AP - The use of a cutting torch and flawed construction of a safety barrier caused a May 20 explosion at an eastern Kentucky coal mine that killed five miners, a state investigation has concluded.

AP - A convicted rapist who escaped with three federal inmates from the town jail, using metal torn from a mop bucket to carve a hole in the ceiling, was captured Friday, police said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington's elite mingled with artistic icons at the Kennedy Center Honors on Saturday, paying tribute to five people for their lifetime contributions to the arts and American culture.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fast food outlets are common inside U.S. children's hospitals, leading more patients to consume hamburgers and fries and encouraging them to view the fare as healthier than it probably is, a study said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Monday said a Pakistani living in New York wired money and tried to send foot soldiers to a Sikh militant organization aimed at violently forcing India's government into letting the group form its own state.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea rejected a third batch of U.S. beef, this time from Iowa, after bone chips the size of pea were found in a package, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday, adding it plans to return the 10.2-ton shipment.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Thursday will attempt to launch its third space shuttle mission in six months, a healthy pace the agency needs to maintain to finish work on the International Space Station before the shuttles stop flying in four years.

AP - A drill planned to demonstrate the Navy's ability to knock down two incoming missiles at once from the same ship failed off Hawaii's coast on Thursday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.

AP - A fire raged at a large apartment complex Friday evening, killing two people, critically injuring two others and forcing rescuers to pluck trapped residents from balconies, authorities said.

AP - A missing month-old boy kidnapped at knifepoint was taken as payment because his parents failed to pay human smugglers, police said Saturday.

AP - A Gallaudet University alumnus and former professor was named interim president of the nation's premier school for the deaf, the university announced Sunday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President Bush weighs options for changing course in Iraq, Americans are more pessimistic on the war and most support a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global economic growth has reached a turning point with a slowdown now clearly under way, led by the United States, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

AP - A man accused of planning to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and several federal buildings said he was never going to stage a terrorist attack, a statement released Wednesday said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans will spend nearly 10 hours a day watching television, surfing the Internet, reading books, newspapers and magazines and listening to music this year, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Friday.

AP - Jose Padilla's lawyers say the accused al-Qaida operative has mental problems stemming from his treatment during 3 1/2 years in solitary confinement and have asked a federal judge to decide whether he is competent to stand trial.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony and nine other players were ejected after an ugly incident marred the end of the Denver Nuggets' 123-100 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight congregations in the Virginia Diocese of the Episcopal Church voted overwhelming to break away, the Church announced on Sunday, in the latest sign of a rift in the U.S. denomination over its ordination of a gay bishop.

AP - It was the sort of commonplace misbehavior that raises blood pressure across the nation's roads: kids, out after midnight, egging cars along a busy thoroughfare.

AP - Louisiana has distributed less than $2 billion in federal aid to communities hit by Hurricane Katrina, drawing complaints from some New Orleans officials that the state is slowing their recovery.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA kept a close eye on worrisome weather forecasts on Thursday at its primary space shuttle landing sites, where low clouds and high winds threatened to interfere with Discovery's scheduled landing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Louisiana lost nearly 5 percent of its population between July 2005 and July 2006, a time span that encompasses Hurricane Katrina, the Census Bureau said on Friday.

AP - Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, charged a well-known abortion provider with illegally performing late-term abortions, but a Sedgwick County judge on Friday threw out the charges after less than a day.

AP - A former paratrooper who admitted abandoning his post because he disagreed with the U.S. mission in Iraq was freed from a military prison Saturday, stopping in Raleigh to greet supporters before he headed home to Washington state.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Hispanic groups and activists on Thursday called for a moratorium on workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants, with some saying they were reminiscent of Nazi crackdowns on Jews in the 1930s.

DALLAS (Reuters) - The Philadelphia Eagles gave their fans the perfect Christmas present on Monday, clinching a playoff spot with a 23-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

AP - Authorities were trying to figure out Tuesday how dozens of pieces of luggage belonging to air travelers ended up in a trash bin behind a Houston pet store.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger's leg-breaking ski accident proves he is hardly as indestructible as the 'Terminator' he played in the movies, and an eyewitness account of the mishap suggests he's less coordinated, too.

AP - A car being chased by police spun out of control, crashed into a home and killed a man in his living room, authorities said.

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Americans welcomed the execution of Saddam Hussein as justice served but the hanging did little to shift focus from the debate over America's future in Iraq.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - It would be 'awesome' if 'TomKat' and other combined nicknames for celebrity couples 'went missing' in the New Year, a Michigan university said on Sunday in its annual list of cliches deserving banishment.