Police in Missouri say a man accused of stealing a ring coughed up the evidence while officers were questioning him. Pictures of the two-carat diamond ring worth about $20,000 were sent to jewelers in the Joplin area after it was reported stolen when someone took the owner's purse from her car on Thursday.

The Joplin Globe reported that the owner of Newton's Jewelry recognized the ring when a man and woman came to his store a few hours after the theft and said they wanted to sell it. L.T. Newton and his staff stalled them and called police.

Police said the man swallowed the ring when officers arrived. While being questioned, he began to cough uncontrollably and eventually coughed up the ring.

The man and woman are charged with receiving stolen property.

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Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com

No matter how improbable the circumstances, the Americans always managed to find a way — or the will — to win.

Beating Italy in a playoff to get the last spot at the World Cup following an upset in regional qualifying. Abby Wambach scoring in the 122nd against Brazil to tie the game. Wambach scoring again to break a tense tie against France in the semifinals.

When they needed it most, however, the resilience that had carried them so far and captivated their country disappeared.

"It's a small difference between success and not success," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said.

In this case, mere minutes.

Homare Sawa scored in the 117th minute to tie it at 2, and Japan beat the Americans 3-1 in a penalty shootout at the Women's World Cup final Sunday night. Shannon Boxx, Carli Lloyd and Tobin Heath all failed to convert penalty kicks, a week after the Americans beat Brazil in similar, nerve-wracking fashion.

When Saki Kumagai buried Japan's last shot to seal their historic win — Japan is the first Asian team to win the World Cup — the Americans stood frozen, as if in shock.

They never imagined they would lose. Never imagined they could lose.

"There are really no words," Wambach said. "We were so close."

Though the U.S. is the two-time defending Olympic champion, it has been 12 years since that watershed team in 1999 won the World Cup. The U.S. hadn't even made it to the final this century until Sunday night.

But this squad was certain it could turn it around, driven by unshakable faith in each other and a refusal to quit until the final whistle blew.

"It's devastating," Megan Rapinoe said. "Just to get to the final and not win it is devastating."

Even when they went to penalty kicks, the Americans still never doubted themselves.

But the Americans lost this game as much as Japan won it. Their struggles to finish, a problem all year, cost them big.

The Americans finished with a 27-14 shot advantage, but Japan had a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal. In the first 35 minutes alone, Lauren Cheney came up short three times, Wambach shook the crossbar and Rapinoe banged one off the near post.

The Americans finally broke through in the second half, with Morgan scoring her second goal of the tournament in the 69th. But with just 10 minutes to go before they could claim the title, the Americans gifted Japan a goal.

Rachel Buehler tied to clear the ball right in front of the goal and knocked it to Ali Krieger, who botched her clearance, too. The ball fell to Aya Miyama, who poked it in from five yards to tie it. Wambach scored in the 104th but, once again, the Americans couldn't hold the lead.

The goal was Wambach's 13th at the World Cup, giving her sole possession of third place on the career scoring list. She also holds the U.S. record, one in front of Michelle Akers.

"This is sports. This is the way it goes," Wambach said. "Unfortunately, it didn't go our way tonight. All of us are devastated."

And not just the players.

Americans had rallied around this team like no other since '99, impressed by its grit and charmed by its spunk. Hollywood celebrities, fellow pro athletes and people who don't care about any sport, let alone soccer, adopted the players. Even President Barack Obama was a fan, taking to Twitter himself on Sunday morning to wish the team well.

"Sorry I can't be there to see you play, but I'll be cheering you on from here. Let's go. — BO."

The Brazil match drew the third-highest ratings ever for a Women's World Cup game, and Wednesday's semifinal victory over France did almost as well — despite being played in the middle of the workday back home. The Empire State Building was bathed in red, white and blue this weekend, along with Japan's colors — red and white.

On Monday, those colors will shine again — without the blue.

Blue, meanwhile, was how U.S. fans felt after the loss.

"Deep down inside, I really thought it was our destiny to win it," Lloyd said. "But maybe it was Japan's."

Two men from Japan have been arrested for allegedly smuggling more than 50 live turtles and tortoises into the United States.

The U.S. attorney's office said Monday that Atsushi Yamagami and Norihide Ushirozako (USHEE'-row-za-ko), both of Osaka, were arrested Friday at Los Angeles International Airport. Both men were charged with one count each of illegally importing wildlife and one count of violating the Endangered Species Act.

If convicted, they both face up to 21 years in prison. They are scheduled to be arraigned January 31.

Federal prosecutors say the turtles and tortoises were hidden in snack food boxes found in a suitcase.

The arrests were tied to an undercover investigation that began last year into a smuggling operation that brought turtles into the United States.

Police said a man charged with robbing someone outside a Pittsburgh-area Subway restaurant left a pretty detailed calling card: a job application he filled out just before the heist. Police in Homestead have yet to release the name of the suspect charged in the robbery about 5 p.m. Sunday in Homestead.

Police said the man applied for a job in the sandwich shop moments before he committed an armed robbery outside the store. Police did not immediately specify who was robbed, or what the suspect allegedly stole.

Calls to the Homestead police department just east of Pittsburgh have not been returned.

Police used the application information to locate the suspect's mother who told them he was heading to Pittsburgh on a bus, where he was arrested.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

Police say a young Florida woman once known for unstoppable hiccups was living a transient life before she was charged this week with murder.

Investigator Mike Kovacsev (koh-VAH-sev) from the St. Petersburg police told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that 19-year-old Jennifer Mee had been living in a series of motels and apartments. Mee was thrust into brief fame as a teenager in 2007 by uncontrollable hiccups that drew national media attention.

Mee and two men were charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the death of a 22-year-old man. Mee allegedly lured the man to a meeting Saturday, where he was robbed and shot.

Mee's constant hiccups stopped on their own after five weeks. Her mother told Tampa radio station WFLZ on Monday that Mee had not lived with her in a year.

A California woman who befriended a homeless woman and let her sleep in her car told police she didn't know where to turn when the woman unexpectedly died — so she drove the body around for months along with a box of baking soda to hide the smell, authorities said Thursday.

Officers with the Costa Mesa police found the unidentified body Monday after getting a call about a car partially blocking a driveway, Sgt. Ed Everett told The Associated Press. When officers arrived, they noticed a stench and saw a leg poking out from a blanket and some clothes, he said.

The partially mummified remains consisted of mostly skin and bones and weighed about 30 pounds, he said.

An autopsy showed no signs of foul play but police are still investigating the role of the car's driver.

The woman driving the car told police she met a homeless woman in a park in nearby Fountain Valley and told her she could sleep in her car, Everett said. But when the woman died in her car 10 months ago, she was afraid to go to the police, he said.

The woman who drives the car, a 57-year-old who herself had fallen on hard times and was living with friends, told officers she had last seen the woman alive in December. It wasn't clear when she discovered the body in the car, he said.

"She felt she would be accused of something and with everything going on in her life, she didn't want to deal with that," Everett said.

Police also found a box of baking soda in the car, which the driver had used to try to cover up the smell, Everett said.

The dead woman is believed to be in her 50s or 60s, with a first name of Signe.

An Ohio judge allowed a pregnant 17-year-old to get married without her parents' consent after the bride-to-be said she could be forced to have an abortion if she stayed at home.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the couple, who each turn 18 in a few months, got married Tuesday after a hearing.

Ohio law requires parents to sign off on the marriage of anyone younger than 18, but judges can waive the requirement. The bride's mother says she's outraged the judge did so without hearing from her or her husband. She also denies pushing her daughter toward abortion.

The groom's father tells The Dispatch that his daughter-in-law felt that she was in an unsafe environment.

The Franklin County judge involved, Alan Acker, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail sent Saturday.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Police got unexpected help talking a suicidal man down from an Atlanta skyscraper on Wednesday when rapper T.I. showed up.

Officer James Polite says the hip-hop star joined the crowd outside the 22-story office building in midtown Wednesday and told officers he wanted to help. Police said the man agreed to come down in exchange for a few minutes face-to-face with T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris.

"I told him it ain't that bad. It'll get better, to put the time and effort into making it better," T.I. said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "I just reminded him know that I know. It looks bad right now, but it can turn around."

T.I. said he heard about the situation on the radio and drove to the building to help. He recorded a video of himself on a cell phone and rescue workers took it to the man to prove the rapper was really there.

The Atlanta native said the man seemed to be "beat up by life."

The suicidal man, whose name wasn't released, was taken to a hospital.

The good deed follows recent legal trouble for the rapper, who is due in court Friday for a parole hearing after being arrested on suspicion of drug offenses last month in Los Angeles. He's on supervised release after spending a year in prison on federal weapons charges.

A federal judge ordered the military Tuesday to immediately stop enforcing its ban on openly gay troops, bringing the 17-year "don't ask, don't tell" policy closer than it has ever been to being abolished.

Justice Department attorneys have 60 days to appeal the injunction but did not say what their next step would be.

President Barack Obama has backed a Democratic effort in Congress to repeal the law, rather than in an executive order or in court.

But U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' injunction leaves the administration with a choice: Continue defending a law it opposes with an appeal, or do nothing, let the policy be overturned, and add an explosive issue to a midterm election with Republicans poised to make major gains.

Department of Justice and Pentagon officials were reviewing the judge's decision and said they had no immediate comment.

"The whole thing has become a giant game of hot potato," said Diane H. Mazur, a legal expert at the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara that supports a repeal. "There isn't anyone who wants to be responsible, it seems, for actually ending this policy.

"The potato has been passed around so many times that I think the grown-up in the room is going to be the federal courts."

A federal judge in Tacoma, Wash., ruled in a different case last month that a decorated flight nurse discharged from the Air Force for being gay should be given her job back.

Phillips, based in Riverside, Calif., issued a landmark ruling on Sept. 9, declaring the policy unconstitutional and asked both sides to give her input about an injunction. The judge said the policy violates due process rights, freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Gay rights groups hailed Phillips' latest move, crediting her with what the administration and Washington have not been able to do.

"For a single federal judge to tell the government to stop enforcing this policy worldwide, this afternoon, with no time to think about it or plan for it, is almost unprecedented," said Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights.

"This judge was sure. There was nothing in her mind that could justify this even for one more day, one more hour."

Gay rights advocates, however, tempered their celebrations, warning service members to avoid revealing their sexuality for fear that the injunction could be tossed out during an appeal and they would be left open to being discharged.

If the government does not appeal, the injunction cannot be reversed and would remain in effect. If it does, it can seek a temporary freeze, or stay, of her ruling. An appeal would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Either side could then take it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Pentagon did not immediately comment, and a Justice Department spokeswoman said the government was reviewing the decision. Meanwhile, a group of 19 Democrat senators signed a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to let the injunction stand.

A "don't ask, don't tell" supporter said Phillips overstepped her bounds.

"The judge ignored the evidence to impose her ill-informed and biased opinion on our military, endangering morale, health and security of our military at a time of war," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, a public policy group.

Wright said Phillips should have let Congress continue to investigate the impact of the repeal.

Phillips' order goes into effect immediately, said Dan Woods, the attorney who represented the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban's enforcement.

The group says more than 13,500 service members have been fired under the Clinton administration-era policy, which prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but bans those who are openly gay.

Under the 1993 policy, service men and women who acknowledge being gay or are discovered engaging in homosexual activity, including in their own homes off base, are subject to discharge.

Phillips' ruling also ordered the government to suspend and discontinue all pending discharge proceedings and investigations.

Government attorneys had warned Phillips that such an abrupt change from an injunction might harm military operations during wartime. They had asked Phillips to limit her ruling to the 19,000 members of the Log Cabin Republicans, which includes current and former military service members.

The Justice Department attorneys also said Congress should decide the issue — not the court.

Phillips disagreed, saying the policy doesn't help military readiness and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services by hurting recruiting when the country is at war and requiring the discharge of service members with critical skills and training.

"Furthermore, there is no adequate remedy at law to prevent the continued violation of servicemembers' rights or to compensate them for violation of their rights," Phillips said in her order.

Obama opposed "don't ask, don't tell" in the 2008 presidential campaign and pledged to work for its repeal.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, the military's top uniformed officer, have both said they support lifting the ban. But Gates and Mullen also have warned that they would prefer to move slowly.

Gates has ordered a sweeping study due Dec. 1 that includes a survey of troops and their families.

The president agreed to the Pentagon study but also worked with Democrats to write a bill that would have lifted the ban, pending completion of the Defense Department review and certification from the military that troop morale wouldn't suffer.

That legislation passed the House but was blocked in the Senate by Republicans.

Gates has said the purpose of his study isn't to determine whether to change the law — something he says is probably inevitable but up for Congress to decide. Instead, the study is intended to determine how to lift the ban without causing serious disruption during wartime.

If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming elections, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year.

"'Don't ask, don't tell,' as of today at least, is done, and the government is going to have to do something now to resurrect it," Woods said of the Log Cabin Republicans. "Once and for all this failed policy is stopped. Fortunately, now we hope all Americans who wish to serve their country can."

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Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

As of Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010, at least 1,207 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count is five more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

At least 975 service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 94 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action.

The AP count of total OEF casualties outside of Afghanistan is two fewer than the department's tally.

The Defense Department also counts two military civilian deaths.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 8,206 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department.

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The latest deaths reported by the military:

— No new deaths reported.

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The latest identifications reported by the military:

— Lance Cpl. Anthony J. Rosa, 20, of Swanton, Vt.; died Sept. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

— Pfc. Clinton E. Springer II, 21, of Sanford, Maine; died Sept. 24 in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a non-combat related incident; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

— Two soldiers died Sept. 24 of wounds suffered while traveling between Ghazni province and Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, when their military vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device; both were assigned to the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, U.S. Army, Alaska, Fort Richardson, Alaska; killed were:

Pfc. William B. Dawson, 20, of Tunica, Miss.;

Pfc. Jaysine P. S. Petree, 19, of Yigo, Guam.

— Two soldiers died Sept. 26 at Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their military vehicle with an improvised explosive device on Sept. 25 at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Afghanistan; both were assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas; killed were:

Sgt. Mark A. Simpson, 40, of Peoria, Ill.;

Spc. Donald S. Morrison, 23, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

— Lance Cpl. Ralph J. Fabbri, 20, of Gallitzin, Pa.; died Sept. 28 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan; assigned to the Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

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Online:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/

More than 500 people attended a memorial service for a 13-year-old central California boy who hanged himself after enduring taunts from classmates about being gay.

Seth Walsh was remembered Friday night in Tehachapi as a warm-hearted teen who loved to laugh. His mother, Judy Walsh, says the family doesn't want to cast blame and wants the service to be a call for tolerance.

Walsh died Tuesday, nine days after he was found unconscious in his backyard. He had been in a coma.

Walsh's death was one of a string of suicides last month involving teens believed to have been victims of anti-gay bullying. Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped off a bridge to his death after video of him having an intimate encounter with a man was broadcast on the Internet.

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Information from: The Bakersfield Californian, http://www.bakersfield.com