IN THE HEADLINES Edwards endorsement provides Obama more delegates, labor support ... Bush warns against appeasing terrorists; Obama claims 'false political attack' on him ... Clinton says McCain's opposition to farm...

Barack Obama collected the support of seven of John Edwards' Democratic convention delegates on Thursday, then gained the backing of four superdelegates and a large labor union as he marched steadily toward the party's...

Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for...

The Tennessee Republican Party "welcomed" Michelle Obama's visit for a fundraiser Thursday night with an online video that takes the Democratic presidential front-runner's wife to task for a comment some considered...

Hillary Rodham Clinton scolded John McCain Thursday for opposing the farm bill, attempting to maintain the sense that she is already competing against the certain Republican presidential nominee even as her chances of...

A jury convicted a city firefighter Thursday of fatally shooting three people and wounding two others during a late-night Fourth of July celebration, rejecting defense claims that he was angered by the noise and...

Police say they have charged a teenager with murder in the Mother's Day stabbing death of a 19-year-old man who was refueling his car to take his wife to the hospital to give birth. Daniel Thompson Jr., 17, was...

Prosecutors say a New York landlord who tried to kill a tenant with a bomb has been indicted on attempted murder and other charges. The tenant lost a leg in the blast. Prosecutors said Thursday that 38-year-old Yung...

A man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail into the woods as firefighters battled large blazes nearby set several other small fires to throw off officers who were pursuing him, police said Thursday. Each of the fires...

The state will take over an effort to collect grant money from Hurricane Katrina victims who got too much, citing a lack of confidence in a private contractor's ability to determine who owes money, a Louisiana official...

The U.N. says the world economy is "teetering on the brink" of a severe downturn and will grow by only 1.8 percent in 2008. That's down from a global growth rate of 3.8 percent in 2007. The U.N.'s midyear economic...

Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting Thursday from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead....

President Hugo Chavez on Thursday vehemently denounced Interpol's conclusion that documents detailing links between Venezuela and Colombia's leftist rebels came directly from rebel computers and weren't tampered with by...

Osama bin Laden, who has threatened to extend al-Qaida's terror to Israel, will release a new Internet message dealing with Israelis and Palestinians, a terrorism monitoring group said Thursday. The announcement of the...

Interpol said Thursday that computer files suggesting Venezuela was arming and financing Colombian guerrillas came from a rebel camp and were not tampered with, discrediting Venezuela's assertions that Colombia faked...

Department store stalwarts J.C. Penney Co., Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Inc. all reported steep drops in first-quarter profits on Thursday as Americans snub apparel to focus on basic necessities at discounters in a...

Lockheed Martin Corp. beat out Boeing Co. to win an Air Force contract worth up to $3.57 billion to build as many as 12 next-generation global positioning satellites, the Pentagon said Thursday. The deal is the first...

The Bush administration has declined to cite China for manipulating its currency to gain unfair trade advantages against the United States. The finding announced Thursday came despite pressure in Congress for penalties...

TD Ameritrade Holding on Thursday said its chief operating officer, Fred Tomczyk, will become chief executive in October, replacing Joe Moglia. Moglia will retire as CEO on Oct. 1 and become chairman of the Omaha,...

Industrial output plunged in April as factories making everything from autos to heavy machinery felt the adverse effects of the weak economy. Analysts held out hope that production will revive in the second half of the...

Shania Twain and husband-producer Robert "Mutt" Lange are splitting up after 14 years of marriage. The 42-year-old Canadian country superstar and 59-year-old Lange married in 1993 and have a 6-year-old son named Eja....

DMX has pleaded not guilty to felony drug possession and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. A judge entered the plea for the musician-actor (real name: Earl Simmons) at a brief court hearing Thursday. Simmons was late...

Fernando Meirelles did boys with guns in "City of God" and murderous corporations in "The Constant Gardener." With "Blindness," the opening night entry at the Cannes Film Festival, the Brazilian director exposes the...

Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly's child pornography trial Thursday amid contentious exchanges between prosecutors and defense attorneys, who accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. ...

Angelina Jolie, pregnant with twins, has some secrets for staying serene at the Cannes Film Festival: get her partner, Brad Pitt, to baby-sit, and wear comfy shoes on the red carpet. Jolie was at the festival Thursday...

The Pittsburgh Penguins' road to the Stanley Cup finals along the Pennsylvania Turnpike took an unexpected detour. The smooth ride through 12 playoff games got a bit bumpier when the Philadelphia Flyers staved off...

Cole Hamels pitched his first career shutout, Ryan Howard homered and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 5-0 on Thursday night. Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also homered and drove in two runs each for...

New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler and forward David West were in the starting lineup Thursday night for Game 6 of their series against the San Antonio Spurs. Chandler bruised his left foot in the Hornets' Game...

Kenny Perry sloshed through the water-logged fairways, ducking under an umbrella every chance he got. He also hit plenty of good shots on a miserable day at the TPC Sugarloaf. Coming off a final-round meltdown at The...

Scott Kazmir sparkled in his first start since agreeing to a $28.5 million contract extension, and the surprising Tampa Bay Rays dropped the New York Yankees into last place with a 5-2 victory Thursday. Kazmir (2-1)...

DALLAS (BP)--A recent Newsweek cover story, "The Divorce Generation Grows Up," chronicled the history of divorce by spotlighting a middle class suburban community. A generation ago, learning that someone was divorced...

BRANDON, Fla. (BP)--Services for Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church, and his son Preston are scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in Brandon, Fla.Pollock, 44, and Preston, 13, were killed in a plane crash...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Hugh T. McElrath, longtime music professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died May 8 at his winter home in Penney Farms, Fla.McElrath, 86, retired from Southern in 1992 as the V.V. Cooke...

WASHINGTON (BP)--NARAL Pro-Choice America, one of the nation's leading abortion rights groups, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president May 14 and pledged to work to defeat Republican John McCain, who the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--John Newland, senior pastor of Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, John Rogers of Indianapolis announced May...

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found _ adding to evidence the "sunshine vitamin"...

A growing number of women with early stage breast cancer seem to be choosing to have the whole breast removed instead of just the cancerous lump, doctors are reporting. Mastectomies were standard treatment until 1990,...

Children who survive cancer face a much greater risk of heart problems later in life than their brothers and sisters who did not have cancer, new research shows. Doctors have long known that certain chemotherapy drugs...

Evidence is growing that vitamin D, which the skin makes from sunshine, is linked to lower risk of breast cancer and other cancers. But that doesn't mean it's good to get a golden tan _ and certainly not a sunburn. ...

People 60 and older should get a one-time shingles shot that can help prevent the painful rash, U.S. health officials are recommending. There's a 50-50 chance the shot will prevent shingles for those 60 and up, though...

A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide. Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis, who...

Americans spent $1.23 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in April, up 47 percent from a year earlier, even as the price of more essential items like food and gasoline soared. Nintendo Co. again took the...

While carbon dioxide has been getting lots of publicity in climate change, reactive forms of nitrogen are also building up in the environment, scientists warn. "The public does not yet know much about nitrogen, but in...

The El Nino phenomenon that has puzzled climate scientists in recent decades may have assisted the first trip around the world nearly 500 years ago. Explorer Ferdinand Magellan encountered fair weather on Nov. 28,...

The New York Times won three accolades for its Web sites and USA Today won two as the "EPpy Awards" were announced Thursday. Also among the 13th annual EPpy Awards for media Web sites, from Editor & Publisher and...

A storm was expected to move across the Mississippi Valley and along the Appalachian Mountains on Thursday, bringing rain and thunderstorms through the Southeast and lower half of the Mississippi Valley. There was a...

A line of storms stretched from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi Valley early Wednesday, while both coasts warmed up beneath clear skies. A large portion of the Southern Plains eastward into the Lower Mississippi...

An arc of stormy weather stretched from the upper Midwest to portions of the Four Corners early Tuesday, with thunderstorms possible in the South and rain for the Pacific Northwest. The storm system in the upper...

Rain was forecast for much of the Northeast. Storms were expected to cause significant and extended flooding along the Delaware river. Coastal flooding also was likely from Delaware through Long Island, with the worst...

Thunderstorms and heavy rain were forecast Sunday for the Upper Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley as strong low pressure systems move through the region. Severe storms were possible east of the Appalachians and along...