Here’s one more reason to eat chocolate: A study finds that eating it two or more times per week reduces the risk of dying from heart disease in heart attack survivors, Agence France-Press reports. The study, appearing in September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine, found that chocolate-loving heart …

RALEIGH, N.C. – Daniel Patrick Boyd used tales of fighting the Soviets alongside the mujahedeen to recruit followers into a North Carolina terrorism ring, authorities believe, and U.S. officials who were in Pakistan at the time doubt his stories. The former officials questioned whether Boyd, 39, had any affiliation with …

TOKYO – Two strong earthquakes hit between Japan’s southernmost islands and the coast of Taiwan on Monday, both briefly prompting tsunami warnings, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said. The first quake — a magnitude-6.8 — struck at 9:06 a.m. (8:06 p.m. EST Sunday; 0006 GMT Monday). It was followed about 10 …

Canada’s tourism association says the number of U.S. tourists visiting Canada is at a 37-year low and declining, mainly due to the recession, but stricter new U.S. passport rules are also to blame. Randy Williams, the head of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said the numbers are at the …

LONDON – Britain’s defense ministry ordered an inquiry Monday into allegations that Iraqi civilians were tortured and killed by British troops following a fierce gunbattle in Iraq in 2004. Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell said in a statement the study will examine events that followed clashes near the southern Iraqi …

PHOENIX – Cynthia Mary Roberson is an unemployed mother who led her 12- and 14-year-old sons and their friends to commit at least 20 armed robberies and assaults, including the beating of a teenage boy who had nothing more than an orange lollipop. Her motivation was purely financial — police …

Children younger than 12 are at heightened risk of suffering a spinal injury during a car accident — possibly because standard seat belts often do not fit them properly, researchers report. In a study of children treated for car accident injuries at two Australian hospitals, researchers found that those younger …

STOCKHOLM – The European Union on Thursday was considering Britain’s request to pull the bloc’s ambassadors from Iran, an extraordinary move that would send a powerful signal of EU unity in the wake of Tehran’s postelection crackdown. It is a delicate balancing act for the 27-member EU: Punishing the regime …

WASHINGTON – A judge has denied a defense request to delay the trial of a Washington woman accused of killing her four daughters and living with their decomposing bodies for months. D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg says the trial of Banita Jacks is “long overdue.” The bodies were discovered …

A Brazilian woman survived being shot in the chest Saturday by robbers because cash she had stashed in her bra absorbed the impact of the bullet, the Telegraph reported. Ivonete Pereira, 58, was riding a bus in the northeast Brazilian state of Bahia when it was held up by armed …