CLYDE, Texas – Behind guarded, ornate gates at the end of a rural road, a self-proclaimed prophet warns his followers about the end of time and rails against a dangerous and unclean world outside their West Texas compound. The women are covered in long skirts and long-sleeve shirts. Many of …

A British hospital on Thursday was conducting an internal investigation after a 5-year-old boy died of multiple organ failure as a result of the chicken pox, London’s Daily Mail reported. “I strongly believe that if [the hospital] had just checked him over properly, he would be alive today,” said the …

WASHINGTON – As it turned out, Sameer Mishra provided more than just comic relief at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee. He ended up winning the title. The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line commentaries was all business when he aced “guerdon” …

Late last year, when I was playing Valve’s brilliant puzzle game “Portal,” I felt a weird sensation: Laughter. I’m not sure when I first noticed it; perhaps it was when GLaDOS, the insane artificial intelligence that was tormenting me, promised “grief counseling and cake” after my ordeal. What really threw …

ROCK ISLAND, Tenn. – One moment, Justin Hill was turning into his driveway. Minutes later he was being flown to a hospital as his home went up in flames. Then he got a traffic ticket. Hill, 42, got into a crash after turning into the path of an oncoming car …

BAGHDAD – Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses Thursday, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremist who have been waging street battles for seven weeks. Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some areas …

A potentially historic change is occurring on Jupiter. An upstart storm now rivals the gas giant’s Big Red Spot as king of storms, astronomers announced last week. The Little Red Spot, as it was named upon discovery in 2006, shows both size and speed in threatening to knock the former …

McCALL, Idaho – Two small airplanes collided at the McCall Municipal Airport and burst into flames, killing three and sending three others to hospitals, a federal aviation official said Saturday. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor in Los Angeles said the accident happened when a Cessna 172 with two people …

Pennsylvania police believe they may have broken up an interstate underwear theft ring after nabbing four people they say stole $2,200 in bras in suburban Philadelphia. Police arrested four people after Victoria’s Secret employees in Media, Pa., reported a theft more than a week ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Officials …

Two Pennsylvania women are facing charges stemming from a sleepover involving six teenage boys. Angela Honeycutt, 38, and Lynne Long, 45, both of Bucks County, Pa., are accused of a series of allegedly sexual incidents April 14 as the teens, ages 14 to 16, attended a sleepover at Long’s Lower …