AP - Josh Powell's note was simple and short, a farewell to the world after two years of being scrutinized in the media, hammered by police and questioned by judges, prosecutors and social workers, living his life under a microscope since the day his wife vanished.
AP - Lawmakers who came to Washington demanding budget cuts face a tough test now that President Barack Obama and military leaders want to shrink the force, shut down bases and cancel weapons to achieve them.
AP - Mitt Romney's remark that he's not worried about the very poor, the latest gaffe in a campaign rich with blunders, joins a long list of wait-let-me-explain episodes in presidential election history.
AP - Government forces shelled the central Syrian city of Homs on Monday, striking a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas and killing at least 17 people in the third day of a new assault on the epicenter of the country's uprising, activists said.
AP - Texting while driving, speeding and back-seat hanky-panky aren't all that parents need to worry about when their kids are in cars: Add secondhand smoke to the list.
AP - Dan Conne says he and his wife and son thought they were going to die after getting lost while picking mushrooms and spending nearly a week in the rugged forest of southwest Oregon.
AP - The main Palestinian political rivals on Monday took a major step toward healing their bitter rift, agreeing that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
AP - Indonesia has come up with another bizarre plan to keep commuters from riding on the roofs of trains: Swat them with brooms drenched in putrid goop.
AP - The deep freeze gripping much of Europe means the Netherlands' almost mythical "Eleven Cities Tour" ice skating marathon could be staged later this month for the first time in 15 years, organizers said Monday.
Reuters - Greece let yet another deadline slip on Monday for responding to painful terms for a new EU/IMF bailout as patience in Brussels wore thin over drawn-out negotiations among its feuding political leaders.
Reuters - Republican Newt Gingrich vowed on Sunday to press ahead with his struggling presidential bid after a big loss in Nevada, saying he will focus on drawing a contrast with "timid" rival Mitt Romney.
Reuters - Syrian forces bombarded Homs on Monday, killing 50 people in a sustained assault on several districts of the city which has become a centre of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian National Council opposition group said.
Reuters - The mad rush to move client money out of MF Global Inc. after its collapse left two firms with the bulk of customer accounts, while other brokerages emerged with only minor gains from the chaos of carving up a multibillion-dollar business.
Reuters - To get an idea of the economic mountain euro zone strugglers Greece and Portugal have to climb, consider this: per million inhabitants, they each filed fewer than eight applications with the European Patent Office in 2010.
Reuters - The euro and European shares fell on Monday as fears grew that Greece would not accept the painful terms of a new bailout deal needed to avoid a potential sovereign debt default, taking the shine off a brighter global economic outlook.
Reuters - Top executives at Glencore and Xstrata are hammering out the final details of a proposed $80 billion merger, including the premium on offer by the commodities trading giant to secure approval from the miner's shareholders.
The Christian Science Monitor - Whenever abortion becomes a heated political issue, you can be sure that religion is involved. The reverse also is true. Such is the case with the 2012 election season.
A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.
Mitt Romney accused President Obama this week of ordering “religious organizations to violate their conscience,’’ referring to a White House decision that requires all health plans - even those covering employees at Catholic hospitals, charities, and colleges - to provide free birth control. But a review of Romney’s tenure as Massachusetts governor shows that he once took a similar step.
President Obama drew on the Bible and his interpretation of the Christian faith Thursday to deliver a sharp, if tacit, critique of his chief Republican rival’s economic program, speaking at a forum that in the past has been largely free of electoral politics.
A federal judge is considering whether Washington state can require pharmacies to stock and sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, even in the face of religious objections by druggists who believe they destroy human life.
They have the governor's backing and a rewritten bill, but advocates of legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland have made little progress in quieting the concerns of many faith leaders who adamantly oppose the legislation.
