MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis police have charged a man with murder in the death of a woman whose body was found decapitated and dismembered in northern Mississippi. James Hawkins was first charged Monday morning with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and filing a false report. Later on Monday …

BANGKOK, Thailand – A gunman opened fire inside a mosque in Thailand’s restive south, killing a Muslim politician who was among dozens gathered for evening prayers, police said Sunday. The gunman entered the mosque in Pattani province Saturday evening and joined about 40 others who were kneeled in prayer. He …

LOS ANGELES – When Aretha Franklin is unhappy, she does not mince words. On Tuesday, the longtime Queen of Soul slammed Beyonce Knowles’ intro to Tina Turner at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, in which Knowles called Turner, not Franklin, “the queen.” “I am not sure of whose toes I may have …

“American Idol” contestant Robbie Carrico’s long, blond hair is a wig, TMZ.com reports. Carrico’s decision not to talk about his wig has made the show’s staff feel like there’s a “blonde elephant in the room,” sources told TMZ. Judge Simon Cowell lambasted the 26-year-old Floridian Tuesday night for being a …

NAIROBI, Kenya – Government forces and rebels clashed for a third day in Chad’s capital Monday with gunfire and shelling heard throughout the city, a U.N. official said. Thousands of people were fleeing the fighting in N’Djamena and casualties were believed to be high. The violence is threatening peacekeeping and …

WASHINGTON – The FBI acknowledged it improperly accessed Americans’ telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies. The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future …

CLINTON, Ark. – Charlie Brown is down to seven lives. Donna and Danny Pistole’s black-and-white cat survived a February tornado that destroyed the family’s mobile home, coming out of nearby woods skittish but no worse for wear. However, the cat took up refuge in a large pile of debris from …

A 14-year-old Pennsylvania schoolboy is fighting back after being sent to detention for wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of a gun in honor of his uncle fighting in Iraq. Officials at Penn Manor High School in Millersville, Pa., gave Donald Miller III two days of detention in December after …

CLEVELAND – The six candidates for an open Cleveland City Council seat include a convicted killer and two other ex-convicts. The top two finishers in Tuesday’s vote will advance to a runoff April 22. The candidates include a woman who pleaded guilty to attempted forgery and a man with a …

A study by an award-winning cancer expert shows that cell phone use could kill more people than smoking, it is reported. According to the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, the study, headed by Dr. Vini Khurana, shows that there is a growing body of evidence that using handsets for 10 years or …