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BOSTON – Faculty members confronted Harvard president Lawrence Summers (search) at a tense meeting where some questioned whether he could still lead the university after recently suggesting innate differences help explain why more men than women excel in math and science. Some professors said Tuesday that Summers had a responsibility …

RICHMOND, Va. – A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage (search) in Virginia easily won final approval Saturday by both chambers of the General Assembly. The measure would have to be approved again by the Legislature next year and ratified by voters in the 2006 general election before it …

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A confessed serial killer (search), who last year received a life prison sentence for killing a woman in 1979, was ordered Tuesday to stand trial in a second Michigan killing. A judge ruled there was enough evidence for Coral Eugene Watts (search), 51, to stand trial in …

LOS ANGELES – Mudslides trapped people in their homes Monday and forced others to flee as Southern California was soaked by yet another of the powerful storms that have pounded the region this winter. At least four deaths were blamed on the weather and part of the area’s commuter rail …

In some public schools math teachers do more than teach algebra and geometry — they give their students lessons intended to purge what they consider racism. The “anti-racist education” program in place at Newton Public Schools in Newton, Mass., a wealthy, liberal niche of the Bay State, has angered some …

WASHINGTON – Even with a cease-fire pledge from Israeli and Palestinian leaders, President Bush (search) is moving slowly to involve himself and U.S. prestige in the always risky, often disappointing Mideast peace process (search). The fizzling of 10 announced cease-fires over the past four years is a sobering lesson for …

WASHINGTON – Two Republican lawmakers suggested Wednesday that U.S. money for the United Nations could be tied to reforms in the wake of the Oil-for-Food (search) scandal and allegations of corruption in other U.N. programs. The United Nations “suffers from crippling questions about its effectiveness,” the lawmakers wrote Secretary-General Kofi …

LOS ANGELES – A celebrity makeup artist has filed a $25 million lawsuit against rapper Snoop Dogg (search), alleging he and several men in his entourage drugged and raped her two years ago. The woman also claims that one of Snoop Dogg’s associates beat her following a taping of ABC’s …

WASHINGTON – Two women who voted in recent elections in Iraq and Afghanistan and the parents of an American soldier killed in recent fighting were Laura Bush’s (search) special guests in her VIP box at President Bush’s State of the Union address Wednesday. Safia Taleb al-Suhail of Iraq and Homira …

NEW YORK – Hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons (search) has joined other celebrities and activists who have criticized Kentucky Fried Chicken (search), saying he will call for a boycott if the company doesn’t reform its slaughter practices. Simmons called slaughter practices used by the fast-food chain’s suppliers “grossly inhumane” and has …