Burma's ruling junta warned Thursday that legal action would be taken against people who trade or hoard international aid as the cyclone's official death toll soared to 43,318, an increase of almost 5,000 from a day earlier, but still far below U.N. and Red Cross estimates. The number of people listed as missing remained at 27,838.
A new US government report reveals that nearly 2,500 children, being held in military custody in Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States, are not uniformly protected as mandated by United Nations protocol. Neither, contends the American Civil Liberties Union, are those the government seeks as new recruits here at home.
Barack Obama collected the support of four of John Edwards' Democratic National Convention delegates on Thursday, then gained the backing of a West Coast congressman and a large labor union as he marched steadily toward the party's presidential nomination. Obama's overall delegate total is 1,896, compared to 1,718 for Hillary Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination.
President Bush launched a sharp but veiled attack Thursday on Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats, suggesting they favor "appeasement" of terrorists in the same way some Western leaders appeased Hitler in the run-up to World War II. Read More
Regarding the copyright discussion earlier this week, 14 blog entries on the Retort have been removed in response to Digital Millenium Copyright Act notices of copyright infringement filed Wednesday by a media organization. In all but one of the cases, the entries contained the full text of a news article. Read More
As more than 50,000 soldiers continue to work feverishly to rescue survivors from a fault line of cities and towns destroyed by this week's quake in China's Sichuan province, about 10,000 who survived huddled beneath tents and tarpaulins. "It just happened so suddenly," said Zhu Rong Qiang. "There was no way you could possibly respond."
Eleven months after a cable on the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville severed her feet, Kaitlyn Lasitter, 14, lobbied Congress to begin regulating rides at amusements parks such as Six Flags, Kings Island and Disney World.
Democratic presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton can agree on one thing -- they want their party to have more money, no matter who is the nominee. Read More
The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry. The case involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Ten years ago, Michael Roach and Christie McNally, Buddhist teachers with a growing following in the United States and abroad, took vows never to separate, night or day. By "never part," they did not mean only their hearts or spirits. They meant their bodies as well. And they gave themselves a range of about 15 feet.
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Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won within four years, leaving a functioning democracy there and allowing most U.S. troops to come home. "By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom," he said of his plan.
DEARBORN, Mich. -- Jennifer Sharpe, 15, sold the most boxes in a season ever in the 91-year-history of Girl Scout cookies -- 17,328 boxes -- shattering the old record by around 3,000. "During cookie season we do nothing else," said her mom Pamela. "In this house, we eat, breathe and sleep cookies."
Republicans must regain the confidence of Americans and recast their message to voters to avoid a catastrophe in the fall congressional elections, top GOP officials said Wednesday after a special election loss in rural rock-ribbed Republican Mississippi. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said, "When you lose three of these in a row, you have to get beyond campaign tactics and take a long hard look: Is there something wrong with your product?"
In his new book, The Dumbest Generation, Emory University English professor Mark Bauerlein argues that the tools of the digital age -- Internet, e-mail, blogs and video games -- have made younger generations less informed and intellectually capable than their predecessors.
A Fort Worth man trying to scratch an itch on his back used a revolver and accidentally shot himself. Read More
