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MANASTIRE, Romania – Residents began returning to impoverished, flood-swept villages in southern Romania on Thursday to clear up debris and take stock of the damage left behind by the swollen Danube River in recent days. When the river’s waters crashed over sandbagged dikes and roared for several kilometers over flat …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A string of deadly attacks ripped through the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 26 people and wounding nearly 70, police said. Six small Shiite shrines also were damaged in a series of blasts around the Baqouba, a mixed Sunni Arab-Shiite region where sectarian tensions are …

ROME – The popular diet sweetener aspartame won another round in the safety debate when a European panel of scientists said Friday there’s no sign it raises the risk of cancer. An Italian study last year wrongly concluded the sugar substitute led to higher rates of lymphoma and leukemia in …

SEATTLE – If the skies are clear as forecast, volcano watchers who turn out for the reopening of the Johnston Ridge Observatory on Friday will get a spectacular view of a hulking slab of rock that’s rapidly growing in Mount St. Helens’ crater. It’s jutting up from one of seven …

WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy shot forward at an upwardly revised 5.3 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the fastest growth in 2-1/2 years, as companies built up inventories and exports strengthened, a Commerce Department report Thursday showed. First-quarter growth in gross domestic product was more than triple the …

WASHINGTON – The Senate was slated to vote to confirm CIA director-nominee Michael Hayden on Friday, installing a veteran of intelligence controversies and four-star general atop the civilian spy agency. Hayden is currently the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. Hayden, 61, would be the first active-duty or …

LOS ANGELES – Two women took out millions of dollars in life insurance on two homeless men who later died in mysterious hit-and-run crashes, and investigators want to know whether the women were behind the wheel. Helen Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 72, were arrested and jailed Thursday on fraud …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a militant training base in the southern Gaza Strip late Wednesday, Palestinian security and witnesses said. There was no immediate word of casualties. Countrywatch: Israel Palestinian security officials said the base, in the evacuated Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, …

WASHINGTON – Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down this week, the first decline after six straight increases, according to a nationwide survey. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac (FRE) reported Thursday that rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.58 percent, down from 6.59 percent last week, which had been the highest level …

LOS ANGELES – Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of a baby daughter, the couple’s second child. Ava Lorenn was born Sunday in Los Angeles, the actor’s publicist, Ame Van Iden, said Monday. Both Lisa and the newborn were doing fine, the spokeswoman said. “Everybody is happy …