Santa already is piling up big numbers on social networking sites this season, so the volunteer Santa trackers at NORAD are bracing for tens of thousands of calls and emails when their operations center goes live on Christmas Eve. “We expect our numbers to be very high this year,” said Joyce Creech, project leader for […]

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities conducting a six-week counterfeit sweep in three countries seized 327,000 phony items, including fake Hello Kitty clothing and cheap imitation Casio G-Shock sport watches that if legitimate carry suggested retail prices of more than $76 million, federal investigators said Thursday. “Counterfeiting remains a significant problem that demands strong enforcement efforts both […]

Man tried driving hurt deer to hospital GREECE, N. Y. ( AP) — Police say a drunken New York man struck a deer with his vehicle, then tried driving the injured animal to a nearby hospital — for humans. Police say 29- year- old Andrew Caswell hit the deer early Monday in the suburban Rochester […]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — When Czech playwright Vaclav Havel was thrown in prison for his anti-communist writings, life for people across the East Bloc was shaped by the soul-crushing repression of rigged elections, tapped phones and isolation behind the Iron Curtain. Today all that has changed for 10 excommunist states who threw off Moscow’s rule […]

Italy seeking women with breast implants ROME (AP) — Italy’s health ministry is asking hospitals to track down women who received silicone breast implants made by a suspect French company due to concerns the implants may be unsafe. The ministry’s health council also suggested that women with Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, implants contact their […]

Work on Maine rail making progress BANGOR ( AP) — A $ 10.5 million project to repair 233 miles of state-owned railroad line in northern Maine is progressing but there is still plenty of work to be done. Nate Moulton, director of the Maine Department of Transportation’s rail program, says about half of the 7,500 […]