Small SUVs improve in crash tests

Four small sport utility vehicles received top scores in crash tests to be released Wednesday by the insurance industry, a sign of improvement compared with SUVs built earlier in the decade.

2 get labor over China protest bid

Chinese authorities have ordered two women to spend one year in a labor camp after they applied to hold a protest during the Olympics against being forced from their homes, a relative said Wednesday.

Rogue monkey eludes Tokyo police

A rogue monkey holed up at a Tokyo train station for more than two hours on Wednesday before giving dozens of net-wielding police officers the slip among crowds of excited children and passersby.

Israel shuts Gaza crossings after attack
Israel has closed its cargo crossings with the Gaza Strip following a Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel that violated a truce.

High energy costs cut two ways in Colo.

President Bush won Colorado in 2000 and 2004, but Democrats hope to swing the state this year. Candidates will have to meet voter concerns about energy and the environment.

World's tallest man reclaims title

Guinness World Records has returned the title of world's tallest man to China's Bao Xishun after Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.

U.S., Poland sign missile defense deal

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski have signed a deal that will put an American missile defense base in Poland, a move that has angered Russia.

NYT: Obama's ads in key states go on attack
Senator Barack Obama has started a sustained and hard-hitting advertising campaign against Senator John McCain in states that will be vital this fall.

School spankings: Minorities get more
A quarter of a million schoolchildren were paddled in 2007 — and black children, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share, according to a study.