A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Atlantis’ astronauts spent their first full day in orbit Friday scrupulously checking their ship for any launch day damage, as they steered ever closer to the international space station.

The rules issued Friday are designed to improve the odds of rescuing miners after fires, explosions and other accidents at the nation’s 700 underground coal mines.

A young woman killed two female students in a college classroom at a vocational college, then killed herself

Even before Bush landed, he declared major disasters in Tennessee and Arkansas, a move that opens the spigot of federal funding to cover some costs, shared with local governments, for debris removal and protective measures and to help individuals. Sensitive to criticism it was ignoring other states hit by the storms, the White House said these were the only two states that had so far asked for help.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit negated a rule known as cap-and-trade. That policy allows power plants that fail to meet emission targets to buy credits from plants whose plants that did, rather than having to install their own mercury emissions controls.  The rule was to go into effect in 2010.

House passage by a 380-34 vote came a few hours after Senate leaders ended a drawn-out stalemate over the bill.

The bullet that killed Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor ripped first through his right leg and then the left, and possibly came from a 9mm handgun

The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming.

The Senate’s version includes rebates for older people, disabled veterans

Atlantis’ seven-man crew is short on space experience, but that’s on purpose. NASA wants to give as many rookie astronauts a shot at space before the shuttles are retired in less than three years.

After two months of delay, shuttle Atlantis blasted into orbit Thursday with Europe’s gift to the international space station, a $2 billion science lab named Columbus that spent years waiting to set sail.

Now the last known American World War I veteran is Frank Buckles of Charles Town, West Virginia.  He’s 107.

Two Chinese businesses and a U.S. company were indicted Wednesday in the tainted pet food incidents that killed dozens of animals last year, and raised worries about products made in China.

Residents in five Southern states tried to salvage what they could Wednesday from homes reduced to piles of debris, a day after the deadliest cluster of tornadoes in nearly a decade tore through the region, snapping trees and crumpling homes. At least 48 people were dead.

The president said he called the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee and assured them the administration stood ready to help and to deal with any emergency requests.

President Bush, before the swearing in of the nation’s agriculture secretary, warned Wednesday that he would veto any farm bill that would raise taxes or did not include reforms of some farm programs.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey wants Congress to act within weeks to prevent the release of thousands of violent criminals from federal prison under new crack cocaine sentencing rules.

No one was killed in a huge explosion at a natural gas pumping plant that was apparently slammed by a tornado, a company spokesman said

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says a realistic estimate of next year’s war costs is almost impossible to discern, in part because he doesn’t know how many troops will be in Iraq this fall.

“They may deploy resources to mount attacks outside the country,“ the director of national intelligence told a Senate hearing

Inadequate security has left national icons such as the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty vulnerable, according to a government report on the U.S. Park Police

Two skiers who disappeared near Lake Tahoe during a winter storm were rescued Monday morning after they burrowed into snow caves and huddled together for warmth, authorities said.

Monson, 80, succeeds Gordon B. Hinckley, who died last month at age 97. Out of respect for the deceased president, the Mormon church never names a successor until after funeral services. Hinckley was buried Saturday.

He wants to give the Pentagon more than 588 billion dollars. That includes 70 billion dollars as an “emergency allowance” for war costs in the first part of the budget year.

Lynchburg native Leland Melvin will serve as the primary operator of the space station’s robotic arm on the upcoming mission

It supports sizable increases in military spending to fight the war on terrorism and protects his signature tax cuts.

The Giants had the perfect answer for the suddenly imperfect Patriots: beating Patriots 17-14

A senior Democratic senator said Friday that Congress this year will try to close down an Internal Revenue Service private debt collection program that he and other critics say has failed to be cost-effective.

Simpson’s lawyer says prosecutors failed to meet legal standards to prosecute him for kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy