India: Mumbai gunmen directed by phone
"We have three foreigners, including women," the gunman said into the phone.

Cubans pin hopes on Obama

In central Havana, many people hope that President-elect Barack Obama will do something — almost anything — to help end the official hostilities between Cuba and the U.S.

Mississippi now has highest teen birth rate
Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report.

U.S.: Dozens of insurgents killed in Afghanistan
Forces from the U.S.-led coalition killed 32 armed insurgents during a clash in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday.

Lovesick teen's boyfriend jailed over murders
A 20-year-old man who helped kill a lovesick girl's family because the two were forbidden to date has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Obama pledges to tackle government spending

President-elect Obama says he'll have to juggle the competing interests of economic stimulus and deficit control, but that restoring general business health must come first.

'God' author faces plagiarism claim

Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post.

Analysis: Obama's challenges in Mideast

One of President-elect Barack Obama's biggest challenges in Middle East policymaking will be to craft diplomatic solutions that do not have unintended consequences.

CBO sees record $1.2 trillion '09 deficit
The U.S. federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year, according to grim new Congressional Budget Office figures.