind Monday’s massacre in northern Minnesota likely plotted the attack that left 10 dead, including himself. The shooter, named by authorities as 16-year-old Jeff Weise (search), was a student at the school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation (search). Weise …

BEIJING – North Korea’s premier on Tuesday began a visit to China amid U.S. urging for Beijing to use its influence to prod the North back into nuclear talks — and American hints of possible sanctions if Pyongyang doesn’t cooperate. Chinese officials say they will discuss the nuclear standoff with …

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Just over the United States northwest border, addicts will soon be able to get their fix from the Canadian government in the form of free heroin (search) administered by nurses and doctors on the taxpayer’s dime. “They’re using heroin. They’ll continue to use heroin. What we’re …

NEW YORK – Stocks ended a wobbly session on the short side Wednesday as crude oil prices hit a four-month high and put a cap on gains fueled by relief over soothing comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (search) on the state of the economy. The Dow Jones industrial …

BEIJING – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (search) suggested Sunday that European governments are irresponsible if they sell sophisticated weaponry to China that might one day be used against U.S. forces in the Pacific. “It is the United States, not Europe, that is defending the Pacific (search),” Rice said. She …

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve (search) policy-makers, wanting to prevent a broader outbreak of inflation as oil prices surge, are likely to keep pushing short-term interest rates higher. The Fed is poised to boost its key federal funds rate (search) by one-quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent Tuesday. That would mark …