Pirates, poverty mark failure of American policy
WASHINGTON, DC (AP): The Bush administration inherited a mess in strategic Somalia and may be leaving President-elect Barack Obama with a worse one. The explosion of piracy off Somalia's coast is an attention-grabbing product of internal chaos ...

VATICAN CITY - Good heavens! Vatican rehabilitating Galileo
VATICAN CITY (AP): Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero.The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's...

CUBA - Castro's grip firm as Cuba's revolution turns 50
HAVANA, Cuba (AP):In the palace of a fallen dictator, the grade-school kids in their red Communist Pioneer bandanas are getting their mandatory introduction to the glories of the revolution.Clattering from one display case to the next, they gaze...

UNITED STATES - Bush hands autos off to Obama
WASHINGTON, DC (AP): President George W. Bush's $17- billion loan lifeline to General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC means neither company will perish while he occupies the White House, yet leaves the ultimate fate of the once-proud auto industry ...