ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska officials have dismissed an ethics complaint filed against former Gov. Sarah Palin that alleged she violated state law because the TLC docu-series “Sarah Palin’s...

HOUSTON — Houston Texans All-Pro receiver Andre Johnson will miss “a day or two” of practice after dislocating his left index finger in a morning workout. Coach Gary Kubiak said...

SAN ANTONIO — A week into Dallas Cowboys training camp, Dez Bryant is everywhere. Catching deep passes. Returning punts. Taking passes and punts into the end zone with his arms up, drawing...

WASHINGTON — The Senate emphatically passed emergency legislation Tuesday to avoid a first-ever government default, rushing the legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature just hours...

MEXICO CITY — A former police officer who allegedly admits ordering 1,500 killings during a campaign of terror as a drug gang chieftain along the U.S. border has been captured in northern Mexico,...

WASHINGTON — Ending a perilous stalemate, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced historic agreement Sunday night on emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Gaza children sent a sea of colorful kites soaring into the sky Thursday in an attempt to break a world record. Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill to move California’s presidential primary from February to June next year in a money-saving move for the state. Brown signed AB80...

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces backed by tanks and snipers launched a ferocious assault Sunday on defiant cities and towns, killing at least 70 people and possibly many more as the regime raced...

WACO, Texas — An AWOL soldier accused of plotting to launch an attack on Fort Hood was defiant during his first court appearance on Friday, yelling out the name of the Army psychiatrist blamed...

KILLEEN — An AWOL soldier who had weapons stashed in a motel room near Fort Hood admitted planning an attack on the Texas post, where 13 people died in 2009 in the worst mass shooting ever on...

LUBBOCK — A former star athlete who posed as a teenager to play high school basketball in West Texas was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison after reaching a plea deal, a prosecutor said. Guerdwich...

SAN ANGELO — A judge on Wednesday dealt a blow to the defense of polygamist religious leader Warren Jeffs, refusing to suppress evidence police seized during a 2008 raid on his sect’s West...

PATASKALA, Ohio — Forget his GOP primary opponents. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney is focused on a match-up against President Barack Obama. “The president when he was a candidate...

MIAMI — Forecasters say Tropical Storm Don has formed in the southern Gulf of Mexico and its track over the next several days shows that it’s headed toward southeastern Texas. The National...

SAO PAULO — Ariel, a paralyzed male lion whose fight to walk again became the focus of an Internet fundraising campaign and captured wide media attention in Brazil, died Wednesday, his owner said. The...

HOUSTON — Gov. Rick Perry says predictions of gloom and doom if the federal debt ceiling is not extended are overblown. Speaking at a bill signing Wednesday in Houston, the potential Republican...

HOUSTON — Many of the Houston Texans didn’t want to wait until Sunday to begin training for their season. More than 30 players showed up at Reliant Stadium on Tuesday morning and immediately...

IRVING, Texas — Jerry Jones said Tuesday the Dallas Cowboys can clear enough space under the salary cap to sign anyone they want, and he's already delving into the work. Jones arrived...

Dina Mazzaferro and Robin Leopold of Great Neck, on Long Island, got married in the North Hempstead town clerk’s office with their 8-year-old daughter, Sasha, and Robin’s mother, Barbara,...

NEW YORK — Hundreds of gay couples dressed in formal suits and striped trousers, gowns and T-shirts recited vows in emotion-choked voices and triumphantly hoisted their long-awaited marriage certificates...

DENVER — Parts of the manifesto written by the suspect in Norway’s terrorist attack were taken almost word for word from the writings of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski. The passages...

WASHINGTON — Defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta will certify that gays may serve openly in the armed services. News of his decision comes two weeks after top military leaders agreed...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s state government shutdown ended Wednesday after 20 days, millions in lost revenue and frustration on the part of residents and politicians. The stoppage...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared dead in the world’s worst famine in a generation, the U.N. said Wednesday, and the U.S. said it will allow emergency funds to be...

LONDON — It was a splat heard around the world. But two journalists who covered the aftermath of Tuesday’s shaving cream attack on Rupert Murdoch were briefly suspended from working...

LONDON — Britain's Conservative Party said Tuesday a recently arrested phone-hacking suspect may have advised Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief before the 2010 election. Former...

HOUSTON — Texas Rangers President Nolan Ryan is in a Houston hospital undergoing tests on his heart. The Rangers said in a statement Monday that 64-year-old Ryan is “resting comfortably...

NEW YORK — Seems you can’t put a baseball star on trial without a mistrial. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens remain perfectly bookended, each with seven major awards, one mistrial and no...

SANDWICH, England — Another major goes to Northern Ireland. The surprise was Darren Clarke’s name on the claret jug. Ten years after he last contended in a major, no longer in the top...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The astronauts making NASA’s last shuttle flight gave up their off-duty time Sunday and finished packing up their gigantic suitcase for the ride home. The 10 space...

ATLANTA — For Rep. Tim Scott the debt ceiling is not only the top issue voters in his South Carolina district want to talk about these days, it seems to be the only issue. The office of the...

CARACAS, Venezuela — In his monthlong fight against cancer, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has placed utmost importance on secrecy, carefully offering only scraps of information about his condition. Now,...

FRANKFURT, Germany — Japan stunned the Americans in a riveting Women’s World Cup final, beating them 3-1 on penalty kicks Sunday after coming from behind twice in a 2-2 tie. Goalkeeper Ayumi...

MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany — Abby Wambach sure knows how to deliver. A goal, a promise and soon, she hopes, a World Cup title. The U.S. women had fans on edge once again until Wambach broke...

SAN FRANCISCO — Newly released videos recorded by the Northern California couple who held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for 18 years provide chilling details about the kidnappers and their outings...

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Thousands of well-wishers from seniors to toddlers waved, offered crisp salutes or held their hands over their hearts in a sometimes tearful tribute to Betty Ford, as a motorcade...

MUMBAI, India — Three coordinated bombings tore through the heart of India’s busy financial capital during rush hour Wednesday, killing 21 people and wounding 141 in the worst terror attack...

A group of atheists and agnostics filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop an evangelical Christian prayer event next month that was proposed and is endorsed by Texas’ governor. The...

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — The first troops to leave Afghanistan as part of the U.S. drawdown handed over their slice of battlefield Wednesday to a unit less than half their size and started...

LUBBOCK — The unrelenting Texas drought has produced a cruelly ironic twist: cattle dying from too much water. Agriculture officials in parched Texas said Wednesday there are no hard numbers...

DRESDEN, Germany ­— Running low on hope and almost out of time, the Americans were surely beat, about to make their earliest exit from the Women’s World Cup. And then, with one of...

LOS ANGELES — The University of Texas system and Ryan O’Neal are sparring over ownership of an Andy Warhol portrait of the actor’s longtime companion, Farrah Fawcett. The system’s...

LOS ANGELES — Eighteen-year-old Alejandro Rojas is tired of outsiders viewing his neighborhood of Boyle Heights as a hub of gang violence and housing projects. So he and 13 other local teenagers...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage police say a city van used to pick up drunken people was taken on a joyride by a man suspected of drunken driving. The Anchorage Daily News reports that 35-year-old...

SAO PAULO — An 11-year-old boy in Brazil’s northeastern city of Mossoro is drawing attention with his purportedly magnet-like qualities. The Globo TV network has broadcast images of...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — As the miles melted between Atlantis and the International Space Station, the emotions grew — in orbit and on the ground. At Mission Control on Sunday, lead flight...

JUBA, South Sudan — A day after the jubilation of South Sudan’s independence proclamation, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. warned Sunday of a “real risk” that the north-south...

TOKYO — A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Japan's northeastern coast on Sunday, prompting a tsunami warning for the area still recovering from a devastating quake and killer...

A reproductive rights group asked a federal judge Wednesday to block a new Texas law requiring doctors to conduct a sonogram before performing an abortion, arguing it is vague and unconstitutional. The...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine Corps helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon at the sprawling coastal base of Camp Pendleton, injuring the six personnel aboard. The helicopter belonging...

ORLANDO, Fla. — What could the future hold for Casey Anthony when she gets out of jail, perhaps as early as Thursday? A day after she was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee,...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian President Michel Martelly has chosen a former justice minister as his nominee for prime minister in his second attempt to fill the position, a government official...

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — They’re coming on bicycle from Switzerland, by plane from the U.S. and Australia. From Bosnian towns and villages they’re heading through the woods...

BEIJING — A two-year-old Chinese girl left unattended fell 10 stories from her family’s apartment window and survived after being caught by a woman passing by, state media reported Sunday. The...

LAUREL, Mont. — Teams of federal and state workers fanned out Sunday along Montana’s famed Yellowstone River to gauge the environmental damage from a ruptured Exxon Mobil pipeline that spewed...

BANGKOK — The sister of Thailand’s fugitive former prime minister led his loyalists to a landslide election victory Sunday, a stunning rout of the military-backed government that last year...

WIMBLEDON, England — Until Sunday, Novak Djokovic never managed to win a grass-court tournament of any sort, let alone Wimbledon. Until Sunday, Djokovic never was able to beat Rafael Nadal...

Judge allows forced medication of jailed Tucson shooting suspect SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has ruled that prison officials can forcibly medicate the Tucson shooting rampage suspect with...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s government postponed next week’s summit of Latin American leaders Wednesday, citing President Hugo Chavez’s health as he recovers from surgery...

BEAVER, W.Va. — The owner of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men last year kept two sets of books on safety conditions — an accurate one for itself and a sanitized...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged the U.S. attorney general to take action Wednesday against Americans who plan to take part in a pro-Palestinian protest by sailing to the Gaza Strip to challenge an Israeli...

OMAHA, Neb. — South Carolina coach Ray Tanner didn't go into the season expecting to win a second straight national championship. His Gamecocks did that in record fashion, becoming the...

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers gave their initial backing Monday to legislation that would criminalize intentional, inappropriate touching during airport security pat-downs, but it was so watered...

AUSTIN — When Republicans grabbed a supermajority in the Texas House, the joke was that Democrats wouldn’t even have to show up for the GOP to pass bills into law. But now it’s...

NAALIN CROSSING, West Bank — Israel began tearing down a section of its contentious West Bank separation barrier Sunday near a village that has come to symbolize Palestinian opposition to the...

NEW YORK — One of the world’s oldest and largest gay pride parades turned into a carnival-like celebration of same-sex marriage Sunday as hundreds of thousands of revelers rejoiced at New...

BOSTON — When James “Whitey” Bulger ruled the streets of South Boston, the New England crime scene was a battleground for a bloody turf war between the Italian Mafia and Irish street...

MINOT, N.D. — The Souris River began a slow retreat from Minot on Sunday with no further flood damage in the city, but officials warned danger would remain for several days until the highest water...

WASHINGTON — Two House members introduced a bill Thursday that would remove marijuana from the list of federal controlled substances and cede to the states enforcement of laws governing the drug. The...

OMAHA, Neb. — Taylor Hill and Corey Williams combined on four-hitter, Connor Harrell and Curt Casali homered and Vanderbilt eliminated North Carolina from the College World Series with a 5-1 victory...

TORONTO — Dwane Casey hopes to bring a rugged, NHL-style of defense to his newest job in the NBA. The Toronto Raptors hired Casey as their coach Tuesday, nine days after the Dallas assistant...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Bahraini protesters poured back to the streets Wednesday after a security court sentenced eight Shiite activists to life in prison in the latest blow by the Western-backed...

WASHINGTON — Beginning to wind down a long and devastating war, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday night he was pulling home 33,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by next summer, withdrawing...

HOUSTON — Crews battling rare East Texas wildfires got some relief Wednesday when rain blanketed the region where blazes have forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and blackened tens...

OMAHA, Neb. — California coach David Esquer called on all hands to save his baseball program, and he's doing the same to keep his team playing in the College World Series. Freshman utilityman...

STONEHAM, Texas — State fire officials said Tuesday they are seeking federal help in fighting wildfires that have forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and blackened tens of thousands of acres...

STONEHAM, Texas — Dozens of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people evacuated as firefighters across Texas are working to contain wildfires fed by triple-digit temperatures, high...

OMAHA, Neb. — John Hicks’ RBI single in the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie and Virginia went on to defeat California 4-1 at the College World Series on Sunday. Virginia ace Danny...

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that Afghanistan and the United States are engaged in peace talks with the Taliban, even as suicide bombers stormed a police station near...

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Nancey Ryder-Cunningham said it felt like the end of the soundtrack to her life. Outside The Stone Pony, the Jersey Shore rock club that helped launch Bruce Springsteen...

OMAHA, Neb. — John Hicks’ RBI single in the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie and Virginia went on to defeat California 4-1 at the College World Series on Sunday. Virginia ace Danny...

NAIROBI, Kenya — A U.N. humanitarian report and aid workers caught in the crossfire reported on Wednesday an increase in violence in a new front near the already tense internal border between...

NEW YORK — Unrest in Greece rattled global financial markets Wednesday. Stocks fell the most since June 1 as investors piled into lower-risk assets like the dollar and U.S. government bonds. A...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Texas A&M saved its ace for the biggest game of its season. Michael Wacha delivered again, just as he has throughout the postseason. Wacha allowed two runs...

MIAMI— Dirk Nowitzki got the Dallas Mavericks to the brink of an NBA championship. His teammates did the rest, a perfect ending for a club that talked all season about its greatest strength being...

TIJUANA, Mexico — Wild-animal collector, gambling tycoon and eccentric former mayor Jorge Hank Rhon has faced unproven allegations of criminal activity throughout his career in the border city...

Johnathan Taylor and Buddy Lamothe may never play baseball again after accidents left them partially paralyzed. That didn’t matter to the teams that picked them Wednesday during the final rounds...

DALLAS — Coughing and wheezing, his temperature spiking to 101, worn out from hardly sleeping the night before, Dirk Nowitzki went through three miserable quarters in Game 4 of the NBA finals....

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry added immigration legislation to the special session's agenda on Tuesday, including a measure that would remove local law enforcement agencies' ability...

NEW YORK — After days of denials, a choked-up Rep. Anthony Weiner confessed Monday that he tweeted a photo of his bulging underpants to a young woman, and he also admitted to "inappropriate"...

PARIS – Regardless of the setting or the surface, Rafael Nadal confounds Roger Federer the way no other man can. Put the two greats of the game on opposite ends of a court in a Grand Slam...

DALLAS — The Miami Heat didn’t blow this one. Now they’re just two wins from being crowned NBA champions. Chris Bosh made a 16-foot, go-ahead jumper from the baseline with 39.6...

WASHINGTON — A Washington gathering of religious conservatives did something this weekend a South Carolina Republican debate and a well-publicized forum in New Hampshire couldn’t do a few...

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — Faced with losing the life they’ve built together in the dusty California desert town of Cathedral City, Doug Gentry and Alex Benshimol are making a last-ditch effort...

ALBANY, N.Y. — Two U.S. senators said Sunday they will ask federal authorities to crack down on a secretive narcotics market operated on the Internet with anonymous sales and untraceable currency. Heroin,...

BEIJING — Chinese security forces rounded up more government critics ahead of Saturday’s anniversary of the crushing of the 1989 pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen...

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal grand jury charged two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday with soliciting and covering up the secret spending of more than $925,000 to hide his mistress...

HOUSTON — The final crew of the space shuttle Endeavour returned home Thursday to Houston, where they thanked colleagues and reunited with families. But Mark Kelly had to wait just a bit longer...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Ratko Mladic, who will appear in public Friday for the first time since his arrest when he goes before a war crimes judge, was “extremely cooperative” when...