Barack Obama laid into John McCain on Friday for advancing a tough-guy foreign policy that he called "naive and irresponsible," serving notice that he's ready to launch a full-throttle challenge to the Republican...

Michigan and Florida alone can't save Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. Interviews with those considering how to handle the two states' banished convention delegates found little interest in the former first lady's...

In President Bush's hint that Barack Obama wants to appease terrorists, Democrats heard troubling echoes of 2004, when Republicans portrayed John Kerry as irresolute and weak on national security. Determined to end the...

For all the money and competitive zeal of this year's presidential contest, Democrats and Republicans are having difficulty financing and organizing the independent groups that supplied so much outside muscle in recent...

John McCain's campaign is asking staff members to disclose all previous lobbying ties following the resignation of two officials linked to a firm that worked for Myanmar's military junta. A memo from McCain's campaign...

Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most...

When Texas child welfare authorities released statistics showing nearly 60 percent of the teen girls taken from a polygamist sect's ranch were pregnant or had children, they seemed to prove what was alleged all along:...

Several bodies have been found in a northern New Jersey home under circumstances that were not immediately clear to authorities. Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli says law enforcement personnel found the...

Responding to the suicide of a Missouri teenager who was teased over the Internet, state lawmakers Friday gave final approval to a bill making cyber harassment illegal. The bill updates state laws against harassment to...

Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate and an early backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined a noisy rally for Barack Obama on Friday night, describing the Illinois senator as a "ripple...

A military judge wants to hear from the Supreme Court before starting the first war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The judge hearing the case against Osama bin Laden's former driver ruled Friday that the...

European and Latin American leaders sought to unite against poverty, global warming and high food prices on Friday, but their summit was clouded by an ongoing feud between Colombia and Venezuela. The gathering came...

Kuwaitis vote Saturday for a new parliament that must work with the royal family-controlled Cabinet, whose recent resignation triggered a period of political stagnation in this oil-rich U.S. ally. The country's ruler,...

A powerful aftershock knocked out roads and communications in some of the most quake-ravaged parts of central China on Friday, as emergency crews rescued more than 30 people who had survived up to 100 improbable hours...

A jury in Martinique has found a man guilty of murder after he set his ex-girlfriend on fire in front of town hall three years ago. The public violent act occurred early in the evening and shocked residents and police...

News that Saudi Arabia had boosted its oil output by 300,000 barrels a day was greeted as a non-event on oil markets _ the move wasn't anywhere near the kind of production increase needed to bring prices down on Friday....

Federal health authorities are directing a Pasadena, Texas, company to shut down and recall all its dried smoked catfish steaks and other smoked seafood produced since June 2007 because it failed to develop safety...

A striking United Auto Workers local at a key General Motors Corp. factory ratified a new contract with the company Friday afternoon and will resume production on Monday. UAW Local 602 said on its Web site its members...

Construction of new homes increased by the biggest percentage in more than two years in April, a rare spot of good news amid the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades. Analysts, however, played down the...

Wall Street capped a week of big gains with modest moves Friday as investors grappled with surging energy prices that overshadowed news of a surprise increase in home construction. Investors hoping for an economic...

Though Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz are keeping a tight lid on their nuptuals, it's looking like a wedding is imminent. Aerial photos posted Friday at several celebrity Web sites, credited to the Insight News &...

Eva Longoria Parker gets to play dress-up at the Cannes Film Festival _ and she doesn't even have to pack her own suitcase. "My bag is packed when I come because my stylist thinks about every event we have, every...

Daytime's "The View" will rerun one of its shows in two weeks from an entirely different view that lets fans know a little about what goes on backstage. Producers will attempt the experiment with the Memorial Day...

Asked if his band's performance in an hour's time will include any theatrics, Nick Urata warns: "There will be some death-defying feats of glory." He laughs and then adds: "Seriously. Not by me." When Urata's band...

With his follow-up to "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore wants to examine America as an empire, study its standing since the Sept. 11 attacks and present revelations to surprise audiences as much as the first film did. ...

Jayson Werth homered in his first three at-bats and tied a Philadelphia Phillies record with eight RBIs against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. Werth hit an 0-1 pitch off Blue Jays starter David Purcey for a...

Natalie Coughlin broke her own American record in the women's 100 freestyle while finishing second at the Santa Clara Grand Prix on Friday. Coughlin finished in 53.39 seconds, bettering her previous record of 53.40 set...

Friday night's game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox was postponed because of rain. It was rescheduled as the second game of a day-night doubleheader at 8:35 p.m. Saturday. The starting time for the...

A top USA Swimming official said Friday he hopes a lawsuit accusing the governing body of being in cahoots with Speedo will be resolved quickly so athletes can focus on the Beijing Olympics. Chuck Wielgus, executive...

Jonathan Byrd took advantage of soft fairways and receptive greens at TPC Sugarloaf on Friday, shooting his second straight 6-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead in the AT&T Classic. Byrd, seeking his fourth PGA...

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--"The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP)--It's here. The second film in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, "Prince Caspian" (PG) hits theaters this weekend. It's bigger, and some say better, than the first installment. But with the...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP)--Arkansas Baptist disaster relief teams have had their hands full lately, with massive flooding that damaged hundreds of homes, then multiple tornadoes on Feb. 5, April 3, May 2 and May 10 that...

BRYAN, Texas (BP)--A minister from Prestonwood Baptist Church has been arrested in a sting operation for soliciting sex with a minor.Joe Barron, 52, a minister to married adults at the Dallas-area church, was arrested...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Planned Parenthood Federation of America -- known far better for terminating motherhood than for promoting it -- nonetheless found a way to turn Mother's Day into an excuse for fundraising.The country's...

A hepatitis C outbreak was caused by workers improperly reusing syringes and medicine vials at a Las Vegas clinic, federal health officials said Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was contacted by...

A nurse survived eight days in the wreckage of a Turkish hospital destroyed by an earthquake in 1992. A newborn was rescued after more than a week in the rubble of Mexico City's 1985 quake. Now, in China, rescuers are...

Health regulators warned again Friday that Roche and Novartis drugs prescribed to organ transplant patients can cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women. The Food and Drug Administration last...

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 combination of two new-generation cancer drugs modestly delayed the time it took for cancer to worsen in a study of 300 women with very advanced disease who had stopped responding to other treatments. It was the...

Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with...

Yahoo Inc. is seeking to conceal large portions of a shareholder lawsuit alleging the Internet company's board improperly thwarted Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover offer, raising shareholder questions over the...

Classified ad Web site Craigslist is denying online auctioneer eBay's allegation that it unfairly diluted eBay's stake in it and says its board was acting to protect the company. Craigslist, based in San Francisco,...

A Russian supply ship docked to the international space station on Friday, delivering more than 2 tons of food, water, equipment and scientific experiments. The three men aboard the space station monitored everything...

Former satellite TV provider EchoStar Corp. on Sunday will demonstrate its first product for cable companies at the industry's trade show: a unit that can tune in television and act as a cable modem. The SlingModem,...

Wet weather was expected Friday from New England all the way south to the Gulf Coast. Severe thunderstorms were anticipated along the coastline of the Southeast, with damaging winds and a few weak tornadoes forecast in...

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...