Shiite Hezbollah supporters and the Lebanese government's Sunni backers clashed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades Thursday in battles that spread through Beirut's streets soon after Hezbollah's leader vowed to fight any attempt to disarm his men.
Read more...

Dave Eck, a Half Moon Bay, Calif., mechanic, had attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on promoting alternative fuels. Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat.
Read more...

Science has provided the souped-up seeds to feed the world, through biotechnology and old-fashioned crossbreeding. Now the problem is the dirt they're planted in.
Read more...

The FBI has withdrawn a secret administrative order seeking the name, address and online activity of a patron of the Internet Archive after the San Francisco-based digital library filed suit to block the action.
Read more...

Relief supplies from the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar Thursday, but U.S. military planes loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist regime five days after a devastating cyclone.
Read more...

Nearly 23,000 dead, more than 42,000 still missing
Read more...

Politically wounded and financially strapped, Hillary Rodham Clinton plunged back into the presidential campaign Wednesday even as Barack Obama's campaign began to craft a general election strategy on the assumption that he will claim the Democratic nomination.
Read more...

President Bush threatened today to veto Democrats' broad housing rescue package, saying it won't help struggling homeowners.
Read more...

Former Sen. George McGovern, an early supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsed her rival, Barack Obama.
Read more...

About 3,500 American soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, the U.S. military announced, as part of the Pentagon's overall reduction in troop strength following last year's 'surge.'
Read more...

The cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 today and more than 41,000 others were missing as foreign countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record, state radio reported.
Read more...

Today's young adults are feeling the impact of a massive shift in the U.S. economy, changes that are documented in a new data report from Demos and an analysis of public opinion polling by The Center for American Progress.
Read more...

Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said today.
Read more...

Allegations of misleading the public fuel investigation
Read more...

'Evangelical Manifesto' claims Christians are 'useful idiots' for political parties
Read more...

After U.S. gasoline prices surged to a record high this week, President Bush strode into the Rose Garden to unveil his plans for coping with skyrocketing energy costs: drill for oil in Alaska, add U.S. refineries and build more nuclear plants.
Read more...

Whatever impressions Pope Benedict XVI took away from his long weekend in New York may influence a big, upcoming decision, picking a successor to Cardinal Edward Egan as archbishop.
Read more...

Bishop J. Douglas Wiley has just a tent for a church and a fraction of his congregants, more than 2½ years after Hurricane Katrina.
Read more...

In brief
Read more...

Zimbabwe's opposition on Friday accused President Robert Mugabe of 'grand theft' after long-delayed official results of the nation's presidential election showed no candidate won outright and there must be a runoff.
Read more...

Casual acquaintances knew Josef Fritzl as a jovial fellow who liked to drink beer and enjoyed a bawdy joke.
Read more...

Josefa Gonzalez Loya has sneaked across the Mexican border at least 128 times in the past eight years. And each time, the Border Patrol has been nice enough to give her a lift home.
Read more...

Violent storms rolling across the nation's midsection unleashed tornadoes, high winds and hail in four states and killed seven people in Arkansas on Friday, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom as she slept.
Read more...

The economy showed off unexpected signs of resilience Friday as job losses slowed, the dollar gained a bit of muscle for a change and there were even indications that food prices may be easing. The unemployment rate dipped, though that may not last.
Read more...