President-elect promised change, picking insiders
President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts. ... read more

Fed sees economic woes persisting into next year
Pounded by a fierce financial crisis, the country is sinking deeper into economic despair and is likely to be in the hole well into next year, forcing more Americans into the ranks of the unemployed. ... read more

Detroit automakers' rescue stalls in Senate
A plan to give troubled U.S. automakers billions of dollars in government-backed loans is on life support, leaving the fate of hundreds of thousands of workers and Detroit's once-venerable car compani ... read more

Dems look to stop endangered species rule changes
With the Bush administration on the verge of relaxing regulations protecting endangered species, Democratic leaders are looking at ways to overturn any last-minute rule changes. ... read more

Piracy watchdog hails Indian attack on pirate ship
An anti-piracy watchdog group on Thursday welcomed an Indian warship's destruction of a suspected pirate vessel in waters off Somalia, where hijackings have become increasingly violent and the hijacke ... read more

Astronauts vow remaining tool bag won't drift away
Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check, to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week. ... read more

Gay advocates upset at shelving of Chicago school
As far as Miguel Garcia is concerned, Chicago already has a gay high school. Jones College Prep, where the 16-year-old is a junior, has the city's largest Gay Straight Alliance, an organization of mor ... read more

Matthiessen wins National Book Award fiction prize
The economy hung like a cloud over the 59th annual National Book Awards. Barack Obama was the silver lining. ... read more

Ind. inmates sneak through ceiling to have sex
Three male and three female inmates at a southern Indiana jail face charges that they devised a way to sneak between cell blocks to help pass their time behind bars by having sex. ... read more

Terry leads Mavericks to 96-86 win over Rockets
The Dallas Mavericks didn't need Josh Howard as much as the Houston Rockets missed Yao Ming on Wednesday night. ... read more

Gay advocates upset at shelving of Chicago school
As far as Miguel Garcia is concerned, Chicago already has a gay high school. Jones College Prep, where the 16-year-old is a junior, has the city's largest Gay Straight Alliance, an organization of mor ... read more

Astronauts vow remaining tool bag won't drift away
Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check, to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week. ... read more

Calif. Supreme Court to take up gay marriage ban
California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules. ... read more

Arraignment set for Cheney, Gonzales in Texas
A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner ab ... read more

Drug suspect's wife charged in FBI agent's death
An FBI agent trying to arrest a cocaine-dealing suspect at a home near Pittsburgh was killed Wednesday by the man's wife, who might have thought she was shooting an intruder, authorities said. ... read more

NJ inmates vs. Princeton students: Prison chess
David Wang is a young man who's clearly going places. The Princeton University sophomore is gifted with a brilliant mind, a movie-star smile and an understated self-confidence. ... read more

Upstate NY dad drowns saving 2 sons after crash
A man whose car slid off a snowy road and into a 12-foot-deep pond saved the two sons he had been driving home but could not save himself, police said. ... read more

30-day age limit for Neb. safe-haven law advances
A 30-day age limit in the Nebraska safe-haven law appears headed for final approval. The state Legislature voted 41-6 Wednesday to give second-round approval to the limit. A final vote is expected Fri ... read more

Prospect of sewers strikes horror in rustic Malibu
"Sewer" has always been a dirty word in this celebrity-studded community, which has avoided the sprawl that pervades much of the Southern California coast in part because it has refused to install the ... read more

Files show Md. police watched variety of activists
Surveillance of anti-death penalty protesters and other activists by the Maryland State Police was broader and went on longer than previously disclosed, according to files that were turned over by pol ... read more

Piracy watchdog hails Indian attack on pirate ship
An anti-piracy watchdog group on Thursday welcomed an Indian warship's destruction of a suspected pirate vessel in waters off Somalia, where hijackings have become increasingly violent and the hijacke ... read more

NATO: Pakistan fired on rebels on Afghan border
Pakistan fired on militants who attacked a NATO outpost on the Afghan border, the alliance said Thursday, an example of the cooperation seen as vital against the rising power of the Taliban and al-Qai ... read more

Police to end restrictions on ex-Gitmo detainee
Australian police said Thursday they will stop restricting the movements and communications of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee after he broke his long media silence to ask them to let him "get on wit ... read more

Hungry in Zimbabwe: `If you rest, you starve'
Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days. ... read more

Somali pirates transform villages into boomtowns
Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women - even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages. ... read more

Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama with racial epithet
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. ... read more

Rebels: No clashes after fighters pull back
Congo's rebel spokesman says there were no reports of fighting in eastern Congo a day after rebels pulled hundreds of fighters from the front lines. ... read more

Africa rejoices over Obama, but seeks own answers
Two weeks after Africans danced for joy to see a black man elected president of the United States, a Kenyan newspaper columnist delivered a crisp warning to this complex and troubled continent: "Obama ... read more

IAEA: Syrian site could have been nuclear reactor
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Wednesday that a Syrian site bombed by Israel in 2007 had the characteristics of a nuclear reactor. It also admitted that its investigation into Iran's alleged nu ... read more