Senate leader calls off vote on auto bailout

The Senate's top Democrat has called off a planned vote this week on a $25 billion auto industry bailout.

Hungry in Zimbabwe: 'If you rest, you starve'

Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days.

NYT: Daschle poses conflict-of-interest test

The choice of Tom Daschle for secretary of health and human services poses questions about how broadly Barack Obama will apply campaign promises to limit conflicts of interest among appointees.

Patience, politeness training for airport workers

Employees at Newark Liberty International Airport are getting training in patience and politeness to help them handle the crush of stressed-out holiday travelers.

Community colleges suddenly in spotlight
Long the neglected stepchildren of American higher education, community colleges have come front-and-center in the eyes of students, policymakers and philanthropists.

It's North vs. South in Big Three bailout fight

Should taxpayers in Alabama be asked to help bail out Big Three automakers whose plants are concentrated in Northern states such as Michigan and Ohio? How the auto industry pits North against South.

McDonald's courts moms as emissaries

McDonald's has recruited mothers to go behind the scenes of the company's operations, meet senior executives and then communicate what they see via the Web in a bid to brighten its image.

Teen lives 118 days without a heart
An American teenager survived for nearly four months without a heart, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant.

Calif. court takes up gay marriage ban
California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.