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Tropical Storm Don, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was churning northwestward across the southern Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coast.

Ryan Lochte became the first swimmer to break a long course world record since controversial polyurethane swimsuits were banned last year while James Magnussen ended a far longer Australian wait at the world championships Thursday.

The co-founder of Passages Malibu treatment center thinks that Amy Winehouse's "membership" in the so-called 27 Club may have been by design, not just an eerie coincidence.

A TV watchdog group on Wednesday accused NBC of glamorizing the porn industry in its upcoming new drama series "The Playboy Club" and urged NBC affiliates around the United States not to air it.

British journalist Piers Morgan said on Wednesday he had never strayed into illegal tactics during his years working for three British tabloid newspapers.

A New Orleans police officer who killed an unarmed man during a police shooting after Hurricane Katrina told a jury on Wednesday he felt "indescribable fear" in the moments before the shooting.

South Koreans were cautioned about rogue landmines and explosives on Thursday after scores of deadly landslides in and around the capital swamped homes, a monastery and military sites after the heaviest rainfall in a century, officials said.

In a rundown patch of Detroit, enclosed by a cyclone fence and barbed wire, stands an unremarkable warehouse that investment bank Goldman Sachs has transformed into a money-making machine.

Here is what to expect on Thursday as lawmakers try to close in on a deal for Congress to raise the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by an August 2 deadline and avoid a debt default:

MERS, the electronic mortgage registry that faces multiple investigations for its role in thousands of problematic foreclosure cases, changed its rules to lower its profile in court-supervised foreclosures.

A Michigan-based legal group on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to review and overturn a decision that found President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law constitutional.

If the impasse over the U.S. debt limit isn't broken soon, President Barack Obama will be forced to decide how he will manage the crisis.

A Seattle man accused of killing a young Chicago-area girl five decades ago was back in Illinois on Wednesday as investigators exhumed the child's remains in search of forensic evidence to help convict him.

The court date in the attempted rape case of former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been postponed to August 23, his lawyers said on Tuesday, adding they hope charges will be dismissed by that date.

For more than three years, U.S. securities regulators investigated allegations of accounting fraud at a small telecom firm called China Voice Holding Corp, but could not make a case.

The operator of the Nasdaq Stock Market is "under constant attack" from would-be hackers and will spend more on security as a result, its top executive said.

Investors sought protection in options on Wednesday as fears of a U.S. credit rating downgrade intensified.

A mountain lion killed on a Connecticut highway in June was a wild animal from South Dakota that prowled more than 1,500 miles eastward before meeting his death 70 miles from New York City, genetic tests confirmed this week.

Tom Coughlin, who coached the New York Giants to a Super Bowl victory in 2008, agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2012 National Football League season, the team said Wednesday.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ervin Santana pitched the third no-hitter of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season when he collected 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.

The Seattle man accused of the 1957 abduction and slaying of a young Chicago-area girl was sent back to Illinois on Wednesday to face a murder charge there in the five-decade-old case.

President Barack Obama's credibility as a leader hangs in the balance along with America's gold-plated credit rating as he strives to break a debt impasse with Republicans and avoid a ruinous default.

Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik threw down his gun and put up his hands in surrender when police approached him on the island where he shot dead 68 people, one of the officers involved said on Wednesday.

China is building two aircraft carriers as part of a military modernization program that is causing concern among other Asian countries, sources said on Wednesday.

Republicans and Democrats rushed to rework rival deficit reduction plans on Wednesday, but with the fate of both proposals heavily in doubt, top lawmakers pursued a behind-the-scenes compromise to avert a crippling U.S. debt default.

The longest game of the Major League season ended on a controversial play in the 19th inning as the Atlanta Braves prevailed 4-3 over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a marathon affair that ended on Wednesday morning.

Michael Phelps is used to celebrating 200 meters butterfly victories but the American's gold medal at the world swimming championships on Wednesday was particularly sweet.

London 2012 began its final year countdown on Wednesday with swimmers making a splash in the newly-opened Olympic pool and IOC president Jacques Rogge putting preparations on a par with great Games of the past.

Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik has caused potential embarrassment for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by describing him as worthy of respect and one of the two men he would most like to meet.