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Black Friday shopping is expected to pick up more than 16 percent this year, according to a survey released Tuesday.

President Obama will announce within days whether he will send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the White House said late Monday night.

Authorities have begun questioning witnesses to a confrontation that led to a BART police officer shoving an unruly man into a window, a top official said Monday.

Gunmen kidnapped and killed at least 21 people in the Philippines today in what a presidential adviser called the most "gruesome massacre of civilians" in recent history.

A dispute over abortion between the only remaining Kennedy in Congress and his Roman Catholic bishop has highlighted the political volatility of the issue.

At least one -- and possibly all five -- of the detainees with alleged ties to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, will plead not guilty in a "justification defense," arguing the attacks were responses to American foreign policy, according to a lawyer who met with one of the defendants.

Huddling under umbrellas in a chilly rain, friends, relatives and comrades gathered at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to lay to rest another of the victims of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.

Eight Somali-American men from Minnesota are charged with federal terror-related counts for attempting to recruit fighters for al-Shabaab, a Somali group considered a terror organization by the United States, officials said Monday.

Heidi Klum has officially changed her name to Heidi Samuel, taking Seal's last name, four years and four kids after getting hitched.

The South Carolina Ethics Commission has charged Gov. Mark Sanford with 37 counts of violating state ethics laws, according to a complaint released by the commission on Monday.

Khloe Kardashian and her new husband, basketball player Lamar Odom, have found themselves a newlywed love nest.

The suspected link between Chinese drywall and toxic effects reported by thousands of U.S. homeowners was strengthened Monday by three government reports.

More than 9,000 hate crime offenses -- more than half of them motivated by racial bias -- were reported last year, the FBI announced Monday.

The Iraqi parliament passed an amended election law Monday, but it failed to address concerns of the country's Sunni Arab vice president. That raised doubts about whether nationwide elections will take place as constitutionally required in January.

Air travelers bracing themselves for the annual Thanksgiving rush this week may have something else to fret about: passengers who could be bringing a little extra baggage of the viral kind on board.

After dismal elections in 2006 and 2008, Republicans hope signs of discomfort with President Obama's agenda will turn into gains in governors' mansions in 2010.

The body of a United Nations worker, who had been missing for 24 years, has been found in eastern Lebanon, a representative of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

Senate Democrats cleared a major hurdle this weekend by voting to move ahead with debate on health care reform, but it was hardly a unified party standing behind the bill.

Sarah Palin's book tour came through my city the other day and I scooted over to the mall, looking to get an autograph and a handshake.

Global warming could wipe out $28 trillion worth of assets in the world's largest coastal cities as melting ice caps push sea levels higher, a new report warns.

Two fingers cut from the hand of Italian astronomer Galileo nearly 300 years ago have been rediscovered more than a century after they were last seen, an Italian museum director said Monday.

Senate Democrats barely won a vote to debate a health care bill and already are talking about changes."We are open because we want to pass the bill," Sen. Dick Durbin said.

Georgia officials have agreed to exhume the body of the ex-fiancé of a "Real Housewives of Atlanta" cast member to get a second look at what may have caused his death.

Authorities at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear plant were investigating what caused a weekend radiation leak that resulted in 150 workers being sent home, officials said Sunday.

Defender Robbie Russell led Real Salt Lake to an upset win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday night in a penalty shootout that gave the underdogs victory in extended time and the Major League Soccier Cup title.

Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician at the center of the homicide investigation into singer Michael Jackson's death, has resumed his practice.

Online auction giant eBay apologized Sunday for a daylong glitch that inactivated the search function on its Web site, and said it will compensate sellers for their losses.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Over and over again, I have asked people a simple question: Why is Jimmie Johnson better at racing stock cars than anyone else? Sunday, he finished fifth at the Ford 400, and with that he became the first driver in NASCAR history to win four championships in a row.