Three U.S. hikers who were detained in Iran have spoken by phone with their relatives for the first time since authorities jailed them more than seven months ago, the hikers' families said Wednesday.

A documentary producer who interrupted a director's Oscar acceptance speech Sunday night says she was the one who was "big-footed" on stage.

Catholic bishops in the Netherlands have announced an independent investigation into allegations of child abuse by clergy, widening a scandal that already touches countries including the United States, Ireland, Germany and Austria.

A California jury recommended Tuesday that a man who once appeared on "The Dating Game" be executed for the murders of four women and a child.

A-23-year-old American activist stands in front of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. The bulldozer drives over her, crushing her to death. These are the facts.

America's defense chief thanked Afghanistan's soldiers for their service during a tour of a training camp Wednesday as Iran's hardline president arrived in Kabul with a pledge to purge "occupying forces" from the troubled land.

The archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, is defending its decision not to re-enroll two children in a Catholic school in Boulder next year because their parents are lesbians.

Why would a gay politician vote against gay rights?

Charlie Sheen is set to return to the set of his sitcom "Two and a Half Men," his publicist said.

A nearly $140 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits and a host of expiring tax cuts cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday in the Senate on a vote of 66-34, setting up passage of the bill possibly later in the day.

A Pennsylvania woman has been indicted for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, the Justice Department said.

A New Jersey man who breached security to give his girlfriend a kiss, causing scores of flight delays, pleaded guilty Tuesday to defiant trespass, his lawyer said.

A CBS news producer accused of trying to blackmail comedian David Letterman pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny at a hearing Tuesday.

Progressive activists ratcheted up the pressure for health care reform Tuesday, picketing in front of a hotel where a group of insurance industry leaders were meeting.

A former Ohio doctor was sentenced to life in prison for poisoning his wife with cyanide five years ago. The judge lamented that she could not hand down a stiffer sentence.

The State Department spokesman apologized Tuesday for a joking remark he made about Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that threatened to turn into a diplomatic incident between the two countries.

Vice President Joe Biden said that the U.S. condemns Israel's decision to build 1,600 housing units in a Jerusalem neighborhood, saying it undermines trust.

The body of a missing energy executive was pulled from the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Tuesday, four days after he disappeared, police said.

Global financial reform is expected to top the agenda Tuesday as President Obama huddles with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country is at the center of Europe's debt crisis.

Today is the first day same-sex weddings will be performed in the District of Columbia.