NEW YORK – U.S. chain store sales edged higher in the latest week, possibly because of gift card redemptions, according to a report Tuesday. Sales rose 0.3 percent in the week ended Jan. 21 after falling sharply by 1.4 percent the previous week, according to the report produced by the …

TOMPKINSVILLE, Ky. – A former teacher was charged with taking a 14-year-old student to Mexico after the two were found at a hotel near the Texas border, the FBI said. Mexican authorities found Angela Comer, 26, on Tuesday night in Nuevo Laredo. The teenager’s grandmother had reported him missing Saturday. …

LONDON – Guitarist Pete Townshend has warned iPod users that they could end up with hearing problems as bad as his own if they don’t turn down the volume of the music they are listening to on earphones. Townshend, 60, guitarist in the 60s band The Who, said his hearing …

NEW ORLEANS – Hugh Thompson Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday. He was 62. Thompson, whose role in the 1968 massacre did not become widely known until decades later, died at the Veterans …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A U.S. helicopter carrying 16 Marines made an emergency landing in a lake in a volatile province west of Baghdad, killing four of them, the military said Monday. The military said the CH-46 helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing made the emergency landing Sunday near the shore …

HAVANA – Fidel Castro telephoned a meeting of provincial legislative leaders, the Communist Party daily said Saturday in a report apparently aimed at quelling rumors about the ailing Cuban leader’s health. Meanwhile, 10 visiting U.S. Congress members met with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other communist officials, two weeks …

LOS ANGELES – Mel Gibson’s bloody epic “Apocalypto” debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie, proving the filmmaker still can deliver a winner despite his drunken-driving arrest and anti-Semitic rant last summer. “Apocalypto,” a Disney release set in the Mayan civilization and told in an obscure Mayan language, opened with …

The trouble begins… now! Does John’s My Word make your blood boil? Click here to listen live to The John Gibson Show on FOX News Radio (weekdays, 6-9 p.m. ET). It’s your chance to call in and argue with John! The Iraq Study Group has spoken and now it’s my …

Self-taught chef, John LaFemina, teaches us how to make his unbelievable meatballs! • Veal, Beef and Pork Meatballs with Ricotta Filling (8-10 servings) Ingredients For the Meatballs: 3 cups cubed crust-less filone or regular Italian bread (about 1/2 loaf) 1 pound ground veal 1 pound ground beef 1 pound ground …

ATLANTA – James Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia on Sunday, but he hopes to be able to perform again next weekend, his agent said. Brown, 73, was admitted to Emory Crawford Long Hospital, said his agent, Frank Kopsidas of Intrigue Music. A hospital spokesman refused to confirm whether Brown was …