HONG KONG — It’s the Year of the Tiger, but Chinese fortune tellers say it’ll be a rough patch for the world’s most famous one: disgraced golfer Tiger Woods. Other predictions: trying times for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, turmoil in the financial markets, spikes in fire-related natural disasters and a crucial period for U.S. President [...]

Text of President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union speech, as prepared for delivery on Wednesday and provided by the White House. ___ Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the president shall give to Congress information about the state [...]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Fresh information from blogs, news sites, Twitter and other popular hangouts will appear in Google’s search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what’s happening on the Web. The feature unveiled Monday represents Google Inc.’s most significant step yet in the field of [...]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has moved more forcefully than ever to abandon Bush administration interrogation policies, approving creation of a special White House unit for questioning terrorism suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder weigh a Justice Department recommendation to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases. A senior administration official told The Associated Press Monday [...]

MANILA – Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño on Tuesday asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to check the expenses of President Gloria Macagapagal Arroyo’s recent visit to the United States, which includes at least two lavish dinners, one in Washington D.C. and another in New York. Casiño said the COA should form a special audit [...]

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (AFP) – – President Barack Obama sought “common ground” over the divisive abortion debate in a controversial speech Sunday at one of the top Catholic universities in the United States. A few hundred activists lined the streets leading to the school’s entrance holding signs with graphic pictures of aborted fetuses and denouncing [...]

The World Health Organization has warned that a global swine flu pandemic is imminent, as more nations confirmed cases of a deadly disease that has spread round the world in a matter of days. Although most of those now affected are not thought to be in serious danger, the flu’s spread from Mexico to every [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Florida utility and a real estate developer are aiming to bring the country’s first solar-powered city to the Sunshine State. FPL Group Inc’s utility Florida Power & Light is working with the realty group Kitson & Partners to construct what the utility says will be the world’s largest photovoltaic solar plant [...]

LOS ANGELES — The world’s oldest known living person celebrated her 115th birthday Monday. Gertrude Baines was honored at Western Convalescent Hospital with music, a letter from the president, and two cakes. Baines said little during the celebration as friends sang to her and she received a proclamation from Guinness World Records acknowledging her as [...]

BONN, Germany (Reuters) – Small island states have sharpened their calls for the rich to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying low-lying atolls risk being washed off the map by rising ocean levels. An alliance of 43 island states, backed by more than a dozen nations in Africa and Latin America, urged developed [...]

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo Monday pushed for speedy cash payments to 18,000 Filipino World War II veterans under the US government’s stimulus package. Arroyo also thanked her American counterpart, Barack Obama, for the finance package passed by US lawmakers, which included a lump sum payment of 15,000 dollars to Filipino veterans residing in America, and [...]

NEW YORK – After two days of protests, the New York Post apologized Thursday for a cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police. But the newspaper also said its longtime antagonists exploited the image for revenge. The qualified apology didn’t mollify at least some [...]