WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) - Barack Obama laid into John McCain on Friday for advancing a tough-guy foreign policy that he called "naive and irresponsible," serving notice that he's ready to launch a full-throttle challenge to the Republican presidential contender on international relations in the...... more»

Today is Saturday, May 17, the 138th day of 2008. There are 228 days left in the year.Today's Highlight in History:... more»

WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) - Barack Obama laid into John McCain on Friday for advancing a tough-guy foreign policy that he called "naive and irresponsible," serving notice that he's ready to launch a full-throttle challenge to the Republican presidential contender on international relations in the...... more»

Hours before the California Supreme Court issued its decision on gay marriage, Mayor Gavin Newsom heard rumblings that the justices would uphold the state's ban.... more»

A carnival ride spinning with people collapsed at a county fair Friday night, injuring at least 17, including three seriously, an emergency official said.... more»

Person briefed on talks says UAW, American Axle, reach deal that could end 11-week strike... more»

Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Friday to a bill that adds new restrictions and requirements for illegal immigrants, the cities in which they live and the businesses that employ them.... more»

Police found three decomposing bodies with multiple stab wounds inside a northern New Jersey home Friday night, a prosecutor said.... more»

The federal government isn't used to being snubbed when it offers to help local governments.When it offered Chardon Township in Ohio $10,000 in disaster aid for a snowstorm in March, the locals said no thanks.... more»

A minister from a Dallas-area Baptist megachurch was caught in an Internet sex sting and charged with online solicitation of a minor, police said Friday.... more»

Robert Mondavi, the vintner who built his career and helped an iconic Northern California industry blossom by insisting that Napa Valley wines can compete with the best in the world, died in the valley Friday. He was 94.... more»

Developer Robert F. Maguire III has abandoned efforts to buy back the company that bears his name and is on the verge of being replaced as its chief executive and chairman, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Friday.... more»

News that Saudi Arabia had boosted its oil output by 300,000 barrels a day was greeted as a non-event on oil markets - the move wasn't anywhere near the kind of production increase needed to bring prices down on Friday.... more»

Janitors in Orange County have reached a tentative agreement with their employers on a four-year labor contract.SEIU Local 1877 spokeswoman Gina Bowers says the janitors' union and cleaning contractors, who had the backing of building owners, reached the agreement Thursday night.... more»

Responding to congressional pressure, the Bush administration on Friday said it is suspending oil deliveries into the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the remainder of the year.... more»

Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.... more»

Yahoo Inc. is seeking to conceal large portions of a shareholder lawsuit alleging the Internet company's board improperly thwarted Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover offer, raising shareholder questions over the motives for the secrecy.... more»

Yahoo Inc. is seeking to conceal large portions of a shareholder lawsuit alleging the Internet company's board improperly thwarted Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion takeover offer, raising shareholder questions over the motives for the secrecy.... more»

Classified ad Web site Craigslist is denying online auctioneer eBay's allegation that it unfairly diluted eBay's stake in it and says its board was acting to protect the company.... more»

Classified ad Web site Craigslist is denying online auctioneer eBay's allegation that it unfairly diluted eBay's stake in it and says its board was acting to protect the company.... more»

Barack Obama laid into John McCain on Friday for advancing a tough-guy foreign policy that he called "naive and irresponsible," serving notice that he's ready to launch a full-throttle challenge to the Republican presidential contender on international relations in the general election...... more»

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she wasn't ceding Oregon - or the nomination - to opponent Barack Obama, who is heavily favored to collect another victory here next week as he comes closer to winning the Democratic nomination.... more»

Michigan and Florida alone can't save Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign.... more»

Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech Friday to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.... more»

Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate and an early backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined a noisy rally for Barack Obama on Friday night, describing the Illinois senator as a "ripple of hope" who can win the White House.... more»

In President Bush's hint that Barack Obama wants to appease terrorists, Democrats heard troubling echoes of 2004, when Republicans portrayed John Kerry as irresolute and weak on national security.... more»

For all the money and competitive zeal of this year's presidential contest, Democrats and Republicans are having difficulty financing and organizing the independent groups that supplied so much outside muscle in recent presidential campaigns.... more»

John McCain's campaign is asking staff members to disclose all previous lobbying ties following the resignation of two officials linked to a firm that worked for Myanmar's military junta.... more»

Courting his sometime critics within the gun lobby, John McCain told the National Rifle Association on Friday that Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton would both undermine the rights of gun owners.... more»

IN THE HEADLINES... more»

Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of a fence along the Mexican border.... more»

The U.S. is its own worst enemy when it comes to the desperately important task of recruiting immigrants as spies, analysts and translators in the war on terror, new Americans are telling intelligence officials. The government's policies raise suspicions and fear in the immigrants' home countries...... more»

Federal health authorities are directing a Pasadena, Texas, company to shut down and recall all its dried smoked catfish steaks and other smoked seafood produced since June 2007 because it failed to develop safety standards, leading to a risk of bacteria contamination in its products. There have...... more»

President Bush's contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a lengthy stalemate that had paralyzed the work of the agency.... more»

Soon after taking office, the next president will get some advice about how to prevent a nuclear attack on the U.S., researched and written by top experts on weapons of mass destruction.... more»

Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:---ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio.---CBS' "Face the Nation" - Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla.; Republican strategist Ed Rollins; former Govs. Mario Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Roy Romer, D-Colo.---... more»

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will visit four nations in the Middle East later this month to discuss foreign investment, the fight against terrorist financing and Iran.... more»

Supplies from U.S. relief flights were given directly to nongovernmental organizations Friday to help with the aftermath of Myanmar's disastrous cyclone, the State Department said.... more»

An anti-war Democratic congressman backed off complaints about Defense Department personnel watching a House vote after the Pentagon told him they were students from the Army War College.... more»

Two congressional committee chairmen said Friday they plan to investigate whether there were broader motives behind a Veterans Affairs Department employee's e-mailed suggestion to diagnose veterans with mental disorders that have a lower disability payout.... more»