53 illegal immigrants held against will in Phoenix

By Jorge Rios (AP)

A senior Mexican police officer whose name appeared at the top of a hit list has been shot dead in a border city across from Texas.

City officials say gunmen sprayed Juan Antonio Roman Garcia\'s car with bullets early Saturday outside his home in Ciudad Juarez. He was the city\'s No. 2 police officer and at least the fourth high-ranking officer to be killed in Mexico in a week.

Roman Garcia\'s name appeared at the top of a hit list found several months ago at a monument to slain police officers. Several people on it have been killed, and none of the perpetrators have been...

By Anja Niedringhaus (AP)

Australian Olympic chief John Coates says there\'s a good chance some athletes will protest on the medal podium at the Beijing Olympics.

\"It is a real possibility,\" Coates said following the Australian Olympic Committee\'s annual general meeting Saturday.

China has been heavily criticized by world leaders for its human rights record and for the recent crackdown in Tibet. The Olympic torch\'s journey around the world was marred by protesters ahead of the Aug. 8-24 games.

Coates said there could be podium demonstrations in Beijing similar to the black power protest on...

By Steve Helber (AP)

Lorena Ochoa started with a birdie, pulling her even with Annika Sorenstam, the playing partner she replaced as the No. 1 female golfer in the world.

Two holes later, Sorenstam answered. And then again at the par-4 16th, rolling in a birdie putt from about 8 feet away after Ochoa briefly drew even with a tap-in from an inch.

So it went Friday in the Michelob Ultra Open, where sometimes driving rain and two rain delays did little to put a damper on a friendly duel between the game\'s best players.

Sorenstam followed a 64 with a 66, leaving her at 12 under, three better...

By HO (AP)

Bond has been posted for the leader of an apocalyptic sect in northeastern New Mexico and he is expected to be released from jail shortly.

The clerk of the magistrate court in Clayton says a $55,000 bond has been posted for Wayne Bent and he\'ll likely leave jail Friday afternoon.

Bent is charged with sex crimes against underage female followers. His first court appearance was Thursday, and bond was lowered from $500,000.

A spokeswoman at magistrate court says Bent\'s son, Jeff Bent, posted the bond.

By Gregory Bull (AP)

Mexico\'s top security official blamed organized crime for the brazen killing of an acting federal police chief, saying Friday his death shows a nationwide crackdown is hurting gangs.

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said authorities would not be deterred by an onslaught of attacks against police as he presided over the funeral of Edgar Gomez Millan and two other federal officers killed this week.

Millan, 41, was shot 10 times early Thursday by gunmen who waited for him inside the courtyard of his Mexico City apartment complex. His two bodyguards were...

By Susan Walsh (AP)

Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton\'s once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.

Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, including Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter.

In addition, the American Federation of Government Employees announced its support for Obama. The union claims about 600,000 members who work in the...

By Aaron Harris (AP)

The 2008 Dodge Challenger began rolling off the assembly line Thursday into an uncertain market that could embrace the nostalgic muscle car or reject it for its gas-guzzling excess.

Chrysler LLC celebrated the launch at its 2.95 million square foot Brampton Assembly Plant, where the Challenger shares the assembly line with the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans.

Chrysler has already sold all 6,400 of the 2008 Challengers it plans to make for the U.S. market as well as several hundred for buyers in Mexico and Canada. Spokeswoman Kristin Tyll said Chrysler will begin taking...

By Alexandre Meneghini (AP)

Mexico\'s acting federal police chief was shot dead early Thursday outside his home _ a brazen attack as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after opening the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later at a hospital.

President Felipe Calderon\'s government said Millan had played a vital role in the country\'s fight against organized crime...

By MARK HUMPHREY (AP)

Trace Adkins, a former oil roughneck, has written and recorded a song called \"Black Gold\" that will open an upcoming truTV series of the same name.

The show, which premieres 10 p.m. EDT June 18, follows three drilling crews in their quest for oil in West Texas.

Before he was a country star, Adkins, 46, of Sarepta, La., worked as a roughneck and derrickman on offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

\"Trace knows that the men featured in `Black Gold\' are drilling for oil on our soil, an important but dangerous job, where loss of life or limb is not uncommon. His...

By Alexandre Meneghini (AP)

Mexico\'s acting federal police chief was shot dead Thursday outside his home _ a brazen attack that comes as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after he opened the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later in a hospital.

President Felipe Calderon\'s government said Millan played a vital role in the country\'s battle against organized...

By Eduardo Verdugo (AP)

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that he has seen an improvement in security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Problems remain, but increased policing by state and federal authorities has significantly helped, said Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and former Democratic presidential candidate.

\"In my opinion, there has been a dramatic improvement in the last two months,\" Richardson told reporters in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua, across from New Mexico, where he met with Chihuahua Gov. Jesus Reyes Baeza.

Richardson said he would ask U.S....

By Paul Sakuma (AP)

\"Grand Theft Auto IV\" raked in more than $500 million in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide, the video game\'s publisher said Wednesday.

The highly anticipated title from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. has received stellar ratings along with criticism for its violent content. The game follows Eastern European immigrant-turned gangster on crime missions around a fictional Liberty City.

The title sold about 3.6 million units on April 29, its opening day, bringing in roughly $310 million. This is $10 million more than what Microsoft...

By Elise Amendola (AP)

Barack Obama\'s march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates Wednesday, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton _ even as their primary marathon staggered on.

She added two superdelegates herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish.

There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory. Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates _ the party elders and other \"superdelegates\" _ have...

By KIN CHEUNG (AP)

Coldplay and ESPN are teaming up on a soccer marketing campaign.

The rock band\'s music will be featured in promotions for ESPN\'s coverage next month of the European Championship soccer tournament, the sports network announced Wednesday.

ESPN agreed to incorporate music from Coldplay\'s new release, \"Viva La Vida,\" into game and studio production. The quadrennial tournament is scheduled for June 7-29 in Austria and Switzerland. The CD is due out June 12.

ESPN and ABC, both owned by The Walt Disney Co., have broadcast rights for the tournament in the U.S., Canada,...

By Mark Humphrey (AP)

Picture the Manhattan skyline filled with Nike swooshes. Or the golden arches of McDonald\'s gently drifting over Los Angeles.

A special-effects entrepreneur from Alabama has come up with a way to fill the sky with foamy clouds as big as 4 feet across and shaped like corporate logos _ Flogos, as he calls them.

Francisco Guerra, who\'s also a former magician, developed a machine that produces tiny bubbles filled with air and a little helium, forms the foam into shapes and pumps them into the sky.

The Walt Disney Co. will use one of the machines next month to send clouds...

By (AP)

The deadly cyclone that ripped into Myanmar poses a threat to the stranglehold on power of the country\'s ruling generals, becoming a force for change more powerful than huge pro-democracy demonstrations and international sanctions.

Few people think revolution is in the air, not while battered survivors are still burying the thousands of dead.

By an accident of timing, the cyclone hit just a week before Saturday\'s referendum on a new constitution. The junta hopes its proposed charter passes smoothly despite opposition from feisty democracy activists, but now it may face...

By HO (AP)

New Mexico state police say they\'ve arrested the leader of an apocalyptic church on sex charges.

State police spokesman Peter Olson says 66-year-old Wayne Bent was picked up without incident Tuesday at the remote former ranch where he and his followers live. He\'s facing three charges of criminal sexual contact.

Bent goes by the name of Michael Travesser and claims to be the Messiah. State child welfare officials say there have been allegations of inappropriate contact between Bent and children at the northeastern New Mexico compound.

Bent has acknowledged having sex...

By John Russell (AP)

College teams that consistently underperform in the classroom are getting hit harder by the NCAA.

Nearly 150 college teams face possible scholarship losses next season and 26 others are in danger of being banned from postseason play if they don\'t improve next year.

The NCAA\'s annual academic progress report was released Tuesday. It showed more than 700 teams fell short of the mandated cut score.

But only 218 were penalized with warning letters, potential reductions in scholarships and practice time and warned they face possible postseason bans. Some were granted...

By Manuel Balce Ceneta (AP)

President Bush wished a gathering of dinner guests a \"Feliz Cinco de Maya\" Monday in his final White House celebration of the Mexican holiday _ slightly erring in his Spanish, but serving up a reminder of how he snared Hispanic votes in the last presidential election.

While the heated immigration debate has caused some strain between the United States and Mexico, Bush was more conciliatory Monday. He said Cinco de Mayo is a chance to prove the two countries are \"connected by more than geography.\" He referred correctly to the day, Cinco de Mayo, in other parts of his brief...

By TROY MABEN (AP)

Vacationers will have fewer places to pitch their tents this summer in Colorado and Wyoming, and they can place the blame on bugs.

The U.S. Forest Service has closed some popular campgrounds in the two states because of concern that trees killed by the bark beetles that are ravaging forests across the West could topple onto unsuspecting visitors.

Bark beetles have always been a part of forests in the West, but warming temperatures and an abundance of aging lodgepole pines that haven\'t been thinned by fires have allowed populations of the hungry insects to explode. They now...

By Garry Jones (AP)

For surrogates of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, there was a political horse race Saturday that outpaced the Kentucky Derby in importance.

The Run for the Roses is always a big draw for the rich and powerful, and prominent supporters for both Democratic presidential candidates rubbed elbows with them at Churchill Downs.

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe called it a \"great opportunity to network.\"

\"You\'ve got everybody under one roof,\" he said on the Churchill Downs red carpet, where celebrities entered the track. \"This is it for me, it\'s like a...

By (AP)

Thousands of white-clad people marched silently Sunday to protest a surge of drug-related violence in a Mexican city across from Texas where the No. 2 police officer was shot dead.

The crowd of several thousand students, church leaders, businessmen and politicians walked for about four miles (six kilometers) across Ciudad Juarez to a park near a border crossing, breaking the silence in a burst of speeches, dancing and singing.

More than 200 people have been killed so far this year in Ciudad Juarez. The city of 1.3 million across the border from El Paso, Texas, is home base...

By (AP)

There is a legend that the ancient Maya possessed 13 crystal skulls which, when united, hold the power of saving the Earth _ a tale so strange and fantastic that it inspired the latest Indiana Jones movie.

Experts dismiss the hundreds of existing crystal skulls as fakes that were probably made by colorful antiquities traders in the 19th century. But Mayan priests worship the skulls, even today, and real-life skull hunters still search for them.

The true story of the skulls stretches over continents and hundreds of years, and may be even more extraordinary than the tale...