Tropical Depression Isaac Friday brought heavy rains, tornado watches and the threat of flash floods to the Mississippi River Valley, forecasters said. Isaac was about 145 miles south-southeast of Kansas City, Mo., and about 40 miles east of Joplin, moving north-northeast at 15 mph, the...

Hurricane Kirk weakened over the Atlantic Ocean Friday, with no coastal warnings or watches in effect, forecasters said. The Category 1 hurricane was 1,015 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and 1,365 miles west of the Azores, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 5 p.m. EDT...

President Barack Obama Friday marked the second anniversary of the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, saying the fight in Afghanistan is a tough one. Under a broiling Texas sun, Obama arrived at Fort Bliss, addressing about 5,000 soldiers and military brass in a hangar and having a...

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday directed the Department of Veteran Affairs to expand its mental health services and suicide prevention efforts. Obama signed an executive order directing the department to work with the departments of Defense, Education and Health and Human Services to create...

Israel's defense minister said Friday that Israel needs to develop a better missile-deterrence strategy against rockets fired from Gaza. Defense Minister Avi Dichter's comments came after a home in Sderot was hit by a missile from Gaza Friday, The Jerusalem Post reported. The house...

The next U.S. Census form may allow respondents to pick “Hispanic” as their race, officials say. The U.S. Census Bureau is also considering giving people whose roots are in the Middle East or North Africa the option to write in the country of origin, The Seattle Times reported. The...

Vice President Joe Biden delivered a fiery address Friday to a crowd of mostly union workers, accusing Republican Mitt Romney of accepting a bailout in 1993. Speaking before a crowd of 250, primarily autoworkers, at United Auto Workers Local 1714 in Lordstown, Ohio, Biden repeated claims in...

Newly minted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured storm-ravaged areas of Louisiana Friday, declaring, “I”m here to learn.” Romney arrived in New Orleans just hours after officially accepting his party”s nomination at the Republican National...

Arizona's attorney general says Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu won't be prosecuted for allegedly abusing his authority by threatening a former boyfriend. Friday's announcement followed a seven-month criminal investigation into claims by Jose Orozco that Babeu threatened to...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the need for diplomacy in resolving conflicts over Iran's nuclear plans, a U.N. spokesman said Friday. After a leaked report from the International Atomic Energy Agency noted Iran had doubled the number of its uranium enrichment centrifuges,...

White House press secretary Jay Carney Friday disputed remarks by Mitt Romney, countering U.S. relations with Israel have “never been closer.” During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday, the GOP presidential nominee accused Obama of throwing allies...

The departing British ambassador to Kabul says he has hope for Afghanistan's future in the long run. In the short run, however, Ambassador William Patey told the BBC he expects Afghanistan to be “a fragile, unstable state with weak institutions and higher levels of corruptions than...

South Africa's justice minister has requested an explanation of why 270 miners were charged with killing their fellow workers who were shot by police. The miners were charged Thursday by state prosecutors under the apartheid-era “common purpose” doctrine, the BBC reported...

Sarah Palin used Facebook as a platform to vent about Fox News canceling her network appearance Wednesday during the Republican National Convention in Florida. “I”m sorry Fox cancelled all my scheduled interviews tonight because I sure wanted to take the opportunity on the air...

Angolan voters went to the polls Friday in an election that is expected to keep the south African nation's ruling party in power. Sitting President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979, is expected to win another five-year term. Unita, a former rebel group during the...

A federal judge has found Ohio's restriction on early in-person voting is “arbitrary and disparate treatment” and ordered the state to restore early voting. The decision by U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus came Friday in a lawsuit brought by President Barack...

An Israeli legal official says a controversial plan to deport a group of Sudanese migrants is legal because they are not asylum-seekers. Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai announced this week a group of Sudanese nationals who are in Israel illegally will be placed in detention facilities and...

Harvard University officials said 125 students are being investigated for allegedly cheating on a take-home final exam. The students, who make up about half of an introductory government class, were accused of either working together to come up with answers to test questions or copying from...

Donald Lawson, 44, of Lapeer, Mich., said he “lost his breath” when he learned he held a wining Powerball ticket worth $337 million. Lawson appeared at the Michigan Lottery headquarters in Lansing, Mich., Friday. He chose to take the $224.6 million cash option for his prize, the...

A public notary in Brazil said she granted civil union status to three people, setting off a firestorm of criticism. Claudia do Nascimento Dominigues, the equivalent of town clerk for Tupa in Sao Paolo state, said she registered the three in a “stable union,” which extends them the...

Italians will soon have an all-in-one electronic identification card, a government official promised. Italian Premier Mario Monti said he is pushing to ramp up the change-over to the electronic IDs to streamline access to government services like healthcare, he told Italy's ANSA News...

A member of the Florida National Guard was accidentally shot by a fellow guardsman in a Tampa, Fla., hotel room, police said. In Tampa Thursday to serve with security involving the Republican National Convention, Jeffrey A. Spurr, 26, was examining the handgun of Michael Wdowiak in a hotel...

A clock calculating the national debt accrued during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., reached $8.5 billion. Republicans, keen on reminding voters of the nation”s mounting debt under President Barack Obama, used the tally as a method of showing voters the nation is...

Mitt Romney headed for Louisiana Friday to tour Hurricane Isaac-ravaged areas one day after his triumphant appearance at the Republican National Convention. The Republican presidential nominee attended a rally with running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in Lakeland, Fla., before heading for...

The worst U.S. media disasters in August ranged from a Yahoo News editor”s comment to a lawmaker”s “legitimate rape” remark, a trade newslettter said Friday. “This month was a doozy,” said online Ragan”s PR Daily, published by Lawrence Ragan...

Tony Blair will join other British prime ministers with a bust of himself in Parliament's Members' Lobby, government documents say. The former prime minister is the only person missing from a set of sculptures representing “Prime Ministers of the 20th Century.” Minutes...

Sergei Sokolov, a former Soviet defense minister under Mikhail Gorbachev, died Friday, a Russian official said. He was 101. Sokolov was in charge of the Soviet military until an embarrassing incident where a West German pilot flew over Soviet air space undetected and landed the plane in...

A Kazan, Russia, man was arrested in the deaths of two women found beneath a message on a wall demanding the release of a jailed rock group, police said. Kazan police said university teacher Igor Danilevsky, 38, was arrested and confessed to the double homicide. The names of the victims were...

Public protests by Russian Christian fundamentalists are nearing illegality despite their pro-government tone, officials said. The group, Grassroots Christians, has publicly preached against homosexuality, targeting illicit gay pride parades that are banned by the government. Members of the...

Countries bordering Syria have asked the United Nations Security Council for help with the growing number of refugees coming from Syria. Turkey and Jordan told 15-nation Council Thursday that they need help coping with an influx of Syrian refugees, Voice of America reported. Turkish Foreign...