A British man who fled the United States after his wife and baby daughter were found dead has been sentenced to two life terms in prison without the chance for parole.

Neil Entwistle was convicted Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the 2006 deaths of his wife, Rachel and their 9-month-old baby, Lillian Rose.

He claimed his wife killed their daughter, then committed suicide. But prosecutors said he killed them because he was deep in debt and dissatisfied with his sex

Environmental and animal rights groups are lining up to oppose a lawsuit that seeks to let American sport hunters again import hides of polar bears shot legally in Canada.

The hunting group Safari Club International has filed a notice of its intent to sue to overturn the ban, which was put in place last month when U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne declared polar bears a threatened species.

The group seeks to overturn the ban not just for bears already killed bu

It was swift and chaotic, witnesses said, as the plastics plant worker with a determined look opened fire, killing five co-workers then himself in rural western Kentucky.

Police said Wesley N. Higdon, 25, shot his supervisor outside the plant, then went inside and kept shooting. When the gunfire ended, one of Higdon's co-workers was dead, four others were dying and he had committed suicide.

A witness who hid behind a wall when the gunfire started said a bullet struck a water line,

Work has resumed at a western Kentucky plastics plant where an employee shot five people dead and killed himself.

Plant manager Dean Jorgensen says the plant in Henderson began running limited production Wednesday night.

Police say 25-year-old Wesley N. Higdon fatally shot his supervisor and four others early Wednesday and turned the gun on himself. Another person was wounded in the shooting.

Police say the shooting happened hours after an argument between Higdon and the sup

The devil may wear Prada _ but the pope does not.

According to the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, the bright red loafers that Pope Benedict XVI wears are not designed by the Milanese fashion house, as has long been rumored.

"Obviously the attribution was false," the Vatican newspaper said in its Thursday's editions.

"Such rumors are inconsistent with the simple and somber man who, on the day of his election to the papacy, showed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter

Drew Carey really, really loves the pizza from Antonio's _ so he's having UPS deliver dozens of the pies from Ohio all the way to Los Angeles.

The Cleveland native often stops at the Parma pizzeria for a pepperoni slice when he visits town. But this time he placed a tall order _ 45 pizza pies _ to celebrate Saturday's season finale of his CBS game show, "The Price is Right."

The pizzeria's owners say the order will cost Carey $450. That doesn't include the steep price of deliverin

The percentage of underweight babies born in the U.S. has increased to its highest rate in 40 years, according to a new report that also documents a recent rise in the number of children living in poverty.

The data on low birth weights is worrisome because such babies _ those born at less than 5.5 pounds _ are at greater risk of dying in infancy or experiencing long-term disabilities.

The findings were released Thursday in the annual Kids Count report on the health and well-being

The first experimental bird flu vaccine made from lab-grown cells instead of chicken eggs shows promise in blocking the highly lethal virus, scientists report.

The advance is good news not just for preparations in case of a pandemic, but also because it offers a way to make shots for seasonal flu much faster. That gives health officials crucial extra time to better match annual shots to the flu strains circulating.

It also would reduce dependence on the antiquated system of using

A bomb hit troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling south of the Afghan capital Thursday, causing an unspecified number of casualties, the coalition said.

In neighboring Pakistan, the government denied that its main spy agency was behind a recent assassination attempt on the Afghan president and took aim at Kabul for failing to prevent the attack.

The bomb struck the coalition convoy on Thursday morning during a patrol in Wardak province, a coalition statement said. Troops se

In a surprising shift ahead of an internationally condemned presidential runoff, President Robert Mugabe said Thursday he was "open to discussion" with Zimbabwe's opposition.

Mugabe had until now shown little interest in talks and his government had scoffed at Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai's call Wednesday to work together to form a transitional authority.

"We remain open to discussion with the MDC," Mugabe said while speaking at a campaign rally in Chitu

Chief Executive Howard Stringer said Sony Corp. will win back its electronic leadership by improving its Internet-linked gadgets, wiping out losses in video games and TVs and pushing services and software, not just hardware.

"This is not your father's Sony," he said Thursday at Sony's Tokyo headquarters, outlining a strategy for growth.

Stringer vowed the company will become profitable in its TV and video game businesses during this fiscal year, which ends March 2009. He said he w

The government has ordered China's fast-growing phone companies to stop adding new customers in August so they can better focus on ensuring service for the Beijing Olympics, company employees said Thursday.

The moratorium on new phone and Internet connections adds to sweeping measures, including traffic bans and factory shutdowns, that are meant to provide better conditions for the games, a major prestige event for the communist government.

"We simply won't touch the network any m

After a marathon first set lasting longer than many of her matches, defending champion Venus Williams overcame another erratic performance and pulled away to beat Britain's Anne Keothavong 7-5, 6-2 and reach the third round of Wimbledon.

For the second straight match, the four-time champion faced a modest British opponent in Thursday's opening contest on Centre Court and was tested to the limit in the first set. The pattern and result were almost identical from her 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over

Defending champion Venus Williams has overcome a rash of errors and trouble with her serve to beat British player Anne Keothavong and advance to the third round at Wimbledon.

Seventh-seeded Williams, bidding for a fifth Wimbledon title, beat Keothavong 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour, 44 minutes on Thursday.

Williams made 26 unforced errors, mostly in the 69-minute first set. She next faces Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who beat India's Sania Mirza.

Former champion Lindsay Davenport withd

Showers and cool temperatures were forecast for New England on Tuesday before a low pressure system moves off the East Coast, ending severe weather in the Northeast. More severe weather was possible, however, in the Plains.

Patchy clouds and pleasant conditions in the South were expected to give way to afternoon showers and thunderstorms and hot, humid conditions, with highs in some areas reaching into the 90s.

The Plains could see thunderstorms packing strong winds, hail and mode

Thunderstorms sparked over the Gulf Coast, interior Northwest and Central Plains early Wednesday, while the Northeast and Southwest both cooled somewhat.

Storms were predicted across the Central and Northern Plains, as a low pressure system collides with moist air from the Gulf. This will result in a widespread area of heavy rain and thunderstorms across the already flood-stricken Central Plains.

In addition, large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes were possible, especially over