3 killed in suicide attack on Russian base (AP)

MAKHACHKALA, Russia – A suicide car-bomber killed three soldiers and wounded 32 others in an attack on a military base in Russia’s violence-plagued republic of Dagestan on Sunday, officials said. The attack took place about 1 a.m. (2100 GMT Saturday) at the base in the city of Buinaksk, said Vyacheslav Gasanov, a spokesman for the [...]

BP: Crews lifting device from Gulf face delay (AP)

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Investigators looking into what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are a step closer to answers now that a key piece evidence is secure aboard a ship. Engineers took 29 1/2 hours to lift the 50-foot, 300-ton blowout preventer from a mile beneath the sea. The [...]

Report: Blackwater created shell companies (AP)

WASHINGTON – The New York Times is reporting that the security company Blackwater Worldwide formed a network of 30 shell companies and subsidiaries to get government business after the company faced strong criticism for its conduct in Iraq. The report Friday night on the newspaper’s website says Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed [...]

Powerful 7.1 quake hits New Zealand’s South Island (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake damaged buildings, cut power and knocked fleeing residents off their feet on New Zealand’s South Island early Saturday, but there were so far no deaths and only two injuries reported. Panicked residents in their pajamas ran into the streets of the southern city of Christchurch after the [...]

Earl threatens Mass. with wind, rain, surf (AP)

CHATHAM, Mass. – A weakening but still dangerous Hurricane Earl dumped wind-driven rain on Cape Cod’s gray-shingled cottages and fishing villages Friday night, disrupting people’s vacations on the unofficial final weekend of the short New England summer. Packing winds of 75 mph, the storm swirled up the Eastern Seaboard after sideswiping North Carolina’s Outer Banks, [...]

Despite hiring, US unemployment rate seems frozen (AP)

WASHINGTON – Unemployment is stuck at high levels even though some companies are hiring. The problem, government data show, is that too few jobs are being created for the growing number of people looking for work. Private employers added a net total of 67,000 jobs in August. But the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent [...]

Arizona governor stumbles during debate (AP)

PHOENIX – It will go down as one of the most painful openings to a political debate in recent memory. Gov. Jan Brewer stumbled and stammered through her opening statement during a televised debate Wednesday night, suffering through an embarrassing, cringe-eliciting pause that lasted more than 10 seconds. With her hands clasped in front of [...]

Hopeful sign: More talks for Israel, Palestinians (AP)

WASHINGTON – In an early sign of promise, Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged Thursday in a cordial first round of talks to keep meeting at regular intervals, aiming to nail down a framework for overcoming deep disputes and achieving lasting peace within a year. As their facilitator-in-chief, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Israeli [...]

Oil platform explodes off La. coast; crew rescued (AP)

NEW ORLEANS – An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast Thursday, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, the Coast Guard said there was no leak, and no one was killed. The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long [...]

Earl weakens but still powerful as it smacks NC (AP)

BUXTON, N.C. – The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 105 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina’s dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and perhaps most destructive stop on the storm’s projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard. The hurricane’s squalls began to [...]