SYDNEY, Australia – Planning a vacation to Australia? Consider bringing your own bedsheets. Pest control operators have reported a 1,000 percent increase over the last four years in the number of bed bug infestations reported and treated, according to Stephen Doggett, a head scientist with the Department of Medical Entomology …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A gay-rights uproar in the popular “World of Warcraft” online game has spurred the game’s maker to review its treatment of gay players. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), which draws more than five million players worldwide, was hit by controversy last month after a …

DETROIT – The NFL offended the Queen of Soul, but now all is forgiven. Aretha Franklin, who will perform the national anthem at Sunday’s Super Bowl here in her hometown, initially felt Detroit’s rich musical legacy was being snubbed when the Rolling Stones were chosen as halftime performers. “I didn’t …

TAMPA, Fla. – Appealing for patience, President Bush said Friday that Americans should not be discouraged by setbacks in Iraq and must realize the nation is at war. The president said a “tendency of folks is to say this really isn’t a war. People kind of want to slip to …

UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has called for meetings this week in the Security Council on allegations of corruption and sex abuse in U.N. peacekeeping missions, reigniting a dispute between the world body’s power players and a group of developing nations. The Group of 77, …

It’s been a good week for cowboy watching, since many notables have been climbing in the saddle to take on new challenges: ? The trial began out west for former Enron CEO-gunslingers Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. ? President Bush (a Texan at heart) began his sixth year round-up with …

WASHINGTON – Sending the Internal Revenue Service a “corrected” wage form reporting zero income won’t make your taxes disappear, the tax collectors said Tuesday. This and other ideas for dodging taxes surface each spring when millions of people start working on tax returns. They are schemes that can mean fines …

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Natanz uranium enrichment plant Wednesday, a day after Tehran confirmed it had resumed small-scale enrichment there last week, the official news agency reported. Ahmadinejad’s visit to the plant in central Iran is widely seen as a gesture of support and a morale …

NEW LONDON, Conn. – A senior class cadet at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has been charged with sexually assaulting six female cadets in the campus barracks. Webster M. Smith of Houston, a member of the academy’s football team, was separated from the rest of student population after the first …

As assistant director of information systems for the $700 million Piggly Wiggly grocery chain, Rachel Bolt has been one of the most vocal proponents of biometric retail authentication systems. At Piggly Wiggly, that system — like almost every other retail biometric system being tested today — is based on fingerprints. …