When the month of Ramadan began, I received a letter from Laura Fattal, the mother of one of the three young American hikers detained in Iran. In it, Fattal appealed to me, the first Muslim scholar she had contacted, to intervene on behalf of her son and his two friends.

Now that we are a week removed from the march on Washington organized by the self-proclaimed rodeo clown, Glenn Beck, it's clear that the event was nothing more than an exercise in ego worship.

After physicist Stephen Hawking's claim that God didn't create the universe, the head of the Church of England says that "physics on its own will not settle the question of why there is something rather than nothing."

A Florida judge sentenced Rachel Wade, the 20-year-old woman convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing her romantic rival in a fight last year, to 27 years in prison Friday.

A cargo plane has crashed in an uninhabited area near the Dubai airport, according to the official WAM news agency in the United Arab Emirates.

A powerful predawn earthquake hit New Zealand, causing water mains to break and some buildings to crumble, though there were no immediate reports of deaths.

After two days of meetings and talks led by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Israeli and Palestinian leaders leave Washington deadlocked over the contentious issue of Israeli settlements.

Six job recruiters have been indicted in federal court in what the FBI has called the largest human-trafficking operation ever to result in charges in the United States.

Travelers with Labor Day weekend plans along beaches in Hurricane Earl's path should proceed with caution, check road conditions and confirm lodging plans before starting out, safety and tourism officials say.

President Obama promised to lay out a broad package of ideas for job creation next week and slamming Senate Republicans for blocking his small business aid legislation.

Business hiring is picking up, but not enough to make up for the massive losses of temporary government jobs.

European scientists say they've figured out the recipe for water in space: Just add starlight.

Watching the Israeli and Palestinian leaders trudge to Washington for one more peace summit, one might wonder why President Obama invited them. Why should the president invest his prestige in an effort that looks so unpromising?

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Ahmadi worship place in northwestern Pakistan Friday, killing a pedestrian, police said.

Hyundai-Kia Motors is recalling more than 35,000 cars with fire-prone electrical wiring systems, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.