Ex-U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger hospitalized

Seoul, South Korea -- A hospital official says former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is recovering after being hospitalized in the South Korean capital with stomach pains. - 03/13/2010

Vatican officials defend pope on abuse

Vatican City -- The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland. - 03/13/2010

Dems close to health deal

Washington -- Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand. - 03/13/2010

Court rejects link between autism, vaccine

Los Angeles -- The federal "vaccines court" ruled Friday in three separate cases that the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal does not cause autism, a finding that supports the broad scientific consensus on the matter but that greatly disappointed parents who are convinced that their child's illness was caused by vaccines. - 03/13/2010

Twin suicide bombs

Violence by militants surging in Pakistan

Lahore, Pakistan -- Two suicide bombers killed 43 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday, the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week and a clear sign that militants have the power to strike targets despite months of army offensives and U.S. missile strikes. - 03/13/2010

Colo. mom says daughter held in Ireland in alleged terror plot

Denver -- Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was a straight-A nursing student when she abruptly left Colorado last fall with her 6-year-old son and turned up in Ireland, where her parents say she was arrested this week in an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist. - 03/13/2010

Fed issues warning for baby slings after deaths

Washington -- The government warned Friday that those chic baby slings that hip moms and dads are sporting these days can be dangerous, even deadly for their little ones. - 03/13/2010

Experts: Health tests, care outpace need

Chicago -- Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans -- maybe even President Barack Obama -- are being overtreated. - 03/13/2010

Catholic church child abuse claims spread in Europe

Dublin -- It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons. - 03/13/2010

Nation / world briefs

N.Y. officials think 9/11 responders will OK deal; Clinton slams Israel on new housing; Late actor's name linked to drug ring; Kerry pushes environmental reforms; World Missionary in Haiti faces new charge; Cuban hunger striker hospitalized; Sex inquiry edges toward Pope Benedict - 03/13/2010

Seattle police stop man with device taped to body

Seattle -- A man wrapped in duct tape alarmed people in downtown Seattle on Friday morning by making threats and walking around with a pipe taped to his arm before surrendering. - 03/12/2010

FDA warning: Some patients cannot process Plavix

Washington -- The Food and Drug Administration is adding its strongest warning to the label for Plavix after reports that some patients cannot process the blockbuster blood thinner. - 03/12/2010

Aftershocks spur fears of tsunami

Chile's new leaders take oaths amid evacuation

Santiago, Chile -- The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile's president. It shook some more as they waited for him. - 03/12/2010

K.C. set for huge school closures

Kansas City, Mo. -- Kansas City school officials promised Thursday to shut down nearly half the district's schools by the start of classes in the fall without offering details of how they intend to implement the complicated plan in just a matter of months. - 03/12/2010

Highway deaths falling

Washington -- The roads today are full of hazards: Teen drivers texting, commuters using the rearview mirror to check their hair while juggling cups of scalding coffee. - 03/12/2010

Experts say doctors are overtesting, overtreating

Chicago -- Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans -- maybe even President Barack Obama -- are being overtreated. - 03/12/2010

Nation / world briefs

Obama names recipients of $1.4M in Nobel money; Dodd to offer own financial overhaul; N.Y. may pay $657M in WTC dust suit; Reid's wife, daughter injured in crash; Biden urges Israeli, Palestinian peace - 03/12/2010

New York to pay $657 million to settle World Trade suits

New York -- After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing the city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center. - 03/11/2010

6 Mich. women honored for WWII pilot duty

Washington -- They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered "real" military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home. - 03/11/2010

Mexico's Slim becomes 'world's richest' person

Mexico City -- Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the first man from a developing nation to become the world's richest person -- a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club. - 03/11/2010

'Jihad Jane' shows changing threat

Philadelphia -- The self-dubbed "Jihad Jane" who thought her blond, all-American profile would help mask her plan to kill a Swedish cartoonist is a rare case of a U.S. woman inciting foreign terrorism and shows the latest evolution of the global threat, authorities say. - 03/11/2010

Analysis crucial in crafting no-fly list

Washington -- It starts with a tip, a scrap of intelligence, a fingerprint lifted from a suspected terrorist's home. It ends when a person is forbidden to board a plane -- a decision by about six experts from the Transportation Security Administration. - 03/11/2010

Quarrel strains U.S. ties in Israel

Ramallah, West Bank -- An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal. - 03/11/2010

Senate passes aid for jobless

Washington -- The Senate voted Wednesday to extend key pieces of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor. - 03/11/2010