Environmentalists lose Supreme Court fight against border wall through Arizona and Texas that encroach on preserved natural areas. The groups say they will continue to press the issue, however.

The water is still well above the banks of the upper Mississippi River, but residents of both flooded towns and those protected by levees and sandbags can see an ending: The river is cresting.

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a plea by environmental groups to rein in the Bush administration’s power to waive laws and regulations to speed construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

George Carlin, well-known comedian who earned a reputation as a culture-critic, died Sunday, according to his publicist.

Scientists believe NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander exposed bits of ice while recently digging a trench in the soil of the Martian arctic, the mission’s principal investigator said Thursday.

After decades of denials, the Chinese have acknowledged burying an American prisoner of war in China, telling the U.S. that a teenage soldier captured in the Korean War died a week after he “became mentally ill,“ according to documents provided to The Associated Press.

Transgender youth in New York state juvenile detention centers are allowed to choose their gender-specific clothing, name and receive special housing under new policy.

Social services agencies failed to detect severe child abuse that nearly killed a young California boy. The abuse was finally discovered after another agency called the mother in for questioning.

The Democratic-led Congress finally appears ready to give President Bush his request for $162 billion in long-overdue funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Guns went quiet as a six-month truce between Israel and Gaza Strip militants took effect early Thursday, but there was widespread skepticism about its ability to hold.

Receding flood waters leave more than stains and grime, depositing everything from car parts to toys miles away from where they were picked up by torrents and currents.

“It is not easy to preach a homily for Tim and to communicate the feelings we all share concerning this remarkable man, for he was truly one of the great communicators in American society,“ Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., said in his homily.

The ideological divide over tax relief got a little wider in Congress Wednesday as House Democrats, over the protests of Republicans, advanced their latest plan to shield taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax.

Less than a month ahead of a global gathering of Anglican leaders, conservative bishops angry about the liberalism of churches in the United States, Canada and elsewhere are meeting for a strategy summit in Jordan and Israel.

Afghan and Canadian forces moved into a series of villages outside of southern Afghanistan’s largest city Wednesday to root out any Taliban militants there, while an explosion elsewhere killed four British soldiers, officials said.

A girl whose lemonade stand was robbed of $17.50 chased the suspect into a nearby home and called police, who spent nearly an hour trying to coax the man into surrendering.

Floodwaters breached two levees in western Illinois on Wednesday and threatened more Mississippi River towns in Missouri after inundating much of Iowa for the past week.

In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, “From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States.“

Even as flood fears eased in Iowa City, the state’s south and east prepared for new problems ahead for a string of towns along the Mississippi River.

The president and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown used a joint news conference to show solidarity on an array of vexing foreign policy matters — chiefly Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush dismissed reports he had differences with Brown on Iraq, where Britain has cut its troops.

Tim Russert has died of an apparent heart attack.

Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 400 city blocks were under water.

Metro is warning passengers to expect major delays on the red line.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan released footage Thursday of a skirmish with militants that Pakistan claims resulted in an airstrike on one of its border posts that killed 11 of its troops.

Nothing personal, Sen. Obama, but our re-election comes first.

Frightened Boy Scouts huddled in a shelter as a tornado tore through their western Iowa campground, killing four people and injuring 48 others who had little to no warning of the approaching twister.

A sandbagged levee was preventing a swollen river from spilling over its banks and flooding a northeastern Iowa city, but officials on Wednesday asked for additional volunteers to help shore it up as more rain loomed

Federal officials hunted for the source of a 17-state salmonella outbreak linked to three types of raw tomatoes, while the list of supermarkets and restaurants yanking those varieties from shelves and menus grew.

President Bush said Tuesday the United States and Europe must rally to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, calling the threat an incredible danger to world peace.

Hypoponic tomatoes in restaurants and stores are being recalled due to salmonella poisoining.