Some deadly train disasters since 1900: — Dec. 26, 2004: up to 2,000 people die in train in Sri Lanka swamped by the South Asian tsunami. — June 6, 1981: train crashes after bridge collapses in flash floods during monsoon in Bihar, India, killing more than 800. — June 3, …

Your child may take longer to learn to talk if he or she spends a lot of time near a blaring TV or in a cacophonous day care center, a new study suggests. Infants can’t tell spoken words from background noise unless the words are much louder than the noise, …

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian government has lowered the number of people missing after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami by more than 56,000, saying most of them have been found alive in emergency camps. The National Disaster Relief Coordinating Board (search), which has been keeping the most detailed tally …

NEW YORK – Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) said Saturday it is paying $1.1 billion to acquire a 13.4 percent stake in MCI Inc. (MCIP) directly from its largest single stockholder. The transaction removes a major wild card in Verizon’s bid to fend off a higher-priced offer to acquire MCI by …

NEW YORK – The founders of two popular Web sites and a nonprofit advocacy organization are recipients of the annual Pioneer Awards from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF said the winners “all represent vital, community-building organizations dedicated to spreading knowledge in or about our digital world.” Craigslist founder Craig …

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., crashed his car into a blockade Thursday night on Capitol Hill and was escorted home by police. — Kennedy is serving his sixth term in Congress — He is the representative from the First District of Rhode Island — He was elected to Congress in 1994 …

LAS VEGAS – Two former Las Vegas-area politicians were found guilty Friday of taking bribes from a former strip club owner in a corruption scandal so laced with sex and money that it shocked a town where indulgence is an industry. Former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera was found guilty …

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Monday announced he is nominating Gen. Michael Hayden as the next CIA director. “Mike Hayden is supremely qualified for this position,” Bush said from the Oval Office. “Mike has more than 20 years of experience in the intelligence field. He served six years as director …

WASHINGTON – The top Marine general said Thursday that he feared, based on two recent cases of alleged killings of civilians in Iraq, that some Marines could become “indifferent to the loss of a human life.” His office announced that he was enroute to Iraq to reinforce the Corps’ standards …

KABUL, Afghanistan – A brazen attack by hundreds of Taliban militants on an isolated town had been building for days, a coalition spokesman said Friday, after a wave of violence in southern Afghanistan left around 100 dead. The attack Wednesday night on Musa Qala in the volatile southern province of …