WASHINGTON – Robert Gates is on a roll. Question is, how long will it last?
The politically savvy defense secretary scored big legislative wins when the Senate voted convincingly to end production of the…

TEHRAN, Iran Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Esfandyar Rahim Mashaie as his adviser, a day after the controversial political figure resigned as first…

Zelaya stages Honduras ‘road show’
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Las Manos, on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border
If the exiled President Manuel Zelaya really wanted to enter Honduran territory, he could do so very easily.The spectacular mountainous border between Nicaragua and Honduras…

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has asked federal securities regulators to crack down on a high-speed computing advantage that large financial firms have over other investors.
If the Securities and Exchange Commission does not curb a practice…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Agent Orange, used by U.S. forces to strip Vietnamese and Cambodian jungles during the Vietnam War, may raise the risk of heart disease and Parkinson's disease, U.S. health advisers said on Friday.
But…

DEAR ABBY: My 16-year-old son, “Derrick,” recently stopped talking to me. Frustrated about not being able to open the lines of communication, I installed a keystroke recorder on our home computer. It enabled me to…

GREENACRES, Fla. – Authorities caught a Lake Worth man running down the street with a stolen cash register. Greenacres police reported that a 32-year-old man entered a restaurant Thursday afternoon and asked for…

DEAR ABBY: Our friends “Andy” and “Corinne” live out of state in Michigan. We visit them about twice a year. Our visits are planned weeks in advance. The last three times, on Saturday night they…

A low pressure system will sweep over the Great Lakes from Canada on Saturday, providing the most active weather in the country.
The low pressure system will begin the day just north of Minnesota, but will move into Michigan by the end of the…

EDINBURGH, Scotland – There were kilts, caber-tossing and a touch of controversy as more than 40,000 Scots from around the world descended on Edinburgh Saturday for an event billed as the largest gathering of the…

FRANKFURT (Reuters) –
Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) CEO Josef Ackermann has told Porsche's (PSHG_p.DE) owner families of the urgency to stump up cash in order to pay down…

WASHINGTON – A strong force, perhaps as powerful in Congress as President Barack Obama, is keeping the drive for health care going even as lawmakers seem hopelessly at odds.
Lobbyists.
The drug industry, the American…

Arrest after Polish Afghan death
Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad
Police in Pakistan have arrested a former right-wing parliamentarian who is accused of ordering the murder of a Polish engineer by the Taliban.Shah Abdul Aziz, who was arrested on Friday, is…

WASHINGTON – When it comes to next year’s primaries, three senators probably are feeling a lot like Rodney Dangerfield: They can’t get any respect.
As veteran lawmakers, Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Jim Bunning,…

As previously announced, Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons, who played pill-poppin' Oklahoma mama Violet Weston in the Broadway run, leads the…

FRIDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) — New moms who can't zip up
their pre-pregnancy jeans might not be catching enough zzzs.
Getting a good night's sleep, in fact, may be just as important as diet
and…

Brazil and Paraguay in power deal
Brazil has agreed to triple its payments to Paraguay for energy from a massive hydro-electric dam on their border, ending a long-running dispute.Under the accord, Brazil will pay Paraguay 360m (220m) a…

World champions South Africa held off a second-half rally from New Zealand to win their Tri-Nations opener 28-19 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Morne Steyn goes on a run for the Springboks in their Tri…

LAS MANOS, Nicaragua Ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya returned to the Honduran border on Saturday, a day after crossing a few yards into the country.
Jose Manuel Zelaya says he will keep fighting to…

AVIGNON, France – Lance Armstrong has no regrets about finishing third at the Tour de France.
On the eve of the final stage on the Champs-Elysees, the seven-time champion told The Associated…

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
Katherine Heigl worked hard to make sure it was a quickie.
She did her best to limit the number of takes it took to shoot her vibrating-panties…

BALTIMORE – NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is offering a glimpse of atmospheric debris from an object that plunged into Jupiter in a rare collision with the planet.
Scientists used the telescope Thursday to capture what they…

ANKARA, Turkey – Restoration workers have uncovered a well-preserved, long-hidden mosaic face of an angel at the former Byzantine cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, an official said Friday.
The seraphim figure — one of two…

MONT VENTOUX, France (Reuters) –
Relief rather than elation was the dominant emotion after Alberto Contador repelled his rivals in the exhausting penultimate stage of the Tour de France to Mont Ventoux on Saturday.
The Spaniard…