DOVER, Del. – The father of Nicholas Berg, a U.S. contractor believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, said Thursday that he doesn’t see any good coming from Zarqawi’s death. “I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi’s death,” Michael Berg told The Associated Press after …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran will respond in mid-August to the Western incentives for a cutback of its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday. “We are studying the proposals. Hopefully, we will present our views about the package by mid-August,” Ahmadinejad told a crowd in western Iran in a speech …

GENEVA – The Red Cross admitted Israel to the worldwide humanitarian organization early Thursday, ending decades of exclusion linked to the Jewish state’s refusal to accept the traditional cross symbol. The approval came in the early hours Thursday following a two-day International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. …

AUSTIN, Texas – Maverick gubernatorial candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn learned Thursday that they had each collected enough valid voter signatures to make on the November election ballot. The announcement by Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams sets up a four-way race for the fall election among the …

BOSTON – As the first half of the year comes to an end, many investors will pause to review the performance of money managers, to examine stocks and mutual funds to decide what to keep and to consider how to tweak their holdings to do better in the future. Unfortunately, …

FRANKFORT, Kentucky – Kentucky and North Carolina announced Friday they were sending 950 National Guard soldiers to assist security efforts along the U.S. border with Mexico. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said 300 troops had been deployed from his state Friday, and he urged fellow governors to follow his lead. …

NEWARK, N.J. – Joseph R. Gannascoli, who played a closeted gay mobster on HBO‘s “The Sopranos,” is being sued by the manufacturer of a diet drug. The maker of Stacker 2 filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming Gannascoli hasn’t been doing enough to promote the product after receiving about $316,000 from …

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A senior U.S. official says that Peruvian voters rejected the expanding influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by selecting moderate leftist Alan Garcia over the candidate Chavez supported in a presidential runoff. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick continued a U.S. diplomatic offensive against the …

NEW YORK – George Boudreaux is a man on a mission. George Boudreaux is a man who has made something of himself — something that he feels can make the world a better place. George Boudreaux is a man whose ingenious concoction brings comfort to scores of parents, babies and …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former senior official at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation admitted Wednesday to taking bribes for government investment opportunities, including $25,000 he says he accepted from a man who handled the agency’s investment in rare coins. Terrence Gasper, former chief financial officer at Ohio’s insurance fund …