AOL News

Mike Adamucci, AP

Nation Celebrates
234th Birthday

Marc Beja | AP

Independence Day comes to a sizzling finale as bursts of red, white and blue fill the spacious skies.

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How Rock Bands Got Backstage Passes to See Gitmo Detainees

By S.I. Rosenbaum | AOL News

More than 400 entertainers who were performing for the troops at Guantanamo Bay got behind-the-scenes access to the base's most notorious attraction: the prison.

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AP Photo/Dave Martin Quiet Times

Fourth of July Tourism Hit Hard by Oil Spill

By Michelle Ruiz | AOL News

Beaches once packed with bathing suit-clad tourists in the Gulf of Mexico are now filled with cleanup crews in hazmat gear.
Plus: Rough Weather Curtails Cleanup Work

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Dusan Vranic, AP Time Running Out

Timeline Questioned as Petraeus Takes Command

By Bruce Drake | Politics Daily

Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham are asking if the general has enough time to get the job done.

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The Telegraph Herald / AP Dangerous Stampede

Horses Bolt During Iowa Parade; 1 Killed, 23 Hurt

Two runaway horses stampede through a crowd at a Fourth of July parade in a small Mississippi River town in Iowa.

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Greg Allen / Rex USA Pending Nuptials

NY Hamlet Abuzz Over Chelsea Clinton Wedding

By Michelle Ruiz | AOL News

Residents and business owners in Rhinebeck, N.Y., are buzzing with the news they will host the former first daughter's big day.

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Heidi Gutman, Getty Images Hot Property

Notorious Call Girl Ashley Dupre Changing Career

By Michelle Ruiz | AOL News

Eliot Spitzer's former escort Ashley Dupre has a new career plan -- and it has nothing to do with sex. Now she wants to sell real estate.

Full Story »

Hussein Malla, AP Religious Figure Dies

Shiite Muslims Mourn Death of Top Cleric in Lebanon

By Linda Gradstein | AOL News

Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a revered Shiite cleric known for his anti-American views, dies at 75.

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The Spectrum

Toyota Starts Recall in Japan Over Engine Defect
TOKYO (July 4) %u2014 Toyota has started recalling Lexus and Crown luxury vehicles in Japan over an engine defect in the latest setback for the...
Fireworks Follow Sun-Scorched July 4 Festivals
NEW YORK (AP) %u2014 The nation%27s largest fireworks show lit up the skies in a burst of red, white and blue over the Hudson River straddling New...
DEA: Seized Submarine Quantum Leap For Narcos
BOGOTA, Colombia (July 4) %u2014 A 100-foot (33-meter), twin-screw diesel submarine seized at a jungle shipyard in Ecuador marks a quantum, if...
NYC Airport Terminal Reopens After False Alarm
NEW YORK (July 4) %u2014 A terminal at New York City%27s JFK Airport has been evacuated due to a bomb scare that turned out to be a false alarm.
JFK Terminal 1 Evacuated Due to Bomb Scare False Alarm
JFK International Airport in New York City was partially evacuated this evening due to a suspicious package. The portion evacuated was said to be...
NY Hamlet Abuzz Over Chelsea Clinton Wedding
(July 4) -- Residents and business owners in Rhinebeck, N.Y. are buzzing with the news that their quaint, upstate New York hamlet will host the...
Quake With Magnitude of 6.3 Rattles Japan
TOKYO (July 4) %u2014 A quake with a magnitude of 6.3 jolted northern Japan early Monday, but there was no danger of a tsunami, the Japan...
5 Killed in West Texas Air Ambulance Crash
ALPINE, Texas (July 4) %u2014 An air ambulance has crashed shortly after takeoff from a West Texas airport, killing all five people aboard.%0A
Horses Bolt During Iowa Parade; 1 Killed, 23 Hurt
BELLEVUE, Iowa (July 4) -- Two runaway horses injured 24 people at a Fourth of July parade in a small Mississippi River town in Iowa on Sunday after...
Mexicans Vote in Elections Besieged by Drug Violence
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (July 4) %u2014 More than a dozen Mexican states held elections Sunday after campaigning besieged by assassinations and...
Fourth of July Tourism Hit Hard by Oil Spill
(July 4) -- Hotel occupancies are down and disappointment over the oil spill is high this Fourth of July in the Gulf of Mexico, where beaches once...
Fireworks Follow Sun-Scorched July 4 Festivals
NEW YORK (July 4) %u2014 The nation%27s largest fireworks show lit up the skies in a burst of red, white and blue over the Hudson River straddling...
Exit Polls: Komorowski Takes Polish Presidency
WARSAW, Poland (July 4) -- Interim president Bronislaw Komorowski appeared to have held off a last-minute surge from the identical twin brother of...
Kobayashi Arrested at Coney Island Hot Dog Contest
(July 2) -- Takeru Kobayashi is arrested after rushing the stage at Nathan%27s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. Joey Chestnut won the...
Blasts Mar Biden's Call for Unity in Iraq
(July 4) -- The two Iraqi leaders vying to become the nation%27s next prime minister will get personal pleas Sunday from Vice President Joe Biden to...
Timeline Questioned as Petraeus Takes Command
Gen. David Petraeus formally assumed command Sunday of the combined U.S.-international force in Afghanistan, saying that the effort to turn back the...
Rough Weather Curtails Some Gulf Cleanup Work
NEW ORLEANS (July 4) -- Cleanup crews across the Gulf of Mexico surveyed damage done by last week%27s hurricane while contending Sunday with choppy...
Notorious Call Girl Ashley Dupre Changing Career
(Jul. 4) -- Notorious call girl Ashley Dupre has a new career plan -- and it has nothing to do with sex.
Nadal Takes Out Berdych for Wimbledon Title
(July 4) -- World No. 1 Rafael Nadal defeated No. 12-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in Sunday%27s Wimbledon final 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. It is...
Prehistoric Fossils Found in Tennessee Backyard
While digging a swimming pool in the backyard of a Tennessee home, contractors discovered the bones of a prehistoric mammal, possibly a trilophodon.
Shiite Muslims Mourn Death of Top Cleric in Lebanon
(July 4) -- Shiite Muslims the world over are mourning the death of Lebanon%27s Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died today after a...
Embattled GOP Chief Steele Gets No Support From McCain
(July 4) -- Criticism of Michael Steele by fellow Republicans continued Sunday with Sen. John McCain, the GOP standbearer in 2008, saying that Steele...
Calvin Coolidge Has Become Hero to Tea Partiers
(July 4) -- Though he doesn%27t get much respect from historians, Calvin Coolidge and his anti-tax views get a lot love from the activists.
Embattled GOP Chief Steele Gets No Support From McCain
(July 4) -- The embattled head of the GOP isn%27t getting an endorsement from Sen. John McCain.