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The American Hoedowners, a group of 16 cloggers from Central Kentucky, leaves Monday for Ireland, where the troupe will dance over the next two weeks at two clogging festivals in the city...

Related topics First Friday jazz seriesJoe's Restaurantvenice Advertisement The First Friday's jazz series continues August 3, 2012, at legendary Joe's restaurant in Venice. Mohr Music presents the series which starts at 9pm and features the Dustbowl Revival. This series features instrumental and vocal artists, internationally recognized players as well as great local talent. Joe's restaurant is located on 1023 Abbot Kinney Boulevard. You can make reservations by calling 310-399-5811 and they are strongly recommended as patio seating is limited. The Dustbowl Revival is based in Venice. Their music blends old school bluegrass, swamp-gospel, jug-band jump blues and hot swing from the...

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up among guests at a wedding hall Saturday in northern Afghanistan, killing 23 people including a prominent ex-Uzbek warlord turned lawmaker who was the father of the bride. Afghan men inspect a damaged wedding hall that was the site of a bombing in Samangan province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July, 14, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday in a wedding hall in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 23 people including a prominent warlord-turned-politician and three Afghan security force officials, in an attack that deals a setback to efforts to unify the nation's ethnic factions, Afghan officials said. (AP...

Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — An artist has removed a halo from a mural of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno amid the school's child sex-abuse scandal. Michael Pilato had put a halo over Paterno's image after the beloved coach's death in January, but said he felt he had to remove it Saturday after a report that Paterno, former university president Graham Spanier and others buried allegations of child sex-abuse against ex-assistant Jerry Sandusky. Paterno's family denies the claim. Pilato added a large blue ribbon, instead, on Paterno's lapel symbolizing support for child...

GULFPORT, MISS. â€" David Potts Sr. and 400 other surviving Montford Point Marines, the nation's first group of black Marines, have been honored at the U.S. Marine Barracks in Washington. The Marines, all of whom were well into their 80s, were the nation's first group of black Marines who served in a segregated military during World War II. The...

MADRID - Spain's Interior Ministry says a suspected member of Basque separatist group ETA has been arrested in Scotland. The 36-year-old man was...

JAY REEVES Associated Press= BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Uzbek man who pleaded guilty to plotting to assassinate President Barack Obama was never admitted to Columbia University's medical school, the university said Saturday, contrary to defense claims before he was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. The disparity could be a misunderstanding linked to language problems, a defense attorney said, but it also could raise questions about Ulugbek Kodirov's credibility and the information he is giving to investigators of terror threats against the United States. A federal judge sentenced Kodirov, 22, on Friday for plotting to kill Obama. Kodirov could have gotten a sentence twice as long,...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Authorities in the Dominican Republic say a Swiss businessman who...

CHICAGO — The Chicago Tribune has suspended its use of local news provider Journatic after discovering plagiarized and fabricated material in one of its stories, an announcement that was quickly followed by the resignation Saturday of one of the news service's senior staffers. Journatic's head of editorial, Mike Fourcher, said on his blog that he had resigned because of disagreements with senior staff over "ethical and management issues." The Chicago-based company has come under scrutiny...

BRADLEY KLAPPER Associated Press= CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used her first meeting with Egypt's new Islamist president to press Mohammed Morsi to start a dialogue with military leaders as a way of preserving the country's transition to democracy. Clinton voiced support for the "full transition" to civilian rule at a time when Morsi's backers are in a political standoff with the generals who have ruled since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. Resolving the impasse "requires dialogue and compromise, real politics," Clinton said. She said the United State is doing all it can to "support the democratically elected government and to help make it a...

ADDIS ADABA (Reuters) - The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan held a face to face meeting at a hotel in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Adaba on Saturday, their first such meeting since the two countries came close to war in April over a border dispute and oil revenues. The...

NEW YORK - A scathing report accusing Penn State coach Joe Paterno and other top university officials of hiding what they knew about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children is another crippling blow to a school and football program already reeling from one of the worst scandals in sports history. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on the Sandusky scandal charges that Paterno and other Penn State officials buried the allegations and allowed Sandusky to prey on boys for years. Despite the report's revelations, public relations professionals and industry observers say its release was a necessary step as the university tries to regain public trust. In the wake of Freeh's report, Penn...

National Forces Alliance wants to rebuild country but faces resistance from the Justice and Construction party Jibril must still deal with the paradox that his support came evenly from communities that were both pro- and anti-Gaddafi in last year's war. Photograph by EPA Mahmoud Jibril, leader of the moderate pro-business National Forces Alliance that swept to a landslide victory against the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya's elections, is trying to assemble a ruling coalition this weekend, even as the last votes remain to be counted....

IT MAY be October before police can confirm whether a small human skull found in woods in the US state of North Carolina belongs to the murdered Australian schoolgirl Zahra Baker. The...

CAIRO - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used her first meeting with Egypt's new Islamist president to press Mohammed Morsi to start a dialogue with military leaders as a way of preserving the country's transition to democracy. Clinton voiced support for the "full transition" to civilian rule at a time when Morsi's backers are in a political standoff with the generals who have ruled since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. Resolving the impasse "requires dialogue and compromise, real politics," Clinton said. She said the United States is doing all it can to "support the democratically elected government and to help make it a success in delivering results for the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Four letters from a courageous South Carolina soldier who tried to tell his family about the fearsome battles that raged around him in Vietnam were returned to his family Saturday, some 40 years after he was killed. Military representatives of the Army's 101st Airborne Division presented the letters from Sgt. Steve Flaherty of Columbia to his uncle Kenneth Cannon and sister-in-law Martha Gibbons during a ceremony at the state's memorial honoring Vietnam veterans. Flaherty was killed in combat in Vietnam in 1969. Vietnamese soldiers took the letters after Flaherty's death....

SAO PAULOâ€"Marine biologists and veterinarians say the bodies of more than 500 penguins have washed up...

(Reuters) - An attack in the Syrian village of Tremseh appeared to target the homes of army defectors and activists, and assailants used weapons including artillery and mortars, a statement by the spokesman for the U.N....

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service announced the capture of Vincent Legrend Walters, one of the law enforcement agency's 15 most wanted fugitives, in the resort city of Cancun. Walters, 45, was wanted on kidnapping, murder and drug charges stemming from a 1988 San Diego,...

JERUSALEM - An Israeli protester set himself alight during a rally Saturday night marking the anniversary of a wave of demonstrations that swept the country to protest the high cost of living and other social issues, authorities said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man in his 40s poured flammable liquid over himself at a protest in Tel Aviv and set...

BERLIN — A German news weekly has reported the European Union's bailout fund is working on a €100 billion ($120 billion) package for Spanish banks. Der Spiegel...

GDANSK, Polandâ€"Polish officials unveiled a statue of former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II on Saturday, honoring two men widely credited in this Eastern European country with helping to topple communism 23 years ago. The statue was unveiled in Gdansk, the birthplace of Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement, in the presence of about 120 former Solidarity activists, many of whom were imprisoned in the 1980s for their roles in organizing or taking part in...

(Reuters) - Penn State football coach Joe Paterno began trying to amend his contract in January 2011, the same month he learned that his former assistant coach was under criminal investigation for child sex abuse, The New York Times reported on Saturday. By August 2011, university officials had reached an agreement with Paterno to reward him with a $3 million bonus if he retired at the end of the 2011 season, one season short of his existing contract, which would have expired at the end of 2012, according to the newspaper. Jerry Sandusky The Pennsylvania State University Sex Crimes The New York Times...

TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer= SAO PAULO (AP) — Gui Lin's parents thought she would start eating better if she played a sport in school, so she picked table tennis. She was 7 years old when she made her choice. And it changed her life. At 9, she left home to practice full time with a state team in interior China. At 12, she moved to Brazil to play the sport. A few months ago, at 18, she earned Brazilian citizenship and made the country's national team. A few weeks from now, she will be fulfilling her dream of participating in the Olympics. Nearly every big decision in Gui's life has been related to the sport she fell in love with as a kid, the sport she began playing because her parents...

BEN HUBBARD Associated Press= BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. observers investigating Syria's latest reported mass killing say they found signs of a heavy assault that targeted specific homes of regime opponents. The observers' statement Saturday was the first outsiders' look in the village of Tremseh, where activists say dozens were killed this week by government troops. The team says it could not yet confirm the toll. The observer team says that it found pools of blood and blood splatters in several homes in Tremseh, along with bullet casings. It says the attack "appeared targeted at specific groups and houses, mainly of army defectors and activists." It says it confirmed an attack took place Thursday...

PARIS (Reuters) - Senior Credit Agricole executive Xavier Musca said on Saturday he would take steps to fight back legally against accusations of influence-peddling during his time as a top official under former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The launch of a preliminary investigation into Musca on Friday followed a series of graft allegations in France that prompted President Francois Hollande to pledge in a Bastille Day interview to clean up and modernize politics. Christine Lagarde Bastille Day Nicolas Sarkozy...

SHARE AND DISCUSS Tweet ADDIS ADABA: The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan held a face to face meeting at a hotel...

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli protester set himself alight during a rally Saturday night marking the anniversary of a wave of demonstrations that swept the country to protest the high cost of living and other social issues, authorities said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man in his 40s poured flammable liquid over himself at a protest in Tel Aviv and set himself on fire. He was...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Authorities in the Dominican Republic say a Swiss...

When Cliff Mass flew in from New York last week, he couldn't believe how hazy the Seattle sky looked. "As I descended down into Sea-Tac, I said, 'What the hell is going on here?' " he said. The unlikely culprit: Smoke from dozens of wildfires burning in Siberia, which has climbed into the jet stream in recent weeks and found its way to the Pacific Northwest. Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, said the smoke - which is not a health risk - also may be the reason behind the recent series of spectacular sunsets. The smoke's...

SAO PAULO - Brazilian police say at least 1 million evangelical Christians are taking part in Saturday's annual "March for...