Democrat Barack Obama Thursday depicted John McCain as rich, out of touch and less a foreign-policy expert than he claims _ part of the increasingly negative tone of the presidential hopeful's message as he tries to...

Barack Obama said Thursday he's chosen his running mate, but coyly kept all the details to himself as he campaigned with one leading contender and planned a major rally to present the Democratic ticket Saturday in...

A conservative nonprofit group with a past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign wants to spend $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he wasn't sure how many houses he and his wife own. Here is a rundown of the wealth of the Arizona Republican senator and his wife, Cindy. Most assets are in Mrs....

John McCain may have created his own housing crisis. Hours after a report that the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting didn't know how many homes he and his multimillionaire wife own, Democratic rival Barack...

Rescue crews have made verbal contact with two teenage boys who fell through a snow field near a mountain summit east of Seattle. Snoqualmie Pass Fire Chief Matt Cowan says rescuers have spoken to the boys and are...

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., can use his campaign funds to pay for some of his legal fees stemming from an escort service scandal, the Federal Election Commission decided Thursday. The commission deadlocked, however, on...

!!-- hobj:197 -->A student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate Thursday at a high school, police said, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor. Police identified the...

As if a fourth straight day of rain from Tropical Storm Fay wasn't enough, weary residents are now dealing with quintessentially Floridian fallout: alligators, snakes and other critters driven from their swampy lairs...

The federal "self-deportation" pilot program ending Friday has drawn only a handful of illegal immigrants volunteering to return to their home countries, but immigrant-rights advocates who ridiculed the effort now...

An injured and abandoned baby humpback whale was euthanized by wildlife officials Friday after veterinarians determined it was too weak to survive on its own. The plight of the whale calf, which Australians have...

Russia and key Western nations remained at odds Thursday over a U.N. resolution aimed at bringing peace to Georgia, with the U.S., France and Britain insisting on immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and a commitment...

Russian forces lingered deep in Georgia on Thursday, digging trenches and setting up mortars a day before Kremlin officials promised to complete a troop withdrawal from this former Soviet republic. But a top Russian...

Panama, which has no army, is creating a new intelligence agency and a border police force, prompting concerns of a return to its militarized past. President Martin Torrijos says the intelligence force is needed to...

As of Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008, at least 4,145 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians...

Alabama, pushed to third in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat. The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit _ or...

Rising commodity costs kept weighing on food makers H.J. Heinz Co. and Hormel Foods Corp. in the most recent quarter, even as consumers continued to swallow price increases for their favorite foods. Hormel Foods, the...

Federal drug safety regulators said Thursday they are investigating whether the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin can increase patients' risk of developing cancer. However, the Food and Drug Administration said...

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE Barnes & Noble Inc., down $1.07 at $24.67 The nation's largest bookseller said its...

Customers bought more Whoppers, Cheesy Bacon BK Wrappers and crispy chicken sandwiches in the fourth quarter, driving Burger King's profit up 42 percent. But investors weren't too impressed by the profit gain at the...

It's Love, Angel, Music, and Baby No. 2 for Gwen Stefani, who on Thursday gave birth to a boy. Zuma Nesta Rock weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces when he was born Thursday afternoon, according to publicist Dave Tomberlin. ...

When reporter David Carr began thinking about writing his life story, he found he couldn't trust his own memory. Was it his best friend who pulled the gun on Carr some 20 years ago when Carr _ fired from a job and...

The stars of "Desperate Housewives," snubbed by the Emmy nominators this time around, will get a moment in the ceremony's spotlight anyway. Marcia Cross, Dana Delany, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria Parker...

Officials report white powder found in mail sent to John McCain campaign office in Colorado. ...

The brightly lit room looks like any nondescript warehouse packed with boxes and dusty shelves, but inside this plain brick building is nearly $200 million worth of treasures from the world's most famous shipwreck. The...

Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine is expected to be ready for spring training after undergoing surgery on his injured left elbow. The 42-year-old left-hander also had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder Thursday, and...

Gene Upshaw, a towering lineman on the football field who went on to win untold millions of dollars for NFL players as their union leader, has died at age 63. Upshaw had a Hall of Fame career as a guard for the Oakland...

Gene Upshaw was common sense writ extra large. Most men that big usually roll over people to get what they want. What made Upshaw an All-Pro guard in his playing days, and then the right man for the union job for the...

Emmanuel Burriss scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the San Francisco Giants a 4-3 victory over the Florida Marlins 4-3 on Thursday. Burriss drew a one-out walk off closer...

Losing for the first time since 2000, the U.S. softball team was denied a chance for a fourth straight gold medal Thursday, beaten 3-1 by Japan in the sport's last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years _...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Recently I was in Tulsa, Okla., sharing in an EKG/Sunday School conference. It was both well-organized and well-attended. A large crowd gathered for the better part of a beautiful Saturday to...

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--C.W. Brister Jr., a pastoral ministry professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1957 until his retirement in 2001, died Aug. 9 after a battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was...

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--John H. Allen, who supervised the mentoring of hundreds of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary students, died Aug. 18 after a lengthy bout with cancer. He was 77.Allen was director of...

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is mourning the death of Zambia's president, Levy Mwanawasa, on Aug. 19 at the age of 59.Mwanawasa's pastor, Rodney Masona of Twin Palms Baptist Church...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Tropical Storm Fay made it to the Atlantic coast Wednesday but stalled in the Cape Canaveral area, after passing across the Florida Keys Monday night and making a second Florida landfall early...

Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday. Worried doctors are...

Transplanting faces may seem like science fiction, but doctors say the experimental surgeries could one day become routine. Two of the world's three teams that have done partial face transplants reported Friday that...

Consumers worried about salad safety may soon be able to buy fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce zapped with just enough radiation to kill E. coli and a few other germs. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday will...

Federal drug safety regulators said Thursday they are investigating whether the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin can increase patients' risk of developing cancer. However, the Food and Drug Administration said...

An expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer makes sense for young teens when it comes to cost-effectiveness, but not for women in their 20s, contends a new report. The vaccine against the HPV virus was...

THE PROMISE: Using wireless power transmission, one day people might be able to recharge their laptops or cell phones or other gadgets without plugging them into an electrical socket. The technology makes use of some...

Nine polar bears were observed in one day swimming in open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast, an increase from previous surveys that may indicate warming conditions are forcing bears to make riskier, long-distance...

Junior Mints, Yoo-hoo, Drake's Coffee Cakes, puffy shirts: These are all things Jerry Seinfeld has endorsed _ at least in his alter ego on his classic sitcom. Now, add Microsoft software. Seinfeld will be a key...

The 10 highest-paid CEOs for 2007 at Standard & Poor's 500 companies based on calculations by The Associated Press. The total pay figures are rounded, and are based on the AP's compensation formula, which adds up...

In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists...

Tropical Storm Fay was expected to make landfall along Florida's northern Atlantic coast Thursday morning, bringing with it very heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds. Flooding was predicted. The Northeast was to...

Tropical Storm Fay was expected to move northwest toward northern Florida or the Georgia coast Wednesday evening. Forecasters said it could intensify into a hurricane as it moves over water and were keeping a close eye...

Florida saw heavy rains and high winds coupled with tornado reports as Tropical Storm Fay trekked north Tuesday. Storms in the Northeast brewed strong winds that knocked down trees and dropped hail in southeastern...

Thunderstorms and severe weather were to continue across Florida as Tropical Storm Fay moved further inland Tuesday. The storm was expected to weaken as it continues moving northeastward, though heavy rains and high...

Tropical Storm Fay, expected to gain hurricane strength, was projected to reach the Florida Keys late Monday. Evacuations of the Keys have already begun despite indications that the storm's path would take it to the...