Dick_martin_obit

Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. He was 86.

Mars_mission

NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has successfully landed near Mars' north pole for a 90-day digging mission. Mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated after the Phoenix signaled back that it had survived Sunday's fiery entry.

South_africa_violence

Anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa have claimed dozens of lives and sent thousands of immigrants out of the country.

TX_polygamy

Child welfare authorities in Texas have agreed to reunite 12 children with their parents as the legal battle between the state agency and the polygamist sect appears headed to the state supreme court.

Hotel_explosion

An explosion rocked a hotel under construction Monday, ripping off part of the building's facade, sending debris flying and injuring 14 workers, five critically, authorities said. Fire officials say the blast appeared to be accidental.

Polygamist_preview

The parents of the more than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch will begin Monday laying out their individual cases and learning what they must do to regain custody.

Santa_cruz_fire

Gusty winds are fanning a wildfire that has burned at least 10 homes and more than 2,500 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. No injuries have been reported, but about 1,400 homes are under evacuation orders -- more than 300 of them mandatory.

CA_windy_weather

At least one person was injured by winds that gusted past 70 mph in the Los Angeles area, knocking trees and power lines onto vehicles.

Mex_jailed_donkey

A Mexican donkey has been freed from jail. He spent 3 days in a facility that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances.

Pitbull_attack

Texas police say a 7-year-old boy died after he was attacked by pit bulls while playing outside near his rural home. Four dogs were involved in the attack. Two were shot and killed and the other two remain in custody.

Mexico_bus_crash

At least 24 people were killed and 20 injured when their bus plunged into a ravine in a remote part of central Mexico.

NC_missing_child

Police are searching for a young boy who disappeared from a flea market parking lot in North Carolina on Sunday.

AUS_shark_attack

An Australian swimmer who was mauled by a 16-foot shark and survived said on Sunday he saw a shadow in the water seconds before the attack and thought it was a dolphin.

Tiger_attack

A female tiger clawed a worker at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. The zookeeper was treated and released from the hospital.

China_latest

The death toll has topped 32,000 following last week's earthquake in China. Meanwhile, the government has allowed foreign rescue teams into the country for the first time. Meanwhile, the Olympic torch relay will be suspended for 3 days.

Myanmar_latest

An aid agency is warning that thousands of children in Myanmar will starve to death within two to three weeks if they don't get food quickly. It's been more than two week's since the Southeast Asian nation suffered a devastating cyclone.

Sean_taylor_suspect

In Florida, a 16-year-old is facing a murder charge in the slaying of Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor. He's the fifth suspect in the case, where the football star was shot during a botched robbery.

Amusement_park_ax

14-year-old Kaitlyn Lassiter talks publicly for the first time about the amusement park ride that severed both of her feet last summer. She was on Capitol Hill to support a bill calling for federal oversight of amusement parks.

Greensburg_residents

President Bush is visiting Greensburg, Kansas, today, on the first anniversary of the town's destruction by a Tornado that brought 205-mile-an-hour winds and killed eleven.

Baby_names

Jacob and Emily are the year's most popular baby names, according to the Social Security Administration. It's been keeping a list since 1997, and has naming data going back to 1880.

China_earthquake

A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing about 10,000 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades.

Texas_sinkhole

Geologists said a 260-foot-deep sinkhole that grew to the length of three football fields over just two days seemed to be slowing down but that it could take months before it's clear whether surrounding areas are stable.

OK_tornados

A tornado ripped through a 20-block swath of Picher, Okla. late Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri where tornadoes took the lives of at least 14 others, authorities said.

Myanmar_cyclone

Myanmar's state-run television is reporting that more than more than 350 people have died from a powerful cyclone, a U.N. official says.

Colombian_warlords

Colombia extradited 14 senior paramilitary leaders to the United States on Tuesday on drug-related charges, in a surprise move that brought praise from Washington but raised fears that justice will be thwarted for thousands of victims.

In_obama_threat

Authorities evacuated and searched three Barack Obama campaign offices in Indiana on Tuesday after a bomb threat was made while people voted in the state's primary.

KY_plane_crash

A small plane crashed upside-down into a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky shortly after takeoff Wednesday. Only the pilot sustained injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

Somali_riots

Hundreds of people protested in the streets of Mogadishu because of soaring food prices and rising inflation. The United Nations warns that millions of people could go hungry.

Baby_ghb

A 3-year-old California girl was hospitalized after police say she drank water laced with GHB, the so-called 'date rape' drug. The child's mother says she thought she was giving her daughter a regular bottle of water.

Slower_flights

Airlines are trying to slow planes down, but just by a little bit. It's a new technique being adopted by some major carriers to save money on fuel.

VA_tornado

Three tornadoes destroyed homes and tossed cars and injured more than 200 people as they carved a path through central and southeastern Virginia.

Giuliani_egan

New York Cardinal Edward Egan says Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the Pope's visit because the former mayor supports abortion rights.

Yahoo_microsoft

Microsoft Corp. withdrew its $42.3 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc. on Saturday, scrapping an attempt to snap up the tarnished Internet icon in hopes of toppling online search and advertising leader Google Inc.

Chile_volcano

A volcanic eruption in southern Chile has authorities evacuating hundreds of residents in nearby villages. The government has declared a state of emergency.

Cuba_computers

For the first time ever, the average Cuban is being allowed to buy a desktop computer. It's the latest freedom offered by Cuba's president, Raul Castro.

Socal_wildfires

Firefighters say they have gained ground on a 400-acre wildfire they've been battling all weekend near Los Angeles. The early season wildfire has forced the evacuation of at least 1,000 people.

China_train_collision

A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 400 in China's worst train accident in a decade.