Analysis: The California Supreme Court's overturning of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage seems likely to put the issue back onto the national political stage for the time being.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said rescue efforts following this week's earthquake entered their "most crucial" phase Friday, as the country braced for a death toll expected to rise above 50,000.

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the "sunshine vitamin'' has anti-cancer benefits.

Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tim Duncan added 20 points and 15 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the New Orleans Hornets 99-80 on Thursday night to force a seventh game in the Western Conference semifinals.

President Bush put the finishing touch on his celebrate-and-be-celebrated Israel stay, leaving the Holy Land Friday with no movement on Mideast peace but hoping to fare better in Saudi Arabia at obtaining help for soaring gas prices at home.

From shopkeepers handing out free rice porridge to medical students caring for the sick, ordinary people in Myanmar are stepping in to help cyclone victims.

An American Marine was found guilty in a military court of abusive sexual conduct of a 14-year-old Japanese girl in Okinawa, southern Japan, the military said Friday.

Female entrepreneurs in Rwanda are proving themselves key to the country's economic revival, running thriving coffee farms and other businesses as society rebuilds following the 1990s genocide.

The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan.

Shoppers have been lugging ever-larger products to their ever-bigger cars for years. Now, more of them are feeling so pinched by the economy that they are buying a little at a time.

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons Thursday — an annual ritual made darker this year by crippling divisions.

Up to 350,000 households aren't getting the $300 per child owed them as part of their economic stimulus rebate payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.

High fuel prices are prompting many Americans to reconsider their Memorial Day travel plans, AAA says.

Did the House of Representatives vote Thursday to end funding for the Iraq war? It may look that way, but behind the vote there's a complicated card game going on between Democrats and Republicans.

A 19-year-old flight attendant has been accused of setting a fire aboard a commercial airplane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Fargo, N.D.

The Democratic presidential candidate interpreted the president's remark to Israel's Knesset as a slam against him, but the White House denied the comment was in any way directed at the Illinois senator.

Msnbc.com won accolades Thursday for a feature that creates community by allowing users to submit content to the Web site.

A combination of two new-generation cancer drugs modestly delayed the time it took for cancer to worsen in a study of 300 women with very advanced disease who had stopped responding to other treatments.

A Los Angeles federal grand jury indicted a Missouri woman on Thursday over an alleged role in a MySpace online hoax played on a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide.