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BOSTON – Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (search) says babies born to couples of the same sex should be given amended birth certificates, but supporters of gay marriage who want to change those certificates say the governor’s formula for doing so is wrong. Click in the box to the right to …

BEIJING – Baidu.com takes its name from a 900-year-old poem but its ambitions are ultramodern — to become the Chinese-language equivalent of Internet search giant Google Inc. Little known abroad, 5-year-old Baidu.com says it already is the world’s sixth most-visited Internet site, thanks to a strong following from China’s 100 …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. soldiers killed 14 insurgents in two days of fighting in a strategic northern city, the American military said Monday, and gunmen killed 10 Iraqi soldiers in the central Sunni heartland. A hard-line Sunni clerical group accused Iraqi government commandos of torturing and killing 10 Sunni Arab …

MINNEAPOLIS – The convicted sex offender accused of kidnapping two children in Idaho wrote about a missing Minnesota girl on his Weblog, and investigators are now looking into whether he might have had anything to do with her disappearance. On his Internet diary, Joseph Edward Duncan III (search) wrote in …

CANCUN, Mexico – Hurricane Emily weakened slightly as it began lashing the beaches of the Yucatan peninsula (search) on Sunday, hours after thousands of jittery tourists streamed out of their waterfront hotels and fled inland to shelter at schools and gymnasiums. The Category 4 storm caused heavy flooding that swept …

CHICAGO – A young Marine who feared returning to Iraq persuaded his cousin to shoot him in the leg, then told police he was hit by random gang gunfire, authorities said. The shooting early Saturday was meant to keep 19-year-old Moises Hernandez (search) from going back to Iraq, prosecutors said. …

PHOENIX – A man suspected in the shooting death of three people in Arizona and the kidnapping of his two children was arrested Monday afternoon near Puerto Vallarta in the Mexican state of Jalisco, authorities said. Mexican authorities found the two children at a different location near where Rodrigo Cervantes …

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – The United States will close its consulate for one week to assess the security of its employees and consulate visitors in this Mexican border town after a shootout between drug gangs using machine guns, grenades and a rocket launcher. In a statement from Mexico City late …

WASHINGTON – The White House on Thursday called the Irish Republican Army’s (search) pledge to end its armed campaign and resume disarmament an “important and potentially historic” move toward peace in the historically troubled region. The IRA’s move is aimed at reviving Northern Ireland’s peace process. The IRA said all …

WASHINGTON – Following the Congress in a midsummer exodus, President Bush (search) plans a Texas ranch respite for several weeks, while Supreme Court nominee John Roberts (search) has August to think about Senate confirmation hearings. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday that Bush will leave after signing into …