Bhutto widower elected Pakistani president

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Benazir Bhutto's widower swept Pakistan's presidential election on Saturday, offering hope for stability to a nuclear-armed country feeling intense U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic militants. - 09/07/2008

Powerful storm raises fears from Caribbean to Gulf

KEY WEST, Fla. -- "Extremely dangerous" Hurricane Ike grew to fierce Category 4 strength Saturday as it roared on an uncertain path that forced millions from the Caribbean to Florida, and Louisiana to Mexico, to nervously wonder where it would eventually strike. - 09/07/2008

Cassini detects partial rings with Saturn's moons

PASADENA, Calif. -- The latest images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show faint, partial rings orbiting with two of Saturn's small inner moons, scientists said Friday. - 09/07/2008

Be aware: Housebreakers are hungry bears

PINE MOUNTAIN CLUB, Calif. -- It's one of the oldest truisms in the forest: Please don't feed the bears. But in many communities across California, that's exactly what's happening, sometimes with deadly consequences for the bears. - 09/07/2008

Growing Ike nears Turks and Caicos, south Bahamas

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos -- Hurricane Ike lashed homes with howling winds Saturday as it neared this low-lying island chain as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, prompting thousands of people to evacuate or scramble for shelter. - 09/06/2008

South Carolina gets soaked

Tropical Storm Hanna cruised toward the Carolinas on Friday, forecast to hit land overnight and promising to deliver gusty winds and heavy rain during a dash up the Eastern Seaboard that could wash out the weekend for millions of people. - 09/06/2008

• Interactive: Global storm tracker

Highway fund almost empty

WASHINGTON -- The federal highway trust fund will run out of money this month, requiring delays in payments to states for transportation construction projects, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday. - 09/06/2008

Rice, Libyan leader meet to shore up relations

TRIPOLI, Libya -- The United States and Libya sealed a historic turnaround after decades of terrorist killings, American retaliation, suspicions and insults with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's peacemaking visit Friday with Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's mercurial strongman. - 09/06/2008

Rep. paid little interest on villa

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., paid no mortgage interest on a beach resort property for more than 10 years, a lawyer for the powerful House committee chairman said Friday. - 09/06/2008

Nation/World briefs

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will announce his decision on future troops levels in Iraq next week and is expected to largely follow the recommendations of military leaders to reduce the number by up to 8,000 by mid-January. The closely held plan forwarded by top Pentagon advisers calls for keeping 15 combat brigades in Iraq until the end of the year. - 09/06/2008

Southeast states brace for Tropical Storm Hanna

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Tropical storm watches or warnings were extended to areas just south of New York City on Friday as states along the Atlantic braced for Tropical Storm Hanna. - 09/05/2008

• Interactive: Global storm tracker

Sarkozy: Iran risking Israel attack

DAMASCUS, Syria -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran's nuclear program may provoke an attack by Israel, urging the Islamic republic to accept international inspections. - 09/05/2008

Hanna nears Southeast while Ike strengthens

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Tropical Storm Hanna roared past the edge of the Bahamas on Thursday ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 137 dead in Haiti. - 09/05/2008

Book reveals Bush surge debate

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Washington Post editor and author Bob Woodward. - 09/05/2008

Report slams wealthy nations

NEW YORK -- In criticism aimed primarily at the United States, Japan and the European Union, a U.N. report said Thursday that rich nations haven't delivered on promises to help the world's poorest nations and must increase aid by $18 billion a year. - 09/05/2008

Research supports warming

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The decade ending in 2006 was the warmest such period in the Northern Hemisphere for at least the last 1,300 years and possibly longer, says a study written by a University of Arizona professor and six other researchers. - 09/05/2008

AARP revels in seniority on 50th

WASHINGTON -- The late-night comedians love to needle AARP as the unflagging advance team for senility. They're the folks who send the dreaded membership invite when you hit 50, an otherwise sunny reminder that you're well on your way to that last roundup. - 09/05/2008

Flooding hampers Haiti food distribution

GONAIVES, Haiti -- Floodwaters frustrated efforts by Argentine peacekeepers to distribute food at orphanages marooned by Tropical Storm Hanna on Thursday. They hunkered down in their base as desperate people begged for food and water outside the gates. - 09/05/2008

Shrine honors terror suspect

NABATIYE, Lebanon -- The children crowd forward around the glass case, eager for a glimpse of the martyr's bloodstained clothes. His belt is here, and the shoes he died in, scarred with shrapnel. The battered desk where he planned military operations still has his box of pencils on it, his in-box, his cell phone. - 09/05/2008