Carrie Prejean will file a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials for stripping her of the title earlier this year, her attorney announced Monday. "We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," her attorney, Charles LiMandri, said in a news release. The complaint will be filed in Superior Court of California against Miss California USA officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, as well as publicist Roger Neal. ...

Brazil has confirmed 557 deaths caused by H1N1 flu, the highest total in the world, the nation's Health Ministry says. The United States has counted 522 fatalities through Thursday, and nearly 1,800 people had died worldwide through August 13, U.S. and global health officials said. In terms of mortality rate, which considers flu deaths in terms of a nation's population, Brazil ranks seventh, and the United States is 13th, the Brazilian Ministry of Health said in a news release Wednesday. ...

Starting Tuesday, many "robocalls" from telemarketers will be illegal. Businesses that try to push products on consumers with automated and unsolicited calls will face fines of up to $16,000 per call, according to the Federal Trade Commission. "American consumers have made it crystal clear that few things annoy them more than the billions of commercial telemarketing robocalls they receive every year," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a news release. Calls from politicians, public service announcements and "informational" calls will ...

Snow Leopard, the highly anticipated new operating system for the Mac, will be released ahead of schedule Friday, Apple announced Monday. The Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to the current Leopard system for $29 and can be pre-ordered now, the company said. "Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever, and we're happy to get it to users earlier than expected," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering. "For ...

The film about Michael Jackson's final three months, which uses video of rehearsals for his concert comeback, will run in theaters worldwide for two weeks only beginning October 28, according to Sony Pictures. Tickets for "Michael Jackson: This Is it" go on sale Sunday, September 27, Sony said in a news release Thursday. "Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, and genius as he creates and perfects his final show," Sony said. ...

The Afghan capital, Kabul, came under attack Tuesday, two days before national elections. The violence included a rocket attack that damaged the presidential palace and a deadly suicide strike. The suicide bombing targeted a coalition military convoy on Jalalabad Road, a major thoroughfare in Kabul. The blast killed seven civilians and wounded 53 others, a defense ministry spokesman told CNN. Two United Nations staff members were among those killed and another was wounded, U.N. special representative in Afghanistan Kai ...

A black politician campaigning in eastern Germany has become the victim of a racist campaign by a far-right party. The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) says it is trying to persuade Zeca Schall, a German citizen who came from Angola 21 years ago, to leave the country. Schall is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, the party led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and has been named as a CDU expert for the integration of minorities. The NPD's ...

And now, the rejects. Three months after the White House released a single photograph taken during a photo op of "Air Force One" flying over New York -- a flight that caused panic on the streets below -- the U.S. Air Force on Friday released the remaining 145 photos taken during the flight. The photographs show the Boeing VC-25 -- a military version of a 747 -- making three passes by the Statue of Liberty, at one point accompanied by ...

Complete this sentence: In the event of a loss of cabin pressure ... If you guessed, "oxygen masks will drop from above," you are not alone. Because the federally mandated preflight safety announcement is about as well known as the pledge of allegiance to many travelers, they immediately tune it out. So airlines are getting creative to grab passengers' attention. According to a 2001 National Transportation Safety Board study, 69 percent of passengers who completed the survey did not watch ...

An additional 440,000 Honda vehicles are being added to a recall initially announced in November to repair a potential defect in airbag inflation systems, American Honda Motor Co. said Friday. The recall involves driver-side airbags in certain 2001-02 Honda Accords, 2001 Civics and 2002-03 Acura TLs, the company said in a news release. The affected vehicles will require the replacement of the steering-wheel-mounted airbag inflator. "In some vehicles, airbag inflators can produce over-pressurization of the driver's [front] airbag inflator mechanism ...