Nation and World

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A lawsuit in Wisconsin is bringing a fresh challenge to the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A wavering centrist Democrat said Friday he'd stand with Senate Democratic leaders on a crucial weekend test vote on their sweeping health care bill amid indications other moderates would fall in line.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan expressed fear Friday that a large increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan could push militants across the border into its territory and called on the U.S. to factor in that concern as part of its new war strategy.

MOSCOW (AP) — Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev criticized Kremlin policies Friday and toyed with the ambitious idea of attempting a political comeback.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader on Friday urged the country's fractious political blocs to resolve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A teenager accused of killing a 9-year-old neighbor was sent to a mental hospital after her attorney said she showed signs of severe depression and anxiety.

WASHINGTON — Soup kitchen workers are seeing new faces in line and charities are taking more calls for help as the recession makes for a less-than-bountiful Thanksgiving.

CHICAGO – Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience Friday that she would end her show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air, saying "prayer and careful thought" led her to her decision.

Where would Hollywood be without that old standby, the vampire-werewolf-schoolgirl love triangle?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.

ANTAVILIAI, Lithuania (AP) — The austere building stands in the middle of a remote, thick forest surrounded by a high fence and numerous surveillance cameras.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York juries are often loath to impose the death penalty, even for terrorists.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A small, family-owned Connecticut newspaper sued the state's largest newspaper Thursday, saying it repeatedly plagiarized stories after cutting its own reporting staff to save money.

Nestle, which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the U.S., says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's top court on Thursday rejected a Christian legal group's challenge to some government benefits provided to gay couples legally married elsewhere and now living in New York.

WASHINGTON – Women should continue getting regular mammograms starting at age 40, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday, moving to douse confusion caused by a task-force recommendation two days earlier.

WASHINGTON – From opposite ends of the globe, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed.

What happens in California tends to serve as a bellwether for the rest of the country. A study released last week by the Pew Center on the States warned that at least nine other states, including Illinois, face similar economic peril.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and executed as Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed: "Failure is not an option."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tell Americans that letting the government sell insurance in competition with private industry would be cheaper for them, and a majority is in favor.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is about to pick its very first president, a post conjured up after years of tortuous political machination to give the bloc a unified voice on the world stage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budding economic recovery is getting little help from the home building industry, which normally creates jobs and boosts growth as a recession ends.

BEIRUT (AP) — An Iranian doctor who went public with reports of tortured protesters he treated at Tehran's most feared detention facility dies, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide — raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space shuttle Atlantis closed in on the International Space Station on Wednesday for a high-flying linkup and supply drop.

NEW YORK  — Sarah Palin said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that a 2012 presidential bid is "not on my radar," but wouldn't rule out playing some role in the next presidential election.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has sentenced five defendants to death in a mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the unrest that followed the disputedJune presidential election, state television reported Tuesday.

BEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama's first visit to China underscored a shifting balance of power: two giants moving closer to being equals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will investigate its procedures in light of the Fort Hood shooting rampage, looking at how all the military services keep a watch on potential problems in their ranks, officials said Tuesday.

BERLIN (AP) — Former SS sergeant Adolf Storms lived in Germany unnoticed for more than six decades after World War II until an Austrian university student last year came across his name while researching a 1945 massacre of Jewish forced laborers.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish political leaders threatened Tuesday to boycott January's national elections unless Kurdish areas receive more seats in parliament, throwing into doubt the vote which could determine how quickly U.S. troops can go home.

BERLIN (AP) — Two top leaders of a mostly ethnic Hutu militia were arrested in Germany Tuesday on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity in Congo.

BEIJING – Seeking help with an array of global troubles, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that his closely watched talks with his Chinese counterpart are vital not just for their nations but the world.

LONDON (AP) — Britain's first convicted war criminal said Monday that some of his fellow soldiers frequently beat Iraqi detainees.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Monday he was pressed by his advisers to attack Iran during the hostage crisis there more than 30 years ago but resisted because he feared 20,000 Iranians could have died.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space shuttle Atlantis rocketed into orbit Monday with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the International Space Station.

ATLANTA (AP) — The nation's largest publisher of newspapers serving the gay and lesbian community has shut down.

TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents fired two rockets Monday into a crowded market northeast of Kabul where the head of French forces in Afghanistan was holding a meeting with tribal elders. The attack killed 12 Afghan civilians and wounded at least another 38, the French military said.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms abducted and killed at least 13 people in a village west of Baghdad, in what some described as revenge against Sunnis who helped fight al-Qaida, Iraqi officials said Monday.

VIENNA (AP) — Iranian technicians have moved highly sophisticated technical equipment into a previously secret uranium enrichment site in preparation for starting it up in 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a new report Monday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A senior U.S. Air Force official said Monday he expects the force's involvement in the United Arab Emirates to continue and potentially expand.

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — After drug giant Pfizer Inc. announced that it was opening a new research center here, city officials aggressively moved to acquire surrounding land for an economic development project — triggering an epic fight over eminent domain that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and ended with residents being forced from their homes.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off today: About 100 of NASA’s geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets.

SINGAPORE – President Barack Obama said Sunday that “time is running out” for Iran to sign on to a deal to ship its enriched uranium out of the country for further processing, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes to persuade Iran to send its enriched uranium to his country.

CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Sunday tried to build support and counter criticism of a proposal to sell a prison in rural northwestern Illinois to the federal government to house Guantanamo Bay detainees and other inmates.