LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A wildfire that burned for seven days in Southern California in October was caused by human activity and was probably deliberately set, investigators say.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A Southern California man has been charged with creating an alleged Ponzi scheme to distribute NASCAR clothing.

SACRAMENTO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The University of Phoenix has agreed to pay $67.5 million to settle a suit by two whistle-blowers over its recruitment policy, federal officials said Tuesday.

SRINAGER, India, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Protesters in the Indian-administered Kashmir state Tuesday accused Indian federal investigators of a coverup in the investigation into the deaths of two women.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The police chief and two officers in a small Pennsylvania town have been charged with covering up the killing of a Hispanic man, prosecutors said Tuesday.

ELDORADO, Texas, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A resident of a polygamist compound in Texas was convicted Tuesday of sexually assaulting a child, a teenager given to him as a wife.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Cellphones are more like computers than containers, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, meaning police need a warrant to search them.

CHICAGO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The federal government will work to acquire a prison in Thomson, Ill., to house terror suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Cabinet officials said.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted narrowly Tuesday to kill a healthcare reform amendment intended to allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from abroad.

MODESTO, Calif., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A woman who showed up outside a Modesto, Calif., elementary school armed with a large knife was shot to death by city police, authorities said.

EL CAJON, Calif., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A Southern California man faces years in prison for kidnapping a 76-year-old woman, assaulting her and driving her around for hours in her own car.

MIAMI, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- An insurance company has been ordered to pay damages to the families of a jazz musician and the woman he tried to save from drowning in Miami Beach.

QUEON CITY, Philippines, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Nineteen defendants in the 2003 kidnapping and slaying of Coca-Cola executive Betti Sy were sentenced to life in prison in the Philippines Tuesday.

MARTINEZ, Calif., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The top administrators at a San Francisco-area middle school have been suspended while police investigate an alleged rape involving two students.