Conservatives are more secure in their beliefs that they will not go to hell and that they know someone who also won’t suffer eternally, according to a June poll of 10,000 Beliefnet members. Liberals expressed less confidence in their chances of escaping the underworld and in their ability to identify …

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers say they want to know whether a Veterans Affairs employee was being unfairly blamed for losing veterans’ personal information, citing newly disclosed documents showing he had received permission to work on the data from home. “From the start, the VA has acted as if the theft was …

NEW YORK – Lil’ Kim says she’ll be celebrating Independence Day early this year. The rapper, who was sentenced in September to a year and a day in prison for lying about a shootout outside a hip-hop radio station, is being released Monday, the day before July Fourth. “I am …

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan investigation into a road crash involving a U.S. military vehicle that sparked Kabul‘s worst riots in years will start Saturday, and the U.S. military vowed to cooperate, officials said. The U.S. military also is probing Monday’s crash and whether its troops fired into a crowd …

SHANGHAI, China – Doctors on Tuesday successfully removed an unusually well-formed third arm from a 2-month-old Chinese boy. Neither of the boy’s two left arms is fully functional, but doctors decided to remove the one growing closer to his chest after tests showed it was less developed, said Dr. Chen …

GREENBELT, Md. – Nigeria’s vice president sought up to $500,000 and a stake in a technology venture in his country, according to statements Rep. William Jefferson made to an FBI informant that were detailed in court documents filed in a bribery probe of the congressman. Jefferson allegedly told the FBI …

This is a partial transcript of “The Big Story With John Gibson,” June 6, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We are trying to change Iranian behavior here, behavior that would be quite dangerous to the international community. The acquisition …

HANOVER, N.H. – Authorities raided the Dartmouth College fraternity that inspired the 1978 movie “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Court documents regarding search were sealed, and authorities said only that the Alpha Delta house raid Thursday was part of a two-year investigation. Police removed 10 crates and two bags of evidence, …

SALT LAKE CITY – A man who admitted killing his wife and dumping her body in the trash has voluntarily agreed to stop selling autographs and other memorabilia related to his conviction, prison officials said. Mark Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a sentence of six years …

Independence, Mo. – Authorities found what appeared to be bloodstains in two vehicles searched at the apartment of a suburban Kansas City couple accused of killing a woman whose sexual assault and torture was videotaped, according to court documents filed in the case. The couple, Richard D. Davis, 41, and …