Barack Obama is celebrating the 4th of July in Butte, Montana, attending a parade and picnic. It's a state that usually gives its three electoral votes to a Republican. Only two Democrats have carried Montana since...

Only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried Montana since 1948. Barack Obama is betting he can do it in November. With just three electoral votes and its reputation as a red state, Montana rarely sees...

IN THE HEADLINES Obama struggles to explain how his trip to Iraq could refine his policy on US presence there ... McCain calls campaign staff shake-up part of "natural evolution" ... Obama says 'mental distress' not...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday that a shake-up in the leadership of his campaign was part of a "natural evolution" as the organization becomes more national in scope. McCain's campaign...

Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war. A dustup over war policy _ one of...

!!-- AUDIO:130,128 -->Independence Day is normally a booming time for tourism here, with visitors settling into cliffside vacation homes or trekking out to campgrounds nestled among the redwoods. But this year, the...

He's gone from hot-dog top dog to underdog. Renowned competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is aiming to chomp his way back to the top of the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition on Coney Island after a...

President Bush will spend some time this July 4th at the home of the man who virtually wrote the Declaration of Independence. Bush plans to visit Thomas Jefferson's hilltop home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va....

Milwaukee police say four people have died in a shooting outside a house party. Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz says two women, ages 23 and 27, and two men, ages 24 and 28, were killed in the street outside the...

The White House said Thursday that dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay could end up walking Main Street U.S.A. as a result of last month's Supreme Court ruling about detainees' legal rights. Federal appeals courts,...

Iran delivered its response Friday to an international offer of incentives for it to suspend uranium enrichment, a central part of its nuclear program, state television reported. The report did not say what the...

A homemade bomb exploded at an outdoor concert in Belarus' capital early Friday, injuring at least 50 people. Officials blamed hooligans. The blast took place in downtown Minsk at a concert marking the ex-Soviet...

Ingrid Betancourt, freed from captivity and humiliation in the jungles of Colombia, returns to her beloved France and a hero's welcome Friday in the gilded halls of the presidential palace. President Nicolas Sarkozy...

Between surging oil prices, food inflation and a credit crunch that's depressed global growth, leaders from the Group of Eight economic powers face the gravest combination of economic woes in at least a decade when they...

Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue. But even freed captive...

Fireworks aren't the only thing skyrocketing on this Fourth of July. The price of gas has hit another all-time high. The AAA fuel-gauge report puts the national average price of a gallon of regular at a fraction over...

The nation lost jobs for a sixth month in a row in June, a storm of pink slips drenching this year's July Fourth holiday for more than 60,000 Americans and leaving thousands more worried about the future. Weighed down...

Origin Energy Ltd., Australia's second largest power retailer, rejected a $13 billion takeover bid Friday from British natural gas producer BG Group. BG Group last month launched a hostile bid of 15.50 Australian...

Many more job cuts, likely totaling more than 6,000, are likely at American Airlines as the nation's largest airline hunkers down and tries to survive record high fuel costs. American notified its flight attendants...

All Nippon Airways Co. is studying buying about five Airbus superjumbo A380s or other aircraft for long-haul routes, the Japanese carrier said Friday. The nation's No. 2 airline set up a panel Thursday to decide which...

Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure, said his publicist, Jerry...

A-Rod and the Material Girl? That's a lot of hits. Reports that Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and Madonna have become close just as their marriages are disintegrating have both the celebrity gossip industry and the...

A former accountant for Rachael Ray's TV cooking show has filed a $1 million lawsuit saying he was forced out of his job because he has an eating disorder. Aaron Ferguson says in papers filed in Manhattan's state...

Partially eclipsed by the glitterati of Cannes and the royal glare of Monaco, Nice is a place where even the brightest stars _ like Brangelina _ are greeted by little more than indifference. Only the presence of...

A tearful Christie Brinkley testified at her divorce trial Thursday that she was devastated by her husband's affair with a teenager and his attempts to find other paramours through pornographic Web sites. "My world was...

The top two players in men's tennis are on course to meet in their third straight Wimbledon final, but both have to get through today's semifinals first. No. 1 Roger Federer plays Marat Safin and No. 2 Rafael Nadal...

Formula One's leading driver, Felipe Massa, spun off the track and hit a wall during Friday's practice for the British Grand Prix but got out of his Ferrari apparently unscathed. The Brazilian driver, who leads by two...

Before he kneeled into the starting blocks, LaShawn Merritt tugged on his new necklace _ the red-white-and-blue one his friend gave him before the race. When it was over, after he beat the once-invincible Jeremy...

The Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday signed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a seven-year, $35 million contract, the third long-term deal inked with one of their younger players in two days. Penguins general manager Ray...

!!-- hobj:08037309 -->Tim Lincecum trailed for all of two innings, then held down the Chicago Cubs' dangerous lineup. Lincecum increased his National League-leading strikeout total to 122 with eight Ks in six innings...

As clergy involvement in politics stirs debate, Roman Catholic priests and deacons in the Denver Archdiocese are being instructed not to endorse or donate money to political candidates. The directive came from Denver...

Plans to translate the Bible into patois _ Jamaica's unofficial language _ have ignited a fiery debate that stretches beyond the shores of this island nation. Some Jamaicans object to the project because they say...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP)--A silly story is told about a little boy asking his father a question, "Dad, do they have the Fourth of July in England?" "Yes, oh yes, son they do have a fourth of July in England. They just...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Specialty license plates on cars can signal the driver's support of an array of topics from the environment to animals to college sports teams, but those that support belief in God have faced...

PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua (BP)--When Marie Davidson heard Jim and Viola Palmer talk about their ministry among the Miskito people of Nicaragua, she was deeply moved. And when, more than a year later, she heard Hurricane...

A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra _ but don't necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks going all night...

Scientists have new evidence that the brain chemical best known for regulating mood also plays a role in the mystifying killer of seemingly healthy babies _ sudden infant death syndrome. Autopsied brain tissue from...

A Filipino teenager who came to New York so doctors could perform surgery to untwist her severely clubbed feet took her first unaided steps Wednesday in pink-and-white sneakers _ the first shoes she's ever worn. "I'm...

A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra _ but don't necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks all night long. ...

A Filipino teenager who came to New York so doctors could perform surgery to untwist her severely clubbed feet took her first unaided steps Wednesday in pink-and-white sneakers _ the first shoes she's ever worn. "I'm...

Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and...

Syria has returned a marble artifact to Iraq that was stolen from one of the country's archaeological sites. The marble block roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall and 1 1/2 feet (half a meter) wide contains an engraving of...

The Phoenix lander's first chemical sniff of Martian soil did not turn up any trace of the building blocks of life. Its next whiff could be its last. Engineers said a short circuit that occurred last month in one of...

From climate change to volcanoes and earthquakes, the world's growing challenges have leaders in earth science proposing a merger of agencies that study the planet. Creation of a new Earth Systems Science Agency is...

This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an Internet...

A wet Independence Day was forecast for much of the nation, with showers and thunderstorms projected for the Pacific Northwest, the mid-Atlantic, the Ohio Valley and the Southeast. Clear skies were expected over the...

Showers and thunderstorms were forecast Thursday for the central Plains as a cold front moves through the region. The storms could produce damaging winds, hail and possibly tornadoes. Flooding was also a threat for some...

A cold front was forecast to sweep into the northern Plains on Wednesday, triggering showers and thunderstorms from the Plains to the Great Lakes. The storms were expected to strengthen throughout the day, stretching...

The West was expected to be stormy and warm on Tuesday, with severe thunderstorms packing strong winds and hail possible in Montana and Idaho. Thunderstorms, gusty winds and lightning also were forecast for the Four...

Widespread showers and thunderstorms pounded the Eastern Seaboard early Monday, while a warm day dawned across the Midwest, Plains and much of the West. A line of storms stretched from New England to Florida and into...