ROGERS CITY, Mich. – A fire raced through a home in rural northern Michigan before dawn Tuesday, killing a man and his four children and sending the children’s mother to the hospital, authorities said. Meanwhile, three children were believed dead in a house fire in Sidney, Ohio, about 75 miles …

NEW YORK – What may be the cheapest rooms in Manhattan are made especially for squirrels. A self-appointed protector of squirrels has paid to have soft-pine boxes made for the critters and had them placed in trees at City Hall Park. Mark Garvin said he paid a “couple hundred dollars” …

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea praised Fidel Castro on Saturday as a close ally who did not allow U.S. sanctions and a blockade to hinder his leadership of Cuba. “The Korean people have regarded Fidel Castro as the closest comrade-in-arms and comrade, and will make positive efforts to steadily …

WASHINGTON – An advocacy group on Monday sought a criminal probe of the White House over millions of possibly missing e-mails, saying someone may have deliberately deleted them to conceal involvement in a potential crime. In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington …

A water main leak forced roads to close in West Los Angeles Thursday after a landslide threatened nearby homes and businesses. Power lines were arching near Montana Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard, but there were no injuries reported, Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey told FOX News. Trees, dirt …

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least nine people, including three soldiers, were killed on Saturday in heavy fighting in the capital between insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, said witnesses. Insurgents fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at Somali soldiers on patrol in the southern part of Mogadishu, said Mumin Mohamed …

SLIDELL, La. – A custodian at an elementary school has been booked with raping two 10-year-old boys at the school, Slidell Police said Monday. Dino Jay Schwertz, 41, of Slidell, was arrested Saturday after an investigation into what officials first suspected was a bullying incident at the school. Schwertz was …

BAGHDAD – American troops and Iraqis unearthed 14 badly decomposed bodies in a mass grave northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday. The site of the grisly discovery was near Muqdadiyah, an area that has seen frequent fighting between American troops and Sunni insurgents led by Al Qaeda in …

NASSAU, Bahamas – A Bahamas jury ruled Monday that Anna Nicole Smith’s son died from an accidental drug overdose, just like his mother. The seven-member jury, which deliberated for less than two hours, recommended no criminal charges in the September 2006 death of 20-year-old Daniel Smith. The son of the …

SAN LUIS, Colo. – Photos posted on the Internet showed three Mormon missionaries mocking a Catholic shrine and holding the broken head of a statue of a saint there, a church official said. Costilla County Sheriff Gilbert Martinez said deputies on Monday were beginning to investigate whether the men vandalized …