AUGUSTA (AP) — A weekly survey has found that average price of home heating oil in Maine has dropped three cents a gallon to $3.66. The Governor’s Energy Office said Thursday that the average price was 19 cents lower than this time last year. The average kerosene price also fell by three cents, to $4.11 […]

BOSTON (AP) — Robert “RZ” Zildjian, founder of the Sabian Inc. musical cymbal manufacturing company, has died. He was 89. Sabian announced Zildjian’s death on its website Thursday. The firm was closed until Monday and the company announcement had no details about his death. Zildjian founded Sabian in 1981 after a legal battle with his […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine is joining South Carolina and several other states in defending a federal law that deals with Indian adoption rights and will be a central topic in a case that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next month, Attorney General Janet Mills announced Thursday. Mills said the state signed onto an amicus […]

The last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam 40 years ago today, and the date holds great meaning for many who fought the war, protested it or otherwise lived it. While the fall of Saigon two years later is remembered as the final day of the Vietnam War, many had already seen their involvement in the […]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned today that his rocket forces were ready “to settle accounts with the U.S.,” unleashing a new round of bellicose rhetoric after U.S. nuclear-capable B-2 bombers dropped dummy munitions in joint military drills with South Korea. Kim’s warning, and the litany of threats that […]

MOSCOW (AP) — A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts successfully docked today with the International Space Station, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting lab to six. Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin traveled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the space station’s […]

BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of bombings targeting Shiite mosques in Iraq killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens today, officials said. The attacks were the latest in spectacular assaults staged by insurgents seeking to undermine the Shiite-led government’s efforts to achieve security across the country. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers earned more and spent more in February, helped by a stronger job market that is offsetting some of the drag from higher taxes. The Commerce Department said today that consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in February from January. It was the biggest gain in five months and followed a revised 0.4 […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters plans to retire next year, ending a television career that began more than a half century ago and made her a trailblazer in news and daytime TV. Someone who works closely with Walters said the plan is for her to retire in May 2014 after a series of special […]