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Iraq and the U.S. have set a preliminary timetable for withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, Iraq's foreign minister said Thursday after meeting with Condoleezza Rice. A final agreement would require endorsement by top Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi parliament.

Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat, died yesterday after suffering a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. Tubbs Jones' mentor, former Ohio Congressman Louis Stokes, reflects on the lawmaker's life and the significance of her loss.

America's scooter industry is surging, benefiting from high gas prices and a slumping economy. Two other markers of their rising popularity have emerged: higher rates of theft and injury.

Officials on both sides of the conflict are still thinking in Cold War terms, experts say, even though it ended more than 20 years ago. NATO is a much different organization now, but relations with Russia are strained.

Record numbers of Americans are getting out of their cars and hopping onto scooters, spurred by high gas prices and concern for the environment. But with many options and styles to choose from, picking the right ride can be tricky.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain campaigned Wednesday in Las Cruces, N.M. At a town hall meeting there, he criticized Barack Obama for opposing last year's troop surge in Iraq. He also answered questions from the audience about his vice president pick.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama campaigned Wednesday in Virginia. The Illinois senator used tough words to relay his message that Republican rival John McCain is out of touch with middle-class Americans.

The latest figures from the Labor Department show a sharp decline in workplace fatalities. They're lower than at any point since the department started keeping track.

The Department of Health and Human Services has beefed up its Web site that compares hospitals, making more information available to consumers.

Tropical Storm Fay has flooded hundreds of homes and caused tornadoes in parts of Florida. Gov. Charlie Crist has described the flooding as catastrophic and requested that President Bush issue a federal disaster declaration.

The U.S. softball team was denied a fourth straight Olympic gold medal, losing 3-1 to Japan. The upset came on the same day that beach volleyball phenoms Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor outspiked a Chinese team for a second consecutive Olympic championship.

One of Hillary Rodham Clinton's most ardent campaign supporters has died. Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones suffered a brain aneurysm while driving Tuesday in her home district of Cleveland, and was pronounced dead Wednesday. She was 58 years old.

Day 13 brings the U.S. softball team's gold-medal game and important contests for American women in soccer, volleyball and water polo. But it isn't all good news: The softball team, aiming for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal, had to settle for silver after an upset loss to Japan.

Americans Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix took silver and bronze in the 200-meter dash in the Beijing Olympic Games after the second- and third-place finishers were disqualified.

The Russian military promised Thursday that all of its forces in Georgia will be withdrawn by Friday night. However, many Russian units remain deep in Georgian territory. Meanwhile, Russia's allies, the militias from South Ossetia, seem to be expanding their breakaway region.

Does it still make sense to build homes in the farthest suburbs, as gas prices rise and housing prices fall? Some developers say it does, if they create a different kind of suburb: a township community with stores in walking distance of the houses.

A growing number of companies are laying people off for part of the workweek to weather the economic slowdown. Eighteen states have programs whereby employees collect unemployment for the hours that they don't work at their full-time jobs.

Meditating daily can lower blood pressure and reduce dependence on medication, according to a new study. Relaxation techniques increase the formation of a compound that opens up blood vessels, which in turn lowers blood pressure.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, died Wednesday, at a Cleveland hospital from a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. A five-term Democrat from Ohio, Tubbs Jones, was the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress.

Sen. Ted Stevens has lost a bid to move his corruption trial from Washington to his home state of Alaska. The Republican lawmaker had said both the witnesses and his campaign for re-election were in Alaska. The trial is due to start next month.

In an effort to curb air pollution for the Olympics, more than 250 factories in Beijing and nearby towns like Tangshan have been shuttered temporarily. Some factory workers are on vacation for the first time in 20 years.

Spanish officials gave differing death tolls Wednesday after a Spanair jet veered off the runway in Madrid and burst into flames. An emergency rescue official put the number dead at nearly 150; earlier, government officials had said 45 people were confirmed killed.

A suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a line of Algerians waiting to apply to a police academy, killing more than 40 people in the most deadly terrorist attack in Algeria in about a decade. The attack appears to be the work of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, which has been carrying out attacks in Algeria recently on virtually a weekly basis.

What happens when a company lets customers design and vote on their own products? Some Web-based outfits are finding success by doing just that. And the new business model is really catching on.

In Cuba, one of President Raul Castro's most dramatic recent announcements was that he would allow private farmers access to up to 100 acres of idle government land. The plan is a shift toward private enterprise on the socialist island.

Like two sprinters leaving the rest of the field behind, the United States and China are neck-and-neck in total medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. But China leads the U.S. in gold medals by a wide margin.

The deaths last week of two local service members from Cape Cod has stunned the small town of Mashpee. Within a day of each other, Army Pfc. Paul Conlon was killed in Afghanistan and Marine Corps Pfc. Daniel McGuire was killed in Iraq.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, French soldiers were attacked during a reconnaissance mission. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in Kabul on Wednesday.

Barack Obama and John McCain used addresses to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to spell out their differences on foreign policy. They also addressed the topics of health care and other benefits for veterans.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is signing a deal Wednesday in Poland to build a U.S. missile defense base there. The agreement has already angered Russia.

The presidents of more than 100 colleges and universities have signed a document urging lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age. The educators say the 21-year-old drinking age is widely flouted and has led to a culture of binge drinking on college campuses. Anti-drunken driving groups say colleges are looking for an easy out.

Russia shows little sign of ending its occupation of Georgia, but some Georgian citizens have found new ways to show their opposition. Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze says the more Moscow squeezes the current president, the more his authority will grow.

Around the country, more Americans are living where they want to, not where they have to. They're making new lives for themselves by the beach and in the mountains. Locals who have been forced out often buy houses nearby — and have their own effect on smaller towns.

Ever since Michael Phelps clinched his eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, analysts have debated the swimmer's place in the sports pantheon. But Frank Deford says it's impossible to compare Phelps to other sports greats, past or present.

Race walking normally doesn't get much attention at the games, but a last-minute course upgrade — costing more than $800,000 — has put a new spring in the step of international competitors who feared injury on the original granite surface.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Henline is trying to reclaim his life. Burned badly in Iraq, he's back home in Texas. He's finding that his injuries are difficult to treat, his recovery is long and unpredictable, and his family life is completely changed.

Bacterial pneumonia attacked virus-weakened lungs and killed most of the 50 million victims of the 1918 flu pandemic. This finding may be good news should another flu pandemic strike, because doctors are now armed with effective treatments for bacterial infections.

Lobstermen have seen their catch drop by half while fuel prices have tripled in recent years. With prices and sales flat, the fishermen are struggling to adapt to the times.

The secret packages were part of a highly classified effort to help American POWs escape from their German captors. Inside there were baseballs, pipes and cribbage boards that contained compasses, saws, escape maps and radio transmitters.