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Authorities in Florida and California continued Thursday to search for two teenage girls who disappeared in separate incidents. In Florida, part of the investigation is focusing on the actions of a convicted sex offender. In the Florida case, 200 police and volunteers looked for Sarah Michelle Lunde (search), 13, who …

Health experts have destroyed two-thirds of the specimens of a killer influenza virus sent as part of routine test kits around the world, but were still trying to trace two shipments that were supposed to go to Mexico and Lebanon, U.N. officials said Friday. The World Health Organization (search) has …

BALTIMORE – Frank Perdue (search), who turned his father’s backyard egg business into one of the world’s biggest chicken companies by appearing in TV commercials full of down-home charm, has died at 84. Perdue, who died Thursday at his home in Salisbury, was one of the first CEOs to pitch …

NEW YORK – Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (search) is considering entering the city’s mayoral race, saying Mayor Michael Bloomberg (search) has not fought Republican lawmakers who have hurt the city with tax cuts and reductions in national security funding. “I am angry about the way New York City is being …

NEW YORK – New results from a particle collider (search) suggest that the universe behaved like a liquid in its earliest moments, not the fiery gas that was thought to have pervaded the first microseconds of existence. By revising physicists’ concept of the early universe, the new discovery offers opportunities …

WASHINGTON – JetBlue was once again ranked as offering the best service in an annual survey that also found five of the top six airlines are low-fare carriers. AirTran Airways, Southwest Airlines and United rounded out the top of the national Airline Quality Rating study, released Monday. “JetBlue probably has …

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Michael Jackson’s (search) mother said Sunday that she left the courtroom during her son’s child molestation trial last week to use the rest room — not to avoid hearing graphic testimony. Katherine Jackson (search), who has attended every day of the trial, said through a spokeswoman …

VATICAN CITY – The doors to St. Peter’s Basilica (search) were closed Thursday after four days of visits by pilgrims streaming into the building to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II (search). Authorities had earlier closed the line Wednesday night in preparation for Friday’s funeral, which was …

WASHINGTON – President Bush’s pick to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations pledged Monday to “work with all” to build a stronger and more effective world body, which he said has sometimes gone “off track.” The Bush administration is committed to the success of the United Nations, John …

MADISON, Wis. – Despite passionate opposition from cat lovers, Wisconsin residents supported a plan that would allow hunters to take out wild felines that kill birds and other small mammals. Residents who attended the meetings of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (search) voted Monday night to allow hunters to kill cats …