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.

U.S. intel office adds warming to warnings

A major U.S. intelligence report coming out Thursday  is adding climate change to the "traditional" mix of factors expected to destabilize the world into the near future.

Lawyers visit secret Gitmo camp
For the first time, defense lawyers have been allowed to see a section of the Guantanamo prison that is so restricted, even its location on the U.S. base is secret.

G'day! Hugh Jackman is new Sexiest Man Alive

Hugh Jackman, People's 2008 Sexiest Man Alive, is a romantic in a hard body who leaves women saying "Oh ... my ... God."

Wall Street drops to more than 5-year low
Wall Street hit levels not seen since 2003 on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging below the 8,000 mark amid a dour economic outlook from the Fed.

Blast kills 1, wounds 23 at Thai PM's office

A grenade attack on anti-government protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's office killed one person and wounded at least 23 early Thursday, an army official and protesters said.

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.

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.

New penguin found, 500 years after extinction

Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.