"American Idol" viewers had a clear choice when it came down to the final decision: the low-key but sincere Kris Allen or the flamboyant and powerful Adam Lambert. The vote went for Allen, and Lambert told Ryan Seacrest on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the outcome didn't surprise him. There are no hard feelings, though. Allen, Lambert, Danny Gokey and the other seven finalists spoke of their friendship and camaraderie on "Larry King Live." Here is an edited transcript of ...

When Rodrigo Rosenberg turned up dead on Mother's Day in an upscale neighborhood in Guatemala City, his murder was seen as little more than another execution-style shooting in one of Latin America's most dangerous countries. Now, after a video emerged in which Rosenberg accused Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom of orchestrating the murder, the killing has sparked civic unrest that threatens to topple the President of this fledgling democracy. Thousands of protesters have demonstrated daily in front of the presidential ...

President Obama poked fun at the travails of the Republican Party last weekend, telling the party's chairman that no, the GOP does not qualify for a bailout, and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh does not count as a troubled asset. Though the president was just looking for a laugh at the annual White House Correspondents dinner, Republicans have a tough road ahead as they try to rehabilitate their party. "When a party goes out of power so spectacularly as ...

Maybe it was the baby in "Friends." Or perhaps it was a thirst for comforting words that sound like "mama." Whatever the cause, the name "Emma" has climbed to the top of the cultural heap, transplanting the powerhouse "Emily" as the most popular name for baby girls in America. The Social Security Administration released its annual list of most popular baby names Friday, ahead of the Mother's Day weekend. Topping the boys list for 2008 is the heavyweight "Jacob," which ...

Political junkies who weren't thrilled at the prospect of a relatively staid confirmation process for President Barack Obama's as yet unnamed Supreme Court nominee can rest easy. This week Senate Republicans named perennial bomb thrower Jeff Sessions, 62, of Alabama to be the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, promising to bring at least a few sparks to a confirmation process that — if Minnesota's Al Franken is seated — was bound to be relatively easy. While Sessions ...

Despite a recent spate of bombings in Baghdad, Iraqi and U.S. officials continue to stress that the city is safer now than it has been in years. But what does safe mean in a country torn by more than half a decade of violence? A look at available data on killings in Baghdad and other world metropolises reveals some surprises. To start, totally reliable statistics on Iraqi civilian casualties are nonexistent at present. Estimates of civilian deaths in Iraq since ...

Manny Pacquiao has established himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport of boxing today.

While the swine flu raises public-health alarms globally, the prognosis for the world economy is not good if the outbreaks mutate into a pandemic. If there's a pandemic on the level of the 1918 "Spanish" flu, a 2008 World Bank analysis says, it would cost the world economy $3.1 trillion and drop the world's gross domestic product by 4.8 percent in the first year of infection. A pandemic like the less severe 1957 "Asian" flu would reduce global GDP by ...

At least five bomb attacks in Iraq in the past 48 hours have left some 140 people dead, wounded dozens more and raised fears that the country may be returning to the sectarian violence from which it has only just emerged. On Thursday three bombs in central Baghdad and areas northeast of the capital killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 100. On Friday, a double suicide bombing at the most important Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad killed another ...

Defeating extremists and stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan will require a "sustained, substantial commitment," Gen. David Petraeus, the chief of U.S. Central Command, said Friday. Afghanistan and Pakistan contain "the most pressing transnational extremist threat in the world," he told a House appropriations subcommittee, while expressing confidence that President Obama's strategy constitutes the type of commitment that is needed. Obama last month announced a new plan for the region, calling for more U.S. troops, greater economic assistance, improved Afghan troop training ...