When class lets out for Michelle and Barack Obama's two daughters, their grandmother is there to pick them up. When 10-year-old Malia needs her hair done in the two-strand twist style she likes, a family friend brings...

Democratic Barack Obama on Monday called for more immediate steps to heal the nation's ailing economy, proposing a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create...

Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the endorsement Monday of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The group is named after Jim Brady, the press secretary to former President Reagan, who was gravely wounded by a...

Levi Johnston, who's having a baby with Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, can't believe all the things he's hearing. No, he wasn't held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he's not being forced into a shotgun...

!!-- AUDIO:0813A198,0813A199,0813A200 -->Republican John McCain pledged to fight for a new direction for the country in an energetic new campaign stump speech Monday that sought to distance him from the economic...

A second teenager from outside Nebraska has been left at an Omaha hospital under the state's unique safe-haven law, apparently after his parent flew to the city specifically to abandon him, state officials said Monday. ...

A second wildfire has broken out in the hills above Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley suburbs, prompting mandatory evacuations. Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Frank Garrido says the blaze is at five acres...

A pilot and television camera operator died Monday when their helicopter crashed on its way to cover a story. KTRK, an affiliate of ABC, reported Monday that the two were on their way to a shooting scene when the news...

For more than two years, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has been consumed by the latest entry on his resume: acting chief of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Republican has been...

A looming federal investigation and possible trial is making it difficult for seven juvenile Florida boot camp guards and a nurse acquitted last year of state charges in the death of a 14-year-old boy to move on with...

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The election is for the 308 seats in Parliament's lower House of Commons. At least 155 seats are needed to form a majority government and gain a five-year mandate. PREVIOUS PARLIAMENT: Prime Minister...

A top official of the Vatican bank has offered assurances that its deposits are safe from the world financial meltdown, an Italian Catholic magazine said Monday. Angelo Caloia said in interview released Monday, days...

The first photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il released in two months show him in a setting very similar to photographs from August. And the verdant background looks more like summer than autumn, adding to...

Hospital officials say 37-year-old French actor Guillaume Depardieu has died from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia. The son of French movie star Gerard Depardieu had been hospitalized since Sunday...

Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is hosting a high-profile conference uniting former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and other dignitaries this week _ a rare visit seen as a reformist effort to position him for a...

Second wildfire erupts in mountains above Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. . ...

The Dow Jones industrial average rebounded as much as 600 points today as Wall Street snapped back from last week's devastating losses after major governments announced further steps to support the global banking...

Beef may not be what's for dinner at your favorite restaurant come 2009. Restaurants, now working to secure supply and price contracts for meat and other commodities for the upcoming year, are expecting big increases...

European governments overcame their differences to put $2.3 trillion on the line Monday in guarantees and other emergency measures to save the banking system in their most unified response yet to the global financial...

Attorneys general from Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware sent letters Friday to 11 companies that make baby bottles and baby formula containers, asking they no longer use the chemical bisphenol A in their...

As Marcia Brady on "The Brady Bunch," Maureen McCormick projected an image of the wholesome girl next door. But off camera, she spiraled downward into drug addiction and depression. Now 52, McCormick writes about her...

The sculpture shows a man about to fall under a subway car driven by a Grim Reaper figure. Its creator says it was meant as a tribute to train drivers and the risks they face. But the work's planned home, a London...

The Jonas Brothers will perform during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys' nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against the Seattle Seahawks. The band will officially kick off the 2008 Salvation Army Red Kettle...

An adorable talking dog remained just the sort of escapist movie hero audiences wanted after a week of awful economic news. Disney's family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," with Drew Barrymore providing the voice of...

Visitors to the Tate Modern gallery are about to face an apocalyptic vision of London partly inspired by the World War II Blitz and the July 7, 2005 transit bombings. French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster has...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP)--"I purchased the Love Dare book for my daughter and her husband. They saw it (Fireproof) Friday night and my son-in-law went to church today for the first time in about 5 years." A fellow church...

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--"Opinion polls," someone once said, "measure the public's satisfaction with its ignorance." While that assessment might seem somewhat cynical, it is probably not too far from the truth. Which is...

EVANSTON, Ill. (BP)--Today's top Chicago Tribune headline screams, "All signs pointing to panic," and Matt Drudge crowns his webpage with the photo of a snarling bear. These are, indeed, tough bear-market times.But I'm...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--"Fireproof" will open in 59 additional cities -- from Olympia, Wash., and Portland, Ore., to Binghamton, N.Y., and Fairmont, W.Va. -- this weekend thanks to its success during the first two...

NEW ORLEANS (BP)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary paused Oct. 7 to celebrate and remember the life, ministry and legacy of President Emeritus Landrum P. Leavell II.Leavell, who led the seminary from 1975-95,...

The European Union told music lovers Monday to turn down the volume of MP3 players, saying they risk permanent hearing loss from listening too long at maximum levels. EU scientists reported that between 2.5 million and...

When drug makers made a surprise announcement this week that they no longer recommend cough and cold remedies for youngsters under 4, they didn't let on that it was the government's idea. And why age 4 rather than the...

One in four teen girls have rolled up their sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday. The figures represent the government's first substantial study of...

A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again. Karl Merk, who lost his arms in a...

Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The new type of stem...

German memory-chip maker Qimonda AG is cutting 3,000 jobs and selling its stake in Inotera _ a joint venture with Taiwan's Nanya Technology Corp. _ to Micron Technology Inc. for $400 million. Qimonda, which is majority...

Just because your band doesn't have the bucks for a six-figure advertising campaign doesn't mean you wouldn't be interested in promoting it on MySpace. At least, that's what the Internet social network is banking on...

A Silicon Valley company is claiming a major victory in its efforts to sell computers to schools that might otherwise be enticed by low-cost laptops such as the green-and-white XO from One Laptop Per Child or Intel...

The nation's leading pediatricians group says children from newborns to teens should get double the usually recommended amount of vitamin D because of evidence that it may help prevent serious diseases. To meet the new...

An American computer game designer reached space Sunday, fulfilling a long-deferred childhood dream that began with the flight of his astronaut father. The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft carrying Richard Garriott and two...

High pressure built on either coats early Monday, while a strong storm system moved from the Rockies into the Plains. Snow was to linger across the Great Basin and northern Rockies through the morning hours, but taper...

Heavy snow fell in parts of the West on Sunday, with several counties in mountainous parts of Wyoming reporting as much as 33 inches. The storm spread snow along the Northern Rockies and into the Plains. Heavy rain and...

The season's first large western snowstorm was expected to continue across the Intermountain West and northern Rockies on Sunday, while showers and thunderstorms were forecast from the southern Plains to the upper...

Unseasonably cold temperatures, rain and snow were forecast for much of the West on Saturday, while showers and thunderstorms were expected in parts of the Southeast. Snow was likely across the Rockies and into...

Light snow fell in high elevations of the northern Rockies on Friday, with overnight accumulations of about 4 inches expected in some areas. High elevations of Nevada also got 1 to 2 inches of snow, while scattered...