HOMOSASSA, Fla. – State lawmakers on Saturday pledged tougher measures against sexual offenders in the wake of a 9-year-old girl’s alleged abduction and killing by a registered sex offender who had been living across the street. “If Jessie can be taken from her own safe little bed while her grandparents …

ATLANTA – Anti-war protesters repeatedly interrupted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a speech Thursday, and one of them, a former CIA analyst, accused him in a question-and-answer session of lying about prewar intelligence on Iraq. “Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind …

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad stuck to the facts as he began questioning the first witness Friday in his second trial for the random killings that terrorized the Washington area in October 2002. Kimberly Sadelson took the stand Friday morning and told the court how she had …

MEXICO CITY – The issue of drug decriminalization split Mexican politics in strange ways on Saturday, after President Vicente Fox refused to sign a bill that would have eliminated criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs. About 500 protesters held a marijuana smoke-in in Mexico City, and a …

NEW YORK – Nicole Kidman says her divorce from Tom Cruise was a “major shock” — and, she still loves him. “That was a major shock,” the 38-year-old actress says in an interview in the June issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands Tuesday. “He was huge; still is. To …

WASHINGTON – The Veterans Affairs data analyst who lost the personal data of 26.5 million veterans improperly took the information home for three years before the data was stolen, government investigators told Congress Thursday. In a pair of hearings, VA Inspector General George Opfer detailed a series of missteps leading …

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Elvis Presley is going on a worldwide circus tour. CKX Inc., the parent company of Elvis Presley Enterprises, announced a long-term joint venture Thursday with Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian-based acrobatic troupe known for its extravagant theatrical and acrobatic productions. Cirque du Soleil (French for circus of …

After years of false starts, the Senate on Tuesday agreed to take up a bill that would allow small businesses to band together in purchasing health insurance. Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com’s NEW Small Business page. A motion to begin a 30-hour debate on the bill, which has divided lawmakers, …

BEIJING – A gas blast at a coal mine in southern China killed 11 people and injured nine, the government said Thursday. The explosion occurred Wednesday at the Aotian Coal Mine in Sichuan province when 28 miners were working underground, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The cause of the …

WASHINGTON – The House ethics committee Thursday offered to provide advance approval of lawmakers’ special interest trips, a move to curb travel abuses that have ensnared two prominent Republicans in federal investigations. The program is voluntary now, but a version could be permanent under a bill that next will go …