story

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The state school board, with six new members, on Wednesday changed its answer on a history question that had turned into an emotional religious debate. The reconfigured board, with six new appointments by Gov. Ernie Fletcher, reversed a decision two months earlier that would have taught students …

SYDNEY, Australia – Australian leaders and survivors of the 2002 Bali bombings expressed outrage and disappointment Wednesday at the release from prison of an Islamic cleric linked to the attacks, Abu Bakar Bashir. The government said it feared he would resume radical preaching. Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the …

ATLANTA – The body of Coretta Scott King arrived in her hometown early Wednesday and was escorted through the darkened streets to a funeral home in the southwest part of the city. Four police cars escorted the hearse to the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, located on a street named …

WASHINGTON – Consumers, lured to the malls by unusually warm weather in January and eager to spend their Christmas gift cards, boosted retail sales outside of autos by the largest amount in more than six years, the government reported Tuesday. The Commerce Department said retail sales excluding autos were up …

I’m confused. Help me here: Former President Jimmy Carter uses Coretta Scott King’s funeral as a platform to suggest that the response to Hurricane Katrina was based on the color of people’s skin. Isn’t the majority of the New Orleans police department the same color as the people the former …

NEW YORK – In one of the largest regulatory settlements ever, American International Group Inc. (AIG) has agreed to pay $1.64 billion to resolve allegations that it used deceptive accounting practices to mislead investors and regulators. The deal announced Thursday also requires the New York-based company, one of the world’s …

WASHINGTON – The House passed an intelligence bill Wednesday that would dramatically boost the money available to the new spy chief and require the Bush administration to consider blocking the pensions of government leakers. Democrats made an unsuccessful, last-minute push to block the bill to protest that Republicans wouldn’t allow …

MOSCOW – A Russian cargo ship carrying food and supplies as well as Easter gifts blasted off Monday for the international space station, the Russian space agency said. The unmanned Progress M-56 ship lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at around 08:03 p.m. (1603 GMT), said the space …

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A group of Muslims protesting Playboy‘s decision to launch an Indonesian edition of the magazine clashed with police Wednesday and stoned the company’s editorial offices, witnesses said. No one was injured in the protest involving around 150 members of the Islamic Defenders’ Front, a small group with …

SAN FRANCISCO – Storms that dumped up to 6 inches of rain over 24 hours triggered mudslides across Northern California, burying an elderly man in an avalanche of mud, closing roads and forcing the evacuation of several homes. Dozens of rescue workers in Mill Valley searched for Walter Guthrie, 73, …