Hurricane Earl's winds weakened to 125 mph on Thursday but the Category 3 storm was still blowing toward North Carolina.

Hurricane season is one of the rare times when East Coast waves can reach world-class heights.

The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

Officers scoured the Discovery building overnight after a hostage-taker claiming to have "several bombs" was shot dead, but did not find any "active devices" at the scene, NBC News reported Thursday.

The man who held three hostages at the Discovery Communications building in Maryland told NBC News in a brief telephone conversation that he had explosives.

James J. Lee, the suspected gunman who took hostages at the Discovery Communications building in Maryland, apparently had a long history of contempt for company, which includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Planet Green networks.

Several current and former gang members say an initiative by Chicago's police chief is unfairly targeting them for the city's violence.

For a second time, an Ohio woman has given birth to a baby who couldn't wait and arrived on the drive to the hospital.

A 28-year-old woman severely burned when a stranger threw an acid-like liquid in her face is listed in serious condition in a Portland, Ore., hospital's burn center.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The "Ishmael" books are aimed at encouraging radical social change — but their author says hostage-taking is not the change he had in mind.

Grammy-winning rapper T.I. was arrested along with his wife on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines, five months after the hip-hop star finished a prison stint on weapons charges.

A homeless man who called 911 from the hot tub of a suburban Portland home and asked for towels, hot chocolate and a hug got arrested for trespassing instead.

The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in two decades — decreasing by 8 percent.

Has the reclusive heiress Huguette Clark signed a will? Yes, her attorney says. Msnbc.com's Bill Dedman reports.

Two Yemeni men arrested on suspicion they may have been involved in an airline terrorism plot are released without charge when no evidence was found, Dutch prosecutors say.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders conclude a first set of direct peace talks and plan a second set Sept. 14-15, U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell says.

Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, who became famous for spending years tracking down Nazi war criminals, was working for Israel's spy agency Mossad, according to a new biography.

Britain's government came under pressure Thursday amid allegations that a top prime ministerial aide was involved with a newspaper investigation into the royal family that involved illegally tapping cell phones.

Dutch authorities have found two babies' bodies in the garden of a women arrested last week for killing another child, the prosecution service said on Thursday.

A terminally sick humpback whale that became stranded on a beach in Western Australia two weeks ago was euthanized Thursday with an explosive charge.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Scotland's government announced on Thursday that its planned minimum price for alcohol would be set at 45 pence per unit, meaning a bottle of wine would cost at least 4.23 pounds ($6.52) and a bottle of whisky 12.60 pounds.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard edged closer to retaining power in Australia on Thursday when an independent lawmaker said he would support her center-left Labor Party to form Australia's first minority government in almost seven decades.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will deliver a major speech Thursday, and ahead of that he released video clips touting his priorities — yet none refer to his war on drug cartels.

Two Yemeni men arrested on suspicion they may have been involved in an airline terrorism plot are released without charge when no evidence was found, Dutch prosecutors say.

There is a real risk that President Obama’s claim in his Oval Office address that “the American combat mission has ended” in Iraq may come to rank with President Bush’s ill-judged boast of “mission accomplished” back in May 2003.

Three bombs ripped through a Shiite Muslim religious procession in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing 25 people and wounding about 150 others, officials said.

An Australian school principal has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but said Thursday no offense was intended — he was simply trying to keep the kids from laughing.

The bacon is gone from the bacon burgers, replaced by smoked turkey. At a fast food restaurant outside Paris, a new certificate on the wall proclaims that its beef comes from cows slaughtered in line with Islamic law.

U.S. officials have charged the leader of Pakistan's Taliban with planning attacks against American forces in Afghanistan, including last year's suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees.

The imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York said the fight is over more than "a piece of real estate" and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America.

A former Texas high school football player and petty street dealer who allegedly rose to become one of Mexico's most savage assassins says he personally knew the country's top drug lords.