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BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. troops battled arms smugglers and fighters near the Iraqi town of Qaim (search) along the Syrian border Tuesday, killing an unknown number of foreign insurgents, the U.S. military said. Local hospital officials reported at least nine people killed in clashes in the same area, and said …

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A California law granting domestic partners (search) nearly identical legal rights as married couples does not conflict with a voter-approved ban on gay marriage (search), a state appeals court ruled. California’s domestic partner law represents the nation’s most sweeping recognition of domestic partner rights short of Massachusetts, …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents brought down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians with missile fire north of the capital Thursday and said they captured and shot to death the lone crew member who survived. The dead from the crash included six American bodyguards for U.S. diplomats. The chartered flight was …

WASHINGTON – Zacarias Moussaoui (search) asked for nothing in exchange for pleading guilty to a role in a terrorist conspiracy that includes the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an admission that could bring the death penalty, federal officials said. Moussaoui’s unusual intention to plead guilty to a six-count indictment without striking …

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department (search) arrested 57 illegal immigrants last month working at airports and other risk-sensitive facilities around the country, underscoring concerns that lax employment background checks are leaving a security breach for terrorists to exploit. In one example, a Peruvian was hired as an airplane mechanic …

TEL AVIV, Israel – Former Israeli President Ezer Weizman (search), a flying ace and crack military commander who built up the nation’s air force and helped bring about the Jewish state’s first peace treaty with an Arab country, died Sunday. He was 80. Weizman, who was president from 1993 to …

WASHINGTON – President Bush (search) on Tuesday called newly elected Pope Benedict XVI a “man of great wisdom and knowledge.” He is “a man who serves the Lord,” Bush said of the pope, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (search), who has been a leading church hard-liner. Bush, standing next to first …

CARACAS, Venezuela – The United States’ top diplomat in Venezuela on Monday denied claims by President Hugo Chavez (search) that a woman linked to the U.S. military had been arrested while photographing a military installation. “I am absolutely sure that there was no detention of any U.S. official or soldier …

HOUSTON – The wife of a former top Enron Corp. (search) executive who killed himself after the company fell apart challenged how her husband was portrayed in a documentary that was screened for former Enron employees Tuesday at half-price. The film, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” (search) opens …

Despite an increase in national funding, Idaho and 10 other states continue to have waiting lists for low-income HIV and AIDS patients (search) who need help paying for prescription drugs, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance of State AIDS Directors. “These are lifesaving …