Nation News

Lawyer says 9/11 defendants will plead not guilty so they can express their political views Read More

A month of harsh words between Rep. Patrick Kennedy and a strident critic, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, escalated Sunday when the bishop acknowledged asking Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights. Read More

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday. Read More

Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz say dozens of protesters who were occupying the university's main administrative building have ended their protest. Read More

A subway passenger stabbed to death in front of horrified straphangers has been identified as 36-year-old Dwight Johnson of Brooklyn. Read More

The Kentucky Historical Society has been displaying and publicizing a pair of earrings as having belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln, but others aren't as sure about their authenticity. Read More

Authorities say a 12-year-old boy assaulted by a group of middle school classmates in Southern California may have been targeted after an Internet posting urged students to beat up redheads. Read More

The man considered the father of lethal injection in the United States said it doesn't matter whether three fatal drugs are used or one _ as his home state of Ohio has proposed _ as long as the drug works efficiently. Read More

The Roman Catholic bishop of Rhode Island said Sunday that he asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy in a 2007 letter to stop receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, because of the congressman's public stance on moral issues. Read More

India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has arrived in Washington for a visit to be highlighted by an official welcoming ceremony and a state dinner at the White House with President Barack Obama. Read More

Authorities say a couple and a 14-year-old boy have been killed in a fiery freeway crash in Southern California that two younger children managed to survive. Read More

In the days before Fred Alvarez was shot execution-style with two friends on his verandah, the strapping Cabazon tribal leader feared he was a marked man: His motorcycle had been tampered with, his mailbox shot up and his house ransacked. Read More

Investigators say a fire that destroyed businesses on the famous Atlantic City boardwalk apparently started in a pizza shop. Read More

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake has rattled Southern California's Big Bear Lake area, followed by a sharp aftershock. Read More

The gunman who killed four people and wounded nine in a shooting rampage on the Pacific island of Saipan was identified Sunday as a Chinese national believed to be employed at the shooting range where the deaths occurred. Read More

The U.S. government resettled Mazen Alsaqa in Massachusetts in February. Within a month, the Iraqi refugee moved to Michigan. Read More

Virginia Military Institute is defending itself against a lengthy investigation into accusations that the school's policies are sexist and hostile toward female cadets, a dozen years after women won the right to enroll. Read More

The Roman Catholic bishop of Rhode Island said Sunday that he asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy in a 2007 letter to stop receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, because of the congressman's public stance on moral issues. Read More

(Stations: Please substitute the following for V3958, slugged RI Bishop-Kennedy, which moved at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time. The new version CORRECTS Kennedy not disclosing how bishop told him of ban sted in discussions.) Read More

A low-pressure system that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico the past few days, bringing rain to the Gulf Coast, was expected to finally move inland into the Southeast on Sunday. This was likely to translate to widespread rain and even a few thunderstorms in the area even as the system weakens while moving toward the Southeast coast. Read More