A bad hair day may soon be easily fixed with the pop of a pill, London’s Daily Mail reported. Australian researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research have discovered a “curly hair gene,” which could lead to new hair treatments that don’t involve using damaging hot irons. The trichohyalin …

MIAMI – The Atlantic hurricane season will be less active than originally predicted, government forecasters said Thursday, after the first two months of the half-year stretch passed without any named storms developing. Updating its May outlook, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a warmer weather pattern called an El …

ROME – Italian police said Monday they are hunting for burglars who stole euro11 million ($15.5 million) in cash and jewelry from the hotel room of a Saudi princess. Police said the princess was not in her room at the luxury Colonna Pevero Hotel in Porto Cervo, a glitzy resort …

WILMINGTON, Del. – Lawyers for the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. say the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could result in either a restructuring or a sale. A Delaware judge on Wednesday approved first-day motions in the case, allowing the Chicago-based owner of the Chicago Sun-Times to pay employees and vendors …

DETROIT – General Motors Corp has asked for $2.6 billion of low interest government loans to support the development of three new hybrid vehicles, according to a business plan update released on Wednesday. GM’s loan request, which would help develop two spinoffs from its all-electric Chevrolet Volt, raises to $10.3 …

BEMIDJI, Minn. – With their school still a crime scene, officials at a Minnesota high school reached out to students traumatized in the wake of the nation’s worst school shooting in six years. “Kids, if you’re out there listening, please, we’ll be there for you. Come back to school and …

GENEVA – The U.N. human rights office on Tuesday welcomed reforms proposed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search), saying that it is currently ill-equipped to respond to rights abuses around the world. Several of Annan’s recommendations, such as replacing the much criticized U.N. Human Rights Commission (search) with a Human Rights …

ROME – With thousands cheering him on, Pope John Paul II (search) returned to the Vatican (search) on Sunday, two weeks after undergoing throat surgery to ease his breathing problems and hours after greeting pilgrims in a raspy voice that raised hopes he would fully recover. The 84-year-old pope crossed …

NEW YORK – Serial killers really do live among us. The latest example may be Dennis Rader (search), the accused “BTK Killer,” who allegedly tortured and killed strangers in the Wichita, Kan., area from 1974 to 1991. He was charged this week with 10 counts of first-degree murder. If Rader …

HOMOSASSA, Fla. – The registered sex offender who authorities say confessed to kidnapping and slaying 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford (search) was returned to Florida in shackles Sunday and the little girl’s father said he wished he could confront the killer. John Evander Couey (search) was booked early Sunday on a probation …