FARGO, N.D., July 3 -- Sen. Barack Obama raised the possibility of slowing a promised gradual, 16-month withdrawal from Iraq if he is elected president, saying that Thursday he will consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region and "continue to refine" his proposals.

Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.

The Bush administration is developing a long-range plan to empty the Guantanamo Bay military prison that could include asking Congress to spell out procedures for scores of suspected terrorists whom the government does not plan to bring to trial, administration officials and others familiar with...

A flurry of recent research indicating that Vitamin D may have a dizzying array of health benefits has reignited an intense debate over whether federal guidelines for the "sunshine vitamin" are outdated, leaving millions unnecessarily vulnerable to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.

Natwar M. Gandhi calls himself an apolitical bean counter, but the D.C. government's chief financial officer begins his daily routine with a long-standing Washington rite: the power breakfast.

EL FASHER, Sudan -- Nearly a year after its creation, a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission to Darfur is struggling, with fewer than half the soldiers promised, broken-down equipment, government obstacles, and what commanders say are the unrealistically high expectations of a world that...

President Bush broke ground on a $1 billion expansion of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda yesterday, a project that will elevate the campus into what federal officials say will be the nation's premier military medical site and a destination for wounded service members returning from...

· A July 2 Food column incorrectly said that winemakers Gray Hartley and Frank Ostini were having difficulty obtaining the Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir after the movie "Sideways" made it popular. It was Vermont Restaurant owners Michael Gelzhiser and Manuel Mesta who were having...

State Department investigators checked the passport files of 150 high-profile Americans to determine how many times they had been accessed between September 2002 and March 2008. The study found that the records of 127 people, or 85 percent, had been accessed at least once. One person's files had...

Patrick Waller, at left in photo, was overjoyed yesterday as he and John Stickels, Innocence Project of Texas board member, learned that Waller's kidnapping and robbery conviction had been overturned in a Dallas court. Waller had been jailed since 1992 and was proved innocent by DNA testing last...

Think you're worried about the economy? Phillip Swagel is a wreck.

MEXICO CITY, July 3 -- Sen. John McCain's trip to Colombia and Mexico this week made one thing clear: The shape of the United States' relationship with Latin America will hinge on the outcome of the 2008 election.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama responded yesterday to supporters dismayed by his support for a compromise version of the Foreign Intelligence Suveillance Act (FISA).

Paying homage to one of the holiest sites for Mexican Roman Catholics, Sen. John McCain visited the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe outside Mexico City yesterday morning along with his wife, Cindy, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. "I think he's going to win," Bush said of McCain. "He just...

BIG SUR, Calif. -- An explosive wildfire ravaged hillsides above this coastal community Thursday, leaving the popular tourist area mostly deserted ahead of the weekend.

BOGOTA, Colombia, July 3 -- On their first full day of freedom, the hostages rescued from guerrilla captivity in Colombia were reunited with relatives, as new details emerged Thursday about their captors and the conditions under which they were held.

RAMADI, Iraq -- After inspecting a prison, police chief Tariq Yousef al-Asaal returned to his spacious office, where U.S. military officers and Iraq's power brokers have sought his advice. A week earlier, the governing council, the ruling body here in this dust-swept capital of Anbar province, had...

The United States is not alone in celebrating its birthday in July. Here are some of our neighbors that also gained independence during the month:

CRANS-PRES-CELIGNY, Switzerland -- Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . Fusion Man!

JERUSALEM, July 3 -- Jean Relevy, a handyman with an intense curiosity about the world, lived for many things: the challenge of wiring a concert hall, the chance to banter over biology and chemistry with friends, the grandchild he planned to welcome this summer.