A written prayer that Barack Obama left this week in the cracks of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, asks God to guide him and guard his family, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday. "Lord _ Protect my family...

Professor Randy Pausch, whose "last lecture" about his terminal cancer became a bestselling book, has died. ...

In the face of Barack Obama's overseas tour de force, rival presidential candidate John McCain struggled to be heard. Yet amid the awkward moments, he managed to campaign busily in key battleground states and to raise...

Barack Obama's speech to a huge Berlin crowd sent a "positive signal" to Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Friday, praising the Democratic presidential candidate's focus on working with U.S....

Barack Obama wants to sound like the voice of reason on U.S. foreign policy _ the guy who would abandon Bush administration policies he sees as shortsighted, self-defeating or just plain wrong. Problem is, George Bush...

The Senate has cleared the last hurdle to passing a massive housing rescue bill. An 80-13 test vote showed broad support for the package and put it on track to pass the Senate by Saturday. The White House says...

The man giving John Kerry his first Democratic primary fight since his election to the Senate more than 20 years ago proposed a series of debates Friday. Gloucester attorney Edward O'Reilly suggested town hall meetings...

South Texas was getting back on its feet Friday as residents filter through the soggy mess left by Hurricane Dolly despite thousands still being without power. The National Weather Service said the remnants of Dolly,...

Eugene Dahl FARGO, N.D. (AP) _ Eugene Dahl, who helped found the company now known as Bobcat and served as a North Dakota state lawmaker, has died. He was 83. Dahl's son, Howard, said his father died Wednesday in...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory. Speaking Friday in Australia, Rice suggested to reporters that...

Motor racing boss Max Mosley has sued the publisher of Germany's largest newspaper, contending that his sex play with several prostitutes did not have a Nazi theme. The suit is similar to the case Mosley won over a...

Thousands of eager fans who had waited for up to two days swarmed sales windows Friday for the final batch of tickets to next month's Olympic Games, knocking people to the ground and bending metal barricades in the...

At least 47 people died when a motorized boat sank on a river in Congo, and more than 100 people are missing, a district official said Friday. Twenty-seven people are known to have survived, said Mathieu Modeste Bella,...

Friday was France's turn to greet Barack Obama who was to visit Paris just long enough for talks with the French president and a joint news conference, but no rousing speech like the one he delivered in Berlin despite...

A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 345 passengers made an emergency landing Friday with a gaping hole in its fuselage after a mysterious "explosive decompression," officials said. There were no injuries, but some passengers...

Stocks are surging higher after a double dose of good economic news. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index has come in higher than expected, and the Commerce Department also delivered a better than...

Sales of new homes fell in June for the seventh time in the past eight months; more proof that the worst housing slump in decades is getting deeper. The Commerce Department reported Friday that sales of new...

Oil prices slipped below $125 Friday, yet a number of traders believe that even with flagging fuel demand, the cost for a barrel of oil may be stabilizing, if not ready for another bounce. By mid-afternoon in Europe,...

Arch Coal Inc. said Friday its second-quarter profit tripled on soaring global prices and tighter coal supplies, easily beating Wall Street expectations. The St. Louis-based company, one of the nation's biggest coal...

The number of households facing the foreclosure process more than doubled in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to data released Friday. Nationwide, 739,714 homes received at least one...

The creator of "X-Men" bumped into Wolverine at Comic-Con. After happy introductions between Stan Lee and Hugh Jackman, the actor announced that Lee would make a cameo in the upcoming 20th Century Fox movie "X-Men...

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, has died. He was 47. University spokeswoman Anne...

Zack Snyder is standing inside a 9,000 pound, tanklike metal pod in the center of the crowded Comic-Con floor. He nonchalantly points out the features of the Owl Ship, a real-life version of the flying vehicle from the...

Batman star Christian Bale asked for privacy Thursday in his first comments since allegations he assaulted his mother and sister at a London hotel, saying the incident was personal. The Welsh-born actor brushed off...

It sounds like a scene from "Fight Club." French police say camouflaged paparazzi who got on to the grounds of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's chateau in southern France fought with the Hollywood couple's guards. Police...

A minor league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan during a brawl has been charged with felonious assault. Peoria Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo was arrested Thursday following the fight with the Single-A...

Dara Torres' swim coach is traveling to the National Institutes of Health instead of training camp in Singapore after being diagnosed with a rare, potentially fatal blood disorder. Michael Lohberg says he's suffering...

A minor league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan during a brawl has been charged with felonious assault. Peoria Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo was arrested Thursday following the fight with the Single-A...

A lawyer says police in the Russian city of Sochi have arrested a member of a religious community for defying orders to leave land intended for the 2014 Winter Olympics facilities. Yuri Marikovsky said Friday that...

!!-- hobj:114 -->No team in baseball is playing as well as the Milwaukee Brewers and no hitter is on a tear like Ryan Braun. The left fielder hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to cap his second straight four-hit...

Conservative Christian broadcaster James Dobson beat out shock-jock Howard Stern and others in national online balloting for induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program is...

!!-- pobj:NY467-0625081209 -->!!-- pobj:NY468-0625081223 -->!!-- pobj:NY469-0625081223 -->!!-- pobj:NY470-0716081119 -->!!-- pobj:NY471-0625081358 -->!!-- pobj:NY472-0625081411 -->!!-- pobj:NY473-0625081355 -->Madonna...

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...

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...

China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday. ...

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...

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...

The remnants of Hurricane Dolly were expected to continue flooding southern Texas on Friday and possibly spawn tornadoes, while storms were forecast in the Plains, the Midwest, the Southwest, the Southeast and New...

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...