 Obama heads overseas
 Associated Press
U.S. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama is seen being photographed during a meeting with Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of Nangarhar province, center rear, and U.S. military personel in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday.
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Tropical Storm Cristobal forms off Southeast coast
MIAMI, 11:08 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say the depression off the Southeast coast has strengthened into Tropical Storm Cristobal.
At 2 p.m. EDT Saturday, the center of the storm was about 100 miles east of Charleston, S.C., and about 225 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. It's moving toward the northeast at about 7 mph and was expected to hug the Carolinas' coast during the next two days. Several inches of rain have already fallen in some areas along the North Carolina coast, and cities are under flood advisories as more rain is expected.
More National News
RANDOLPH, Vt., 10:40 a.m. July 19 (AP)Library confrontation points up privacy dilemma: Children's librarian Judith Flint was getting ready for the monthly book discussion group for 8- and 9-year-olds on “Love That Dog” when police showed up.
WASHINGTON, 6:55 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Guns ruling spawns legal challenges by felons: Twice convicted of felonies, James Francis Barton Jr. faces charges of violating a federal law barring felons from owning guns after police found seven pistols, three shotguns and five rifles at his home south of Pittsburgh.
HOUSTON, 7:33 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Investigators arrive at site of crane collapse: Hitting the ground with enough force to bounce a nearby worker off the ground, one of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a Houston oil refinery, killing four workers and injuring seven others.
RICHMOND, Va., 6:45 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Tomato growers: Salmonella scare damages industry: The 6,000 acres of tomatoes grown on Virginia's sea-swept Eastern Shore were never implicated in the national salmonella outbreak – they were still on the vine weeks after people starting getting sick.
LOS ANGELES, 3:32 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Qantas flight leaves Los Angeles after bomb threat: A Qantas jetliner has departed from Los Angeles for Australia after the airline and law enforcement authorities determined a bomb threat was a hoax.
HONOLULU, 3:14 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Putrid whale carcass parts stink up Oahu street: Getting the rotting corpse of a dead sperm whale off Oahu's North Shore was only the start of the problem.
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., 2:54 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Northcom chief: Homeland command is now grown up: Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. has four stars on his collars and 60 combat missions under his belt. But on a recent trip to a California airfield, he sprang from an SUV like a happy kid and charged toward a crowd of servicemen and women.
BELMAR, N.J., 2:05 a.m. July 19 (AP)
NJ beach town mayor sez 'Fuhgeddaboudit!' to blog: To the Staten Island girls who may have been taught to fight dirty in Brownies, Ken Pringle is sorry.
WILKINSBURG, Pa., 1:10 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Body found at home of Pa. mystery baby suspect: Authorities hope an autopsy can help them identify a woman's body found with hands bound with duct tape at the apartment of a woman who showed up at a hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was hers.
WASHINGTON, 2:40 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Bush drops refusal to talk about Iraq timetable: President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a “general time horizon” for bringing more U.S. troops home from the war, a dramatic shift from the administration's once-ironclad unwillingness to talk about any kind of deadline or timetable.
BOHEMIA, N.Y., 5:02 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Gunman kills ex-girlfriend, self in N.Y. office: Authorities say a man shot his ex-girlfriend to death in her Long Island office before turning the gun on himself. A supervisor in the office was wounded while coming to the woman's aid.
BILLINGS, Mont., 4:37 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Judge restores protection for N. Rockies wolves: A federal judge in Montana has ordered that gray wolves in the northern Rockies be returned to the endangered species list.
WILKINSBURG, Pa., 4:36 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Cops: Body at home of woman who claimed baby buy: A body with its hands bound was found Friday at the apartment of a woman who showed up at a hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was her child but later said she had obtained for $1,000, authorities said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo., 4:32 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Race and ethnicity hard to cover, hard to ignore: The flashpoints are familiar, even worn out: Was race a factor in the prosecution of the black teenagers dubbed the “Jena 6” and charged with beating a white teen? Should The New Yorker magazine have satirized stereotypes of race on its cover?
HONOLULU, 4:29 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Army shoots live pigs for medical drill: The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.
AUGUSTA, Maine, 4:04 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Health officials: Don't eat lobster tomalley: Maine officials are advising consumers to avoid eating lobster tomalley after tests revealed high levels of toxins in some lobsters.
HOUSTON, 3:59 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Crane collapses at Houston refinery, killing 4: One of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a Houston oil refinery Friday, killing four workers and injuring seven others in the latest of several fatal accidents that have raised concerns about the safety of construction cranes.
OKLAHOMA CITY, 3:57 p.m. July 18 (AP)
FBI: Soccer team members help subdue man on flight: An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles was diverted to Oklahoma City on Friday after a passenger stripped, put his clothes back on and then tried to open an emergency exit door before being subdued by members of a pro soccer team and others, the FBI said.
BATON ROUGE, La., 3:55 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Louisiana Katrina victims still awaiting cottages: Chris Cheramie isn't a Katrina victim, but he was surprised to learn he is the first person to occupy a home of a kind specifically designed to shelter Louisiana residents displaced by the storm.
3:48 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Former contractor charged in Iraq fuel theft probe: McLEAN, Va. – A former contractor was charged Friday with making false statements as military investigators probe the apparent theft of nearly $40 million in fuel from a U.S. Army base in Iraq.
NEW YORK, 3:36 p.m. July 18 (AP)
A 540-calorie Big Mac? NY chains post calorie info: Customers at big fast-food chains in New York City are finally facing the facts about their meal choices. And for some, the truth may be hard to swallow – like 1,130 calories for a Big Mac, medium fries and a medium soda.
AUSTIN, Texas, 3:15 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Texas OKs standards for elective Bible classes: The Texas State Board of Education gave final approval Friday to establishing Bible classes in public high schools, rejecting calls to draw specific teaching guidelines and warnings that it could lead to constitutional problems in the classroom.
NEW YORK, 2:32 p.m. July 18 (AP)
WTC site will be open again to families this 9/11: Sept. 11 victims' families will be able to mourn their loved ones at the World Trade Center site again on the terrorist attacks' seventh anniversary.
MILWAUKEE, 2:30 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Wis. Humane Society to buy, close 'puppy mill': The Wisconsin Humane Society says it will buy and close one of the nation's largest dog-breeding facilities.
RALEIGH, N.C., 2:29 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Family of slain NC woman plan return to Canada: The parents of a North Carolina mother found slain near her home tearfully asked Friday for the culprit to show “a shred of decency” by confessing, while her husband's attorney said he's an innocent man who wants to grieve in private.
LUFKIN, Texas, 2:20 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Texas cops: Man in 2 wrecks over 4 hours: Police say a motorist caused a fatal rollover after an illegal left turn, then started an eight-car pileup four hours later by rear-ending a stopped car.
INDEPENDENCE, Mo., 2:17 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Missouri woman pleads guilty in plot to swipe baby: A 20-year-old woman pleaded guilty Friday to snatching a pregnant teenager she met online in a foiled plot to steal her unborn child.
FORT MYERS, Fla., 2:02 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Fla. police officer, suspect killed in shooting: A former missionary turned police officer was shot and killed along with a suspect after police were called to a disturbance outside a downtown nightclub early Friday.
MIAMI, 1:51 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Bertha strengthens back to hurricane: Forecasters say Bertha has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane in the open Atlantic, but poses no threat to land.
NEW YORK, 12:58 p.m. July 18 (AP)
Tribune ends first round of bids for Cubs, Wrigley: The Chicago Cubs and their storied Wrigley Field home inched closer to finding new owners Friday.
CONCORD, N.H., 11:28 a.m. July 18 (AP)
N.H. will accept free oil from Chavez after all: Two years ago, New Hampshire refused to accept heating oil from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the pro-Castro U.S. critic who once called President Bush “the devil.” But with fuel prices rising, well, free oil is free oil.
COLUMBIA, S.C., 10:23 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Little local echo for new NAACP boycott of SC flag: The Confederate flag that flutters 30 feet above one of this city's busiest streets still draws a mix of head shakes and shrugs from South Carolina residents.
IDEAL, Ga., 9:56 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Cotton farmers face a formidable foe: It's only a few months into the cotton growing season, but already the budding rows of cotton are dwarfed by towering weeds that starve them of sunlight, nutrients and water.
WASHINGTON, 7:39 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Government says it can hold captured teen fighters: The Bush administration is telling a federal appeals court that it has the authority to detain a Canadian who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 and is accused of killing a U.S. soldier.
CHICAGO, 6:46 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Many ills found at Chicago jail, nation's biggest: A federal investigation of the nation's largest single-site county jail has uncovered serious sanitation and medical care problems, as well as violence against prisoners who clashed with guards or failed to follow commands, officials said.
TAMPA, Fla., 6:25 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Small plane crash near Tampa kills 3: Authorities say a woman who died in a small plane crash east of Tampa was a cancer patient being flown home from treatment at an area hospital.
IN THE EVERGLADES, Fla., 5:53 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Fla. keeps gator farms full by culling wild nests: It's 7 a.m. in the marsh, and like some sort of cigar-chomping swamp cowboy, biologist Lindsey Hord is about to reach for something that could cost him a few fingers – or worse – if he's not careful.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, 5:34 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Park tests hybrid buses in McKinley's shadow: For years, visitors wanting to see Denali National Park's grizzly bears, moose, sheep and caribou have had to ride school buses that polluted the air and spoiled the tranquillity with their noisy, carbon dioxide-spewing diesel engines.
HALLOWELL, Maine, 5:04 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Fisherman hooks drowning man and reels him in: A man who was drowning in a Maine river is recovering after someone reeled him in with a fishing rod.
BOSTON, 5:03 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Mass. turnpike driver gives toll attendant $100: A toll worker on the Massachusetts Turnpike is figuring out what to do with a $100 bill a driver handed him.
SEATTLE, 4:55 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Spikes in popular lake spook Seattle swimmers: Nearly 50 metal spikes were mysteriously planted in the shallows of an urban lake popular with swimmers, alarming Seattle residents and leading to a police investigation.
WASHINGTON, 3:00 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Food safety worries change buying habits: Troubled by the tainted tomato scare, nearly half of Americans are concerned they may get sick from eating contaminated food and are avoiding items they normally would buy, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll has found.
SUGAR LAND, Texas, 2:47 a.m. July 18 (AP)
5,000 gallons of molasses spill on Texas highway: A sticky mess has been cleaned up after an overturned tanker truck poured 5,000 gallons of molasses onto a major Texas highway.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., 2:21 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Fla. officer fired for demanding free coffee: An internal affairs report says a Daytona Beach police officer demanded free coffee and tea from a Starbucks and threatened employees with slower emergency response times if they refused.
MIAMI, 2:00 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Elida weakens to tropical storm: Tropical Storm Fausto has neared hurricane strength early Friday in the Pacific, while Elida lost its hurricane status.
PANGUITCH, Utah, 9:51 p.m. July 17 (AP)Several teenagers injured in Utah bus crash: A tour bus went off a state highway near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, landing upside down in a creek bed and catching fire Thursday.
