Just hours after the first death in the 2001 anthrax attacks, Tom Slezak was told to gather his team, collect his gear and get on a plane.

U.S. naval barges loaded with fresh water sped toward Japan's overheated nuclear plant to help workers who scrambled Saturday to stem a worrying rise in radioactivity and remove dangerously contaminated water from the facility.

A possible breach at Japan's troubled nuclear plant escalated the crisis anew Friday, two full weeks after an earthquake and tsunami first compromised the facility.

Huge earthquakes rocked northeastern Japan on Saturday, a day after a giant temblor set off a powerful tsunami that killed hundreds of people, turned the coast into a swampy wasteland.

Oil prices appeared to level off Friday after rallying all week on OPEC production cuts and on a massive U.S. government buying spree intended to revive the economy.

Companies are cutting jobs by the tens of thousands. State and local governments are penny-pinching, too. So what about Uncle Sam? Tough times for him as well? Not exactly. In fact the number of federal workers is on the rise.

Federal investigators said Saturday that the right engine of US Airways Flight 1549 is still attached to the plane, contradicting their earlier statements that it broke off after the aircraft hit the water.

Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school...

China will spend three days marking the moment when tens of thousands died in a devastating earthquake, while hope of finding more trapped survivors dwindled Sunday and preventing hunger and disease became more pressing.

Commonly used incontinence drugs may cause memory problems in some older people, a study has found. "Our message is to be careful when using these medicines," said U.S. Navy neurologist Dr. Jack Tsao, who led the study.

Iraq has achieved only spotty military and political progress toward a democratic society, the Bush administration conceded Thursday, an unenthusiastic assessment followed quickly by a House vote to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.

Don Herbert, who as television's ''Mr. Wizard'' introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

South Korea said it was making sure its troops were prepared for atomic warfare, and Japan imposed new economic sanctions to hit the economic lifeline of North Korea's 1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest.