Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials. The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed...

U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives on the southern outskirts of Baghdad within 10 minutes Thursday in one of the biggest airstrikes of the war, flattening what the military called safe havens for al-Qaida in Iraq. The massive attack, carried out above approaching U.S....

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, intends to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the White House in a timely slap at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as his own vice presidential running mate. Kerry planned to deliver his endorsement in South Carolina at a time,...

Saying ''the wolf is back'' at the door, Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger proposed a constitutional amendment in his State of the State address Tuesday that would force automatic cuts to the state budget to avoid large deficits like the one he is now facing. The governor wants cuts triggered when state finances...

Vote-by-mail ballots go out this week in the nation's most populous state, forcing presidential campaigns to consider using scarce dollars to lure early California voters while contests unfold in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. More than half the total votes in California's Feb. 5 primary...

Howling winds, pelting rain and heavy snow pummeled California on Friday, toppling trees, flipping big rigs, cutting power to more than a million people and threatening mudslides in fire-scarred areas. Flights were grounded in Northern California as gusts reached 80 mph during the second wave of an...

Homeowners still struggling to rebuild their lives after last fall's wildfires are preparing for downpours that could bring more than a foot of rain to some mudslide-prone mountain canyons. A trio of rainstorms -- possibly the most rain the region has seen in three years -- is expected to hit Southern...

Police used tear gas, water cannons and batons Thursday to block thousands of people from protesting Kenya's disputed election amid a political deadlock between the president and his chief rival. The U.S. and Europe pushed for reconciliation, but said a ''made-in-Kenya solution'' is needed to end...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Presidential candidates are making a final plea to Iowans: turn out for tomorrow's caucuses. Democrat Barack Obama says the ''only thing that counts'' is showing up. And Republican Mike Huckabee is urging followers to ''rent a van'' or even ''hijack your church's bus'' to get...

Kenya's opposition leader rejected a presidential invitation for talks, saying Tuesday that the proposal would undermine international attempts to end an election standoff that has left more than 500 people dead. The president named his Cabinet, undeterred by accusations he stole the vote. The developments...