Obama honors D-Day’s heroes on anniversary of invasion that propelled Allies to WWII victory

OMAHA BEACH, France — Recalling the “unimaginable hell” of D-Day suffering, President Barack Obama paid tribute Saturday to the against-all-odds Allied landings that broke Nazi Germany’s grip on France and turned the tide of history.

Fewer veterans of the ‘Greatest Generation’ around for D-Day memorial, but memories vivid

NEW ORLEANS — It’s “A Gathering of the Greatest Generation” — though this year only a small group of that era’s aging heroes will commemorate the invasion of France at Normandy 65 years ago.

Muster up! Golden Age Games give aging veterans a chance to compete, share memories

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — William Trumbly was in combat almost from the moment he hit the ground on Normandy Beach in 1944 shortly after D-Day until he was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge. When the first shots were fired in his direction, he sought divine intervention.

For D-Day vets, an emotional return to Normandy to receive France’s highest honor

MACUNGIE, Pa. — Nathan Kline wrapped a white monogrammed scarf around his neck and placed a bulletproof prayer book in his left shirt pocket. He’d followed the same routine for all of his previous bombing runs over Europe, but the teenager from Allentown, Pa., knew there was nothing routine about this mission.

Ten-hut! Public school districts opening military academies to reach out to at-risk students

ATLANTA — The U.S. Marine Corps is wooing public school districts across the country, expanding a network of military academies that has grown steadily despite criticism that it’s a recruiting ploy.

AP News in Brief

AP source: Obama prepared to accept Taliban role in Afghanistan, focusing on al-Qaida instead

On anniversary of invasion, National D-Day Memorial risks financial ruin, possible closure

BEDFORD, Va. — On the eve of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the foundation that runs the National D-Day Memorial is on the brink of financial ruin.

Dark horse rally: Conservative rival chips away at Ahmadinejad’s base in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran — Some of the biggest election day tests for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not just come from his pro-reform challengers, but from within the conservative ranks that pushed him to victory four years ago.

Prince Harry to get time for fun in NYC charity polo match on 2nd day of official US trip

NEW YORK — Prince Harry has been all business on his first official trip to the United States, but he’ll have an opportunity for fun before wrapping up his two-day visit to New York.

Oklahoma drugstore shooting stirs debate over self-defense, turns a pharmacist into folk hero

OKLAHOMA CITY — Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore’s security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor.

Berlin honors veterans of airlift that broke Soviet blockade, a key moment in Cold War

BERLIN — A World War II-era cargo plane dropped hundreds of boxes of chocolate-covered raisins on tiny parachutes into a crowd of tens of thousands on Tuesday, recreating a highlight of the operation that kept West Berlin out of Soviet hands.

Berlin marks 60th anniversary of success of Berlin Airlift, Cold War turning-point

BERLIN — Berlin is paying tribute to the veterans of the 1948-49 airlift, marking the 60th anniversary of a key moment in the Cold War when the allied effort to supply the city by air forced the Soviets to lift their blockade.

Valentin Varennikov, Soviet Afghan war general and hardline coup supporter, dies, vets say

MOSCOW — Retired Gen. Valentin Varennikov, a hawkish World War II veteran who directed the Soviet war in Afghanistan and joined the rebellion against Mikhail Gorbachev that sped the collapse of the Soviet Union, died in Moscow on Wednesday, colleagues said. He was 85.

‘No one talks about Iraq anymore’: Shipping off to a waning war still means struggles at home

HAMLET, N.C. — Spc. Jobel Barbosa had spent the past hour with his family in a parking lot after a public ceremony marking his unit’s deployment to a war that’s coming to an end. It was time to go.

Former top US commander in Afghan takes off uniform to become next ambassador to Kabul

WASHINGTON — The designated U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, retired from the Army on Tuesday to become one of the few generals in American history to switch directly from soldier to diplomat.

Fla. sheriff: 2 deputies killed by soldier had no warning confrontation would turn deadly

NICEVILLE, Fla. — Two deputies from a troubled sheriff’s office in Florida had no warning a confrontation with a National Guard soldier accused of beating his wife would turn deadly, the sheriff said.

Fla. sheriff’s office says soldier killed 2 deputies after being shocked with stun gun

NICEVILLE, Fla. — More than 300 employees of a troubled Sheriff’s Office in Florida gathered Sunday night to hear first hand how two of their own were killed a day earlier by a National Guard soldier they were trying to arrest for beating his wife.

DOJ interrogation memos approved waterboarding, but left unanswered: Does torture work?

WASHINGTON — Interrogators have centuries of experience extracting information from the unwilling. Medieval inquisitors hanged heretics from ceilings. Salem magistrates used fire to elicit witchcraft confessions. And CIA officers waterboarded terrorism suspects in clandestine prisons.