NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that American criticism of his country’s failure to stop human trafficking was unfair, especially given the mistreatment of some illegal immigrants in the U.S. The U.S. State Department released a report Monday that included Saudi Arabia on a …

WASHINGTON – The federal government should guarantee that all Americans have basic health insurance coverage, says a committee set up by Congress to find out what people want when it comes to health care. “Assuring health care is a shared social responsibility,” says the interim report of the Citizens’ Health …

SAN FRANCISCO – FBI agents asked Barry Bonds‘ ex-girlfriend not to cooperate in Major League Baseball‘s steroid probe while a federal grand jury investigates whether the Giants slugger lied under oath about drug use. Attorney Martin Garbus said Friday that agents asked Kimberly Bell not to assist former Senate Majority …

LONDON – About 14,000 yesterdays have passed since Paul McCartney first mused about turning 64. Sunday, he can stop musing. The Beatles’ groundbreaking 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” made room for the more mundane McCartney song “When I’m Sixty-Four,” in which he wondered about … well, his …

NEW YORK – Katie Couric‘s farewell special on NBC’s “Today” was watched by 8.4 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Thursday. It ranked as the biggest audience for a single “Today” telecast since the morning after the 2004 elections, when 9 million watched. Since 1987, the only …

CHICAGO – Most U.S. employers are planning to further scale back health benefits offered to retirees, as companies struggle with the upward march in the cost of medical care and weigh increased contributions from government’s Medicare program, a survey found. Ninety-five percent of the mostly Fortune 500 companies polled expect …

BANGKOK, Thailand – Some survivors of the 2004 South Asian tsunami say an upcoming television miniseries will do little more than open fresh wounds from the disaster. “Why are they doing this? We can’t believe it,” tour guide Sawitree Kulmat told The Nation newspaper. “It’s too early … What about …

SYDNEY, Australia – Nicole Kidman married country music star Keith Urban at an Australian clifftop chapel Sunday in an intimate ceremony attended by close family and a smattering of A-list stars. The beaming Oscar-winning actress arrived at the Roman Catholic church in flowing white Balenciaga gown and veil, clutching a …

UNITED NATIONS – Governments must do more to keep their stockpiles of small arms secure from thieves and smugglers, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on the first day of a major conference on reducing the illegal trade of such weapons. In a speech to the conference Monday, Annan told delegates …

BELGRADE, Serbia – Lawmakers on Thursday demanded a vigorous investigation into claims that hundreds of newborn babies may have been stolen from delivery clinics across Serbia. For several years, parents throughout Serbia have expressed suspicion that their infants — who were said to have died shortly after birth — were …