Talk about a betting man. A terminally ill British man has collected nearly $10,000 after betting he could beat the odds and stay alive, it is reported. According to the U.K.’s Sun newspaper, Jon Matthews, 58, bet that he could beat out the cancer doctors say usually kills within months. …

LONDON – Author Salman Rushdie slipped into Buckingham Palace on Wednesday to receive a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II that had angered many parts of the Muslim world when the honor was announced last year. In a break with normal procedure, the palace did not announce ahead of time that …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Militants attacked troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling south of the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing three of them as well as an Afghan interpreter. “Severe blast and fire damage” destroyed one vehicle in the convoy as it passed through Saydabad, a district of Wardak province, a …

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Carrying the painful lessons of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said on a tour of Midwest flooding on Thursday that he is listening to small-town concerns and understands the exhaustion of rescuers. “Obviously, to the extent we can help immediately, we will help,” Bush said during a …

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Friday thanked Congress for making two bipartisan compromises this week that forwarded his legislative agenda. He then left for political fundraising events in Florida and North Carolina. Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday hammered out negotiations on a $162 billion war funding measure, which includes an …

Reverberations across America as more people are for the first time hearing these comments from Barack Obama: (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) SEN. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (D): They’re going to try and make you afraid of me. They’re going to say, “You know what, he’s young, inexperienced, and he’s got a …

When her daughter Isabella awoke in the middle of the night, Cari Abatemarco probably thought the infant needed a bottle or a diaper change, but the New York woman was instead shocked to find a snake in the 7-month-old’s crib, Newsday reported Tuesday. Abatemarco of Troy, N.Y., says she was …

VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. – A Saratoga County woman has admitted she placed put a 2-year-old boy’s feet in scalding bath water last October. Christian Cail suffered second- and third-degree burns on both his feet after police say his babysitter, Chastity Pasinello, left him standing in the water. The boy spent …

WASHINGTON – Broadway came to the nation’s capital Sunday night during a gala for the Ford’s Theatre attended by President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. Actor Hal Holbrook, country music singer Trisha Yearwood, former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken and other stars performed songs and spoken word pieces from …

LOS ANGELES – The head of the Screen Actors Guild doesn’t want to hear the s-word as a deadline for contract expiration looms. “We have taken no steps to initiate a strike authorization vote by the members of Screen Actors Guild,” Union President Alan Rosenberg said in a statement Sunday. …