GLENCOE, Ala. – A suspicious fire did minor damage to the exterior of a small church, but authorities said Monday they don’t know whether it was linked to a string of suspected arsons that have damaged or destroyed 10 rural churches in Alabama. Johnny Chambers, acting chief of the Glencoe …

PHILADELPHIA – Gov. Ed Rendell says he will veto a bill that would require voters to show identification at the polls because he believes it would disenfranchise some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. “At a time in our nation’s history when voter participation is dropping to alarming levels, the …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Rioting inmates at Kabul’s main prison agreed to halt violence late Monday and prison authorities restored supplies of water, electricity and food cut off a day earlier in an attempt to put down the revolt, officials said. The sounds of gunfire and inmates shouting “God is Great” …

WASHINGTON – U.S. Capitol Police called off an alert Tuesday after a brief investigation of a suspicious package found in a parking garage of the Hart Senate Office Building. Police had announced that people should avoid the area, though Senate business in the building continued. No evacuations were ordered. There …

WASHINGTON – A letter from a Sago coal miner trapped in the Jan. 2 disaster in West Virginia that killed him and 11 others described smoky conditions underground and his fading hope of being rescued, the man’s daughter disclosed at a congressional hearing Monday. Holding back tears, Sarah Bailey, the …

WASHINGTON – With congressional lobbying reform plans cropping up faster than a Washington power player can say, “Check, please,” it seems almost a foregone conclusion that a bill will become law no later than the fall midterm election, political observers say. But whether the final rules actually will work is …

UNITED NATIONS – Now that the U.N. atomic watchdog agency has agreed to report Iran to the Security Council, diplomats have vastly different notions about how the body should be involved in negotiations to make sure Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon. The five permanent council members …

PEORIA, Ill. – Dick Winkler says most boaters won’t drop anchor this summer despite fuel costs that could top a wallet-squeezing $3.50 a gallon at Illinois marinas. “You know what boat stands for, don’t you? `Break Out Another Thousand (dollars),'” Winkler joked as he spruced up his houseboat at a …

HENDERSON, Ky. – Police found the bodies of two women Sunday inside a sport utility vehicle that had plunged into the Ohio River, and were searching for four men a survivor said also were in the SUV. A woman who managed to swim to shore told police she was riding …

MOSCOW – Russia on Monday launched one of the largest anti-terrorism drills in recent years in its troubled south, involving 32,000 personnel from the police, intelligence and military branches of the security forces, media reports said. The exercises began in the Rostov region with a simulated terror attack by militants …