The G-8 countries — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — also called on all major economies to join in the effort to stem the potentially dangerous rise in world temperatures.

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb has removed himself from consideration for vice president. 

The West’s wildfire season comes on earlier and lasts longer every year as climate changes dry out the woods and suburban sprawl pushes people deeper into it.

The men didn’t wave to reporters or bend down to kiss the ground upon their return late Wednesday. They simply boarded waiting helicopters, which took them to a hospital where they were expected to reunite with their families.

Police unearthed Brooke Bennett’s body Wednesday from a makeshift grave about a mile from her uncle’s house, ending a weeklong search for the subject of Vermont’s first Amber Alert.

For nearly three weeks, 15 bottlenose dolphins have drawn crowds along the Shrewsbury River between Sea Bright and Rumson. But the July Fourth holiday has wildlife officials worried about heavy boat traffic in the river because of a nearby fireworks display.

Nicholas T. Sheley faces first-degree murder, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking charges in two deaths out of eight that officials in the Midwest believe he may have committed. Authorities say evidence links him to each crime scene.

Since his approval ratings began to plummet, Bush has rarely opted to visit college towns such as Charlottesville.

A Palestinian man plowed an enormous construction vehicle into cars, buses and pedestrians on a busy street Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding at least 45 before he was shot dead by an off-duty soldier.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will not step down and Western critics who called the country’s recent election a sham can “go hang,” the longtime ruler’s spokesman said Tuesday.

John McCain has changed his mind about the president’s tax cuts and drilling for oil off the U.S. coast, but the Republican presidential hopeful says his advocacy of free trade is unyielding.

The rebuilding of the World Trade Center site is over budget and years behind schedule — including the Sept. 11 memorial that was once expected to open on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

A 42-year-old chimpanzee who is toilet-trained and can eat with a knife and fork is believed to be at large in a Southern California forest after escaping his cage.

More than a thousand wildfires — including a massive, stubborn blaze in the Big Sur region — were burning early Monday in Northern California and there was no relief in sight for weary firefighters.

Soldier injured in Iraqi fighting finds new mission and purpose with U.S. Army’s Special Forces despite losing his eyesight to enemy fire.

Man named as “person of interest” in federal anthrax probe settles lawsuit against Justice Department for $5.8 million.

North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program Friday, blasting apart the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.

Federal aid may come to late inundated Midwest farmers and the regulations surrounding the aid could limit late-season planting and crop harvesting in the nation’s biggest region for producing corn and other crops.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.

Severe thunderstorms rattled northern Missouri early Thursday, threatening to add even more rain to the swollen Mississippi River and complicate efforts to keep the river from engulfing this community.

President Bush said Thursday he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an “axis of evil.”

Approaching storms worry Missourians as Mississippi laps at levees

An Italian architect said he is poised to start construction on a new skyscraper in Dubai that will be “the world’s first building in motion,” an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape.

The militant group Hamas said it remains committed to a cease-fire with Israel, but will not act as Israel’s “police force” in confronting militants who breach the truce.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.

Missouri county’s last levee leaking, shaky and insecure as crews try to shore it up and protect nearby homes.

Disgruntled employee shoots, kills four coworkers at a Kentucky plastics plant this morning.

One by one, in low voices, dozens of scared children told of being tortured by the Kenyan army because they were suspected of aiding rebels. They told of being beaten and made to shake hands with corpses. 

The swollen Mississippi River burst through yet another levee Tuesday, not endangering any towns but proving to anxious Midwesterners that the high water is still a threat.

Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.