News and Press Releases

AP - President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve at least $50 billion in long-term investments in the nation's roads, railways and runways in a pre-election effort to show he's trying to stimulate the sputtering economy.

AP - A hurricane watch has been issued for the coasts of Texas and Mexico in the Gulf as Tropical Storm Hermine approaches.

AP - An Iranian woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery is now facing a new punishment of 99 lashes because a British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, the woman's son said Monday.

AP - A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car in an alley behind a police station in a strategically important town in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 17 police and civilians in an explosion that shattered the station and neighboring homes.

AP - Israel's hard-line foreign minister said Monday that his party will try to block any extension of Israel's settlement slowdown, a move that could derail the recently launched Mideast peace negotiations.

AP - In an unusually blunt warning, the U.N. atomic agency said Monday that its monitoring of Iran's nuclear activities is being hampered because Tehran objects to giving some agency inspectors access to its program.

AP - Hundreds of naked and partially nude cyclists have pedaled their way through Philadelphia to promote bicycling awareness and cleaner air.

AP - Venus Williams says 30 is the new 20. Sam Querrey likes to think 20 could be No. 1.

Reuters - A Taliban suicide bomber rammed his car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday killing at least 19 people, police said, in a new wave of attacks by al Qaeda-linked militants.

Reuters - Iran's total production of low-enriched uranium has risen by around 15 percent since May to reach 2.8 tonnes, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report said, showing Tehran is pushing ahead with disputed work despite tougher sanctions.

Reuters - The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to an independent monitoring site on Monday and a tally compiled by Reuters.

Reuters - Emergency services in Guatemala on Monday resumed their search for victims of landslides that killed and buried dozens of people, as further rain was predicted for the Central American country.

Reuters - Several hundred Afghans chanting "Death to America" rallied outside a mosque in the Afghan capital on Monday to protest against an American church's plan to burn a copy of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Reuters - Increasingly erratic rainfall patterns related to climate change pose a major threat to food security and economic growth, water experts said on Monday, arguing for greater investment in water storage.

Reuters - Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday he had canceled a book-signing in London this week to mark the launch of his memoirs, over fears the event would be hit by protests.

AFP - Spain's government Monday rejected a ceasefire by Basque fighters ETA as totally inadequate and demanded it renounce guns and bombs forever in its battle for an independent homeland.

AFP - At least 19 people were killed and 45 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, destroying the building, police said.