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BAGHDAD, Iraq – Car bombs and drive-by shootings killed 17 people Monday, including seven police officers, hours before Iraq‘s parliament met for its first session after swearing in a new government. The violence also came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair became the first world leader to visit Baghdad since …

BOSTON – The teenager who killed a police officer and a woman in Arkansas days after an attack in a Massachusetts gay bar shot himself in the head with the same gun used in the bar attack, authorities said. Jacob Robida, 18, of New Bedford, turned the gun on himself …

WASHINGTON – More babies were born in the United States last year than ever before, according to preliminary data, but it’s not another baby boom just yet. About 4,315,000 children were born in 2007, about 15,000 more births than the peak time of the baby boom in 1957, said Stephanie …

NEW YORK – The city is suing 15 out-of-state gun shops it says supply a significant portion of the guns that flow into New York, including some that end up in the hands of criminals. The lawsuit being filed Monday asks the federal court to order supervision and extra training …

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern University‘s women’s soccer team, which was suspended indefinitely after photographs of alleged hazing appeared on the Internet, has issued an apology for the “negative attention, press and controversy” it caused the school. “We fully accept responsibility for our behavior and understand the magnitude and severity of …

LOS ANGELES – Charlize Theron, who has mainly acted in big-studio movies, has been awarded the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Spirit of Independence award. “She is a big movie star,” said awards director Dawn Hudson at Wednesday night’s ceremony. “But what we love about her is that she’s made interesting …

LONDON – Prince Charles’ private income rose 6 percent in the past year, published accounts showed Monday. Charles, the Prince of Wales, received 14.067 million pounds (euro20.45 million; US$25.6 million) from the Duchy of Cornwall in the 2005/2006 fiscal year, compared to 13.274 million pounds in the previous year. The …

TOKYO – Long respected for piloting Japan back to economic health, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui fended off calls to resign Thursday in a scandal threatening the central bank’s delicate task of managing a long-awaited interest rate hike amid Japan’s budding recovery. Fukui told reporters he planned to stay …

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A piece of wreckage was found Monday on a beach several miles from the area where a boat was reported to have sunk with nine people on board, but no other trace of any vessel had turned up, the Coast Guard said. No one had reported …

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment. Gore said Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up” and held …