WASHINGTON - Two giant mortgage companies get into hot water over risky investments. The government steps in to throw them a lifeline should they need it. Hundreds of thousands of Americans buy homes more expensive than they can afford. Congress approves a rescue package. Troubles erupt at a Wall Street investment firm that made bad bets on [...]

SAN FRANCISCO - Community groups are concerned about the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to build a giant fence down the middle of a park that marks the westernmost border between the United States and Mexico.”This is an area where families with members on both sides of the border can get together on the beach [...]

When Jon Stewart inaugurated his fake news anchor on The Daily Show eight years ago, his goal was to send up the hyperbolic and manufactured controversy of US Cable News and, if possible, be even more outrageous. Now, in a wonderful through-the-looking-glass moment, he has supplanted the subjects of his mockery in the country’s current [...]

WASHINGTON - Congress, pledging to clean up Washington’s culture of corruption, approved a rule last year to end the practice of lobbyists or their clients throwing lavish events honoring lawmakers at the parties’ national conventions. But the House ethics committee opened a huge loophole in the rule by issuing guidelines in December saying it was fine [...]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges. The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to see the studies that the EPA required when it [...]

LOS ANGELES - Two years after it was bulldozed, the 14-acre Los Angeles community garden known as the South Central Farm is being developed for a clothing chain with strong ties to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Forever 21, one of the city’s fastest-growing women’s apparel businesses, wants to operate a warehouse and distribution center on the site [...]

Gretchen Daily wants to protect the planet by convincing governments and big investors there’s money to be made - or at least saved - in preserving nature instead of exploiting it. It’s a fresh approach to conservation that is drawing international attention to this unpretentious Stanford biologist who has garnered some of the world’s most prestigious [...]

BURKE, N.Y. - Everywhere that Janet and Ken Tacy looked, the wind companies had been there first. Dozens of people in their small town had already signed lease options that would allow wind towers on their properties. Two Burke Town Board members had signed private leases even as they negotiated with the companies to establish a [...]

SAN FRANCISCO - No one knows less about food than us. We, the American people, having inherited an extraordinary and unprecedented wealth of native and immigrant culinary traditions and knowledge - a kind of Alexandrian library of edible wisdom - no longer know how to feed ourselves. We love fast food, whether it’s from a drive-through [...]

Think of the term “political documentary” and what likely comes to mind are Michael Moore diatribes or wonky war room backstage dramas. But documentaries come in all shapes and sizes, and few have done more to showcase all the varying degrees of the art form than Rory Kennedy. On Aug. 18, her newest project, “Thank You, [...]

Wastewater is widely used to irrigate urban agricultural land in developing countries, a practice that has both advantages and disadvantages, a 53-city study presented at a water conference in Stockholm showed Monday. Wastewater agriculture contributes importantly to urban food supplies and helps provide a livelihood for the poor, but can also lead to health risks for [...]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A commando at heart, and a man of often impetuous decisions, Pervez Musharraf ended Pakistan’s support of the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan after 9/11 and pledged to help the United States, becoming one of Washington’s most crucial allies in the campaign against terrorism. It was a bold stroke that boosted the Bush administration [...]

After more than six years as a prisoner of the United States, former TV cameraman Sami al-Hajj is back at work with Al-Jazeera, the largest broadcaster in the Arab world, a thorn in the side of most Arab governments - and, by most indications, a target of deep hostility from the Bush administration. Al-Hajj, 39, was [...]

TSKHINVALI, Georgia — As Russian troops pounded through Georgia last week, the Kremlin and its allies repeatedly pointed to one justification above all others: The Georgian military had destroyed the city of Tskhinvali. Russian politicians and their partners in Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region South Ossetia, said that when Georgian forces tried to seize control [...]

WASHINGTON  - U.S. prosecutors have sent letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards, possibly as a prelude to indictments for a shooting incident that killed 17 Iraqi civilians in September, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday editions. The newspaper, citing three sources close to the case, said prosecutors still are considering evidence after a 10-month [...]

At Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, back-to-school preparations include a debate over whether antiwar activists will be allowed at the school’s annual career day, just as military recruiters are. The effort is led by a Bridgewater-based group called Citizens for an Informed Community. Spokesman Vernon Domingo, a Bridgewater resident and Bridgewater State College geography professor, said the [...]

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday when the U.S. Congress returns next month from its summer recess, Democrats will offer legislation that could give oil companies drilling access to more offshore areas. By moving to open additional federal waters to energy exploration, Democrats could narrow the differences they have with Republicans on tackling [...]

KABUL - Military development and aid work in Afghanistan is making it more risky for non-governmental organisations to carry out humanitarian operations, an NGO said on Saturday after insurgents killed three foreign aid workers. International and Afghan forces are increasingly involved in building schools, clinics and wells, and in emergency aid work in some of [...]

ISLAMABAD  - Pakistan’s ruling coalition tightened the screw on President Pervez Musharraf Sunday, saying that it had readied impeachment charges against him and was giving him two days to stand down.Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told AFP that “the charge sheet will be presented in parliament by Tuesday”. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said a day [...]

WASHINGTON — When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set out to promote her new motivational book this month, she simultaneously touched off her national why-haven’t-you-impeached-the-president tour. As she made the coast-to-coast rounds of lectures, television interviews and radio chats the past two weeks, Ms. Pelosi found herself under siege by people unhappy that she has not been [...]