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NEW YORK – Applications for home mortgages fell last week, its third consecutive drop, as refinancing waned and interest rates reached four-month highs, industry group figures showed Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association (search) said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity fell 0.9 percent to 745.0 in the week …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd (search) sought to modernize his desert kingdom while balancing change against tribal tradition and orthodox Islam, but a stroke a decade ago left him a ruler in name only during tumultuous times for the world’s biggest oil producer. His death Monday came …

WASHINGTON – An American accused in court papers of having ties to Usama bin Laden (search) is now working for the Iraqi government’s Foreign Ministry, U.S. officials and a former CIA counterterrorism chief say. Iraqi-born Tarik A. Hamdi (search) was the “American contact” for one of bin Laden’s front organizations …