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...

Barack Obama's presidential campaign distanced itself Thursday from a mailer by Georgia Democratic Senate hopeful Vernon Jones that shows them together under Obama's signature slogan: "Yes we can." Jones defended the...

!!-- AUDIO:069,068,067,066 -->Piles of charred rubble smoldered near California's scenic coastal highway Thursday as a ferocious wildfire descended on the storied tourist town of Big Sur, destroying vacation homes and...

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,...

Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got when he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' hats to a meeting at the Apollo Theater in New York. "It was a fairly plain-looking black hat. And then I said...

Wish "Yankee Doodle" a happy 250th birthday. Maybe. The original lyrics to one of America's best-known songs, one associated with the American Revolution, were actually written a couple decades earlier during the...

!!-- hobj:195 -->!!-- hobj:194 -->!!-- hobj:193 -->!!-- AUDIO:195,194,193 -->The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th...

Nine people were convicted Friday of criminal charges in a major Austrian bank fraud case linked to the collapse of U.S.-based commodities brokerage Refco Inc. Vienna Federal Judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner found the...

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg says that his government will sign a deal with the United States next week on installing a U.S. missile defense radar. Schwarzenberg said Friday during a visit to the...

Iranian state TV is reporting that a moderate earthquake has jolted a small town in eastern Iran. The report says the magnitude-5.2 quake struck at 3:49 a.m. Friday but caused no injuries. Some older buildings were...

Iran would consider any military action against its nuclear facilities as the beginning of a war, the country's top Revolutionary Guards commander said in remarks published Friday. Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari's comments,...

Hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists _ some in matching white or pink shirts _ arrived in Taiwan on Friday on the first regular commercial flights in nearly six decades between the old foes. A China Southern Airlines...

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...

Expect fewer slices of red, ripe tomatoes next to the grill this holiday weekend. With a salmonella scare causing many customers to shun what's normally a summertime favorite, tomato farmers nationwide have had to plow...

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...

Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83. His publicist, Jerry Digney,...

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...

A spot in her seventh Wimbledon final already secured, Venus Williams headed back to Centre Court to catch the end of the next match. Scouting? Not really. More like rooting. And when Thursday's second semifinal ended,...

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...

Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte. Lochte vs. Aaron Peirsol. Natalie Coughlin vs. Dara Torres. Great rivalries abound in three finals at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Friday night. And Amanda Beard goes for her fourth...

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...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Leaders of the National Education Association continue to advance a liberal political ideology that includes support of the homosexual agenda, as evidenced by news items surrounding the group's annual...

DENVER (BP)--Giving a significant boost to Republican John McCain's goal of attracting the votes of social conservatives, nearly 100 pro-family leaders gathering in Denver July 1 agreed to unify behind the Arizona...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Showers and thunderstorms were expected to pass through Great Lakes and into the Southern Plains, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic on Sunday. There was a slight chance of severe weather including possible tornadoes along the...