Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as...

The Secret Service has asked for an extra $9.5 million to cover unexpected costs of protecting the presidential candidates during what has turned into an historic year for the agency's campaign security job. Among...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain had his own German experience Thursday _ at a restaurant in Ohio. He asserted that he was happy to devote his time this week to touring the nation's heartland. "I'd love to...

Fire department spokesman says 3 wounded in shooting at Phoenix community college. ...

Calculated political ploy. Timely foreign outreach. A dash of each? Ask voters across the country about Barack Obama's image-packed week of foreign travel and you'll get a mix of admiration, suspicion, even a couple of...

The operator of a collapsed Utah mine violated safety protocols by cutting coal pillars that should have been left standing to prevent cave-ins, federal regulators said Thursday. The officials said a subsidiary of...

Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said...

Officials say three people were shot Thursday afternoon at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, and two of them were critically injured. A witness said the shooter had been fighting with another man in a...

Residents across south Texas slogged through knee-deep muddy waters, tiptoed around downed power lines and dug through debris Thursday, but were thankful that Hurricane Dolly didn't pack the wallop they had feared. ...

The Marine Corps said Thursday that charges were dismissed against a Camp Pendleton Marine sniper accused in the shooting deaths of two Syrians in Iraq. The Marine Corps said the charges against Sgt. John Winnick II...

One of South Africa's leading female jurists who won acclaim defending apartheid opponents was nominated Thursday to serve as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Navanethem Pillay was formally...

As of Thursday, July 24, 2008, at least 4,124 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...

A man who served 32 years in a U.S. prison for hijacking a plane and planting a bomb that killed a policeman returned home to Croatia on Thursday after being paroled. Zvonko Busic, 62, was welcomed at the airport by...

A suspected Islamic militant threw a hand grenade at a group of migrant laborers in Indian Kashmir, killing a woman and her four children Thursday in one of two attacks that claimed a total of nine lives in the disputed...

Police say a boy stabbed and killed a 9-year-old girl in front of her classmates and teacher at an elementary school in Suriname. A statement from Waldeck Police Station says the 12-year-old boy then tried to stab...

Dow Chemical Co. said Thursday that despite record sales and two double-digit price increases unveiled in the second quarter, its profit for the period fell 27 percent, in large part because of sharply higher costs for...

Bleeding cash and with its very survival uncertain, Ford Motor Co., an icon of American automaking, will try to import some of its success from across the Atlantic. Ford reported its worst-ever quarterly loss Thursday...

Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of chips that run cell phones, issued fourth-quarter and full-year earnings guidance Thursday that fell short of Wall Street targets, but the stock soared on a broad-ranging legal...

Regional bank National City Corp. on Thursday reported a $1.76 billion loss for the second quarter, as mortgage loans soured and it took a big charge related to previous acquisitions. Over the past year, mortgages have...

Xerox Corp.'s second-quarter profit skidded 19 percent, but matched Wall Street's forecast, as the office-equipment maker was hurt by restructuring charges while its cash-cow supplies and services business hummed along...

Estelle Getty always liked a bargain. Despite her sitcom success with "The Golden Girls," son Carl Gettleman told friends and family gathered at a private memorial service Thursday that his mother always chose frugal...

If you haven't heard of "Twilight," ask a teenager. The best-selling young-adult book isn't bound for the big screen until December, but fan frenzy for the film practically took over Comic-Con on Thursday. Hundreds of...

Country singer Chris Cagle has been found not guilty of domestic violence after his girlfriend refused to testify against him. Cagle and Jennifer Tant were both charged with domestic violence after police said they got...

MTV is staking its brand on a lesser-known one: Russell Brand. The British actor and comedian will host this year's Video Music Awards, set to air live from Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles on Sept. 7, MTV...

Now Amy Adams' love life is "Enchanted," too. The Oscar-nominated Adams is engaged to fellow actor Darren Legallo, her publicist, Cari Ross, confirmed Thursday. Ross did not immediately provide further details. The...

The WNBA punished so many players for their roles in this week's skirmish that the league is staggering the suspensions by alphabetical order. "None of us can recall an incident like this," WNBA president Donna Orender...

Mike Weir gave Canadian Open fans what they came to see on another rainy day at drenched Glen Abbey. The Canadian icon shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the lead with Anthony Kim and Eric Axley...

With Brett Favre's retirement up in the air, it goes without saying that the Green Bay Packers might have to put off retiring the three-time MVP's jersey. The Packers had scheduled a ceremony to retire Favre's jersey...

Chargers first-round draft pick Antoine Cason has signed a five-year deal worth $12 million, assuring he will be in camp when the team holds its first full-squad practice on Friday. "It's a big relief," Cason said. "Of...

Barry Bonds in pinstripes? If nothing else, the New York Yankees talked about it. High-ranking Yankees officials gathered for meetings at their spring training complex Thursday, a day off for the team before it begins...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (BP)--Wind and heavy rain continued from what remained of Hurricane Dolly Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas while churches from the Gulf Coast westward toward McAllen, 70 miles inland,...

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--John Lilley, president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has been terminated by the school's board of regents after less than three years in the position.Lilley was the focus of controversy in...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Listen to an audio version of this column here.RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Pop quiz: If you don't really believe Jesus Christ is the one and only way to salvation, would you ...-- pray for the lost at home and...

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--In the first column in this series I said that we can come to terms with Jesus' claims to being the only way by answering three rudimentary questions. In yesterday's column we looked at the first...

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Elaine Lambach, 49, a missionary serving in Brazil through the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, died after a brief illness July 14. Lambach, a mother of five, was serving in church and...

After three surgeries, Judy Sherer still had chronic pain in her left shoulder. She'd lost faith in her doctors, and in despair tried a new health benefit offered by her employer. The service, Health Advocate, is a...

More than 1,000 people died over two years from an illegal version of the painkiller fentanyl, the government reported Thursday in its first national tally of those deaths. The spike of overdoses seems to have ended,...

Scientists will have to take "enormous intellectual leaps" to develop an AIDS vaccine in the coming years, say researchers clearly frustrated by the failure of a once-promising shot. The researchers, including a top...

Scientists will have to take "enormous intellectual leaps" to develop an AIDS vaccine in the coming years, say researchers clearly frustrated by the failure of a once-promising shot. The researchers, including a top...

It was a hot lead for detectives on a cold case. People suddenly were getting salmonella at a Minnesota restaurant more than 1,000 miles from the center of the nation's outbreak. Not my tomatoes, protested the manager....

Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora...

Microsoft's CEO defended the software maker's decision to invest heavily in its unprofitable online business, but shed minimal light Thursday on specific steps it will take to challenge Google in the wake of the failed...

An influential shareholder advisory firm endorsed the re-election of Yahoo Inc.'s entire board Thursday, reducing the chances that the Internet company's directors will be ousted for spurning Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E could loom for a Scrabble knockoff that has become one of the most popular activities on Facebook. Hasbro Inc., the company that owns the word game's North American rights, sued the creators of the...

Embarq Corp. has revealed more details about its exploration of a program that tracked Internet subscribers' Web-surfing habits for advertising purposes, telling Congress that it performed the test on 26,000 customers...

The remnants of Hurricane Dolly were dumping heavy rain over southern Texas on Thursday, a day after making landfall, then weakening to a tropical storm. Flooding concerns persisted as Dolly crept across the state. A...

Hurricane Dolly was expected to make landfall Wednesday near the Texas-Mexico border, bringing up to 15 inches of rain to southern Texas. Flooding was anticipated, especially along the coast, because of the heavy rain...

A cold front hovering over the Ohio Valley early Tuesday was expected to trigger showers and thunderstorms from the Central Plains to New England, while Tropical Storm Dolly threatened Texas. Scattered showers, strong...

Tropical storms Dolly and Cristobal were to continue spinning away in the Atlantic Basin on Monday. Cristobal was to pull away from the North Carolina coastline in the morning, but showers and gusty winds were to last...

Tropical Storm Cristobal was expected to continue to move northeastward along the eastern seaboard on Sunday, possibly making landfall over the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In any case, it was to produce much-needed...