Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter turned the 111th session of Congress upside down on Tuesday by announcing that he will switch parties and become a Democrat. The move was the product of weeks of intensive negotiation between Specter and Democrats in the Senate and White House, and it favorably alters the balance of power for President Obama as he is facing tough votes in the months ahead on health care, energy and budget bills. "We are thrilled to have you," ...

Security personnel found Miranda Tozier-Robbins looking through the windows of the singer's home in Calabasas, California, the department said in a written statement. Tozier-Robbins also had a backpack and video equipment, the statement said. Security personnel asked her to leave, but she "balked," the statement said. They then physically escorted her off the property. A policeman arrived later to arrest her. She was booked on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct, the statement said. Bail was set at ...

Hulk Hogan said his comments to Rolling Stone magazine that he can "totally understand" O.J. Simpson -- the former football great found liable for the deaths of his wife and another man -- are being misunderstood. The pro wrestling legend said Wednesday that he "took the high road" and "didn't do the O.J. Simpson thing" despite the pain of his bitter divorce fight with wife Linda. Hogan's lawyer said the quotes leaked to a gossip column have been taken out ...

It's a nightmarish scenario straight out of the movies: A passenger is forced to land a plane after its pilot becomes incapacitated. But it became a reality for a passenger on board a plane over Florida on Sunday, and for the air traffic controllers who helped him land safely in what the National Air Traffic Controllers' Association called "an Easter miracle." The incident began about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The plane, a Super King Air two-engine turboprop with four passengers on ...

A helicopter believed to have 16 people aboard ditched Wednesday in the North Sea, 35 miles off the northeastern coast of Scotland, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency said. The announcement came after Obama and Medvedev met in London ahead of Thursday's G-20 summit. The statement said the two leaders agreed that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms -- which expires in December -- "has completely fulfilled its intended purpose and that the ...

U.S. President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced Wednesday that their countries will soon begin negotiations on reducing their nuclear arsenals, according to a joint statement from the two leaders. The announcement came after Obama and Medvedev met in London ahead of Thursday's G-20 summit. The statement said the two leaders agreed that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms -- which expires in December -- "has completely fulfilled its intended purpose ...

A Texas woman claims in a lawsuit her 21-year-old son has suffered emotional trauma from being forced to participate in alleged "fight clubs" at a state school for mentally handicapped adults. Inez Hernandez, mother of Armando Hernandez Jr., filed the suit Wednesday against the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, according to a statement from the office of her attorney, Robert Hilliard. Police have alleged that workers at the Corpus Christi State School were staging a "fight ...

Researchers have raised the alert status at Mount Redoubt, a volcano in southern Alaska, after another increase in seismic activity. "Shallow earthquake activity under the volcano has been as high as 26 events per 10-minute period," officials at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said Sunday in a statement announcing that the alert level was raised to "watch" status. Although no eruption has occurred, the scientists said the increase in seismic activity "likely represents either the upward movement of magma or pressurization ...

With bachelor parties kicking into high gear and the summer season about to begin, the Foxy Lady wants to be sure that its three locations are fully staffed and prepared to meet their customers' demands. The incident occurred in the Gereshk district of Helmand province, and the militants were killed by Afghan soldiers advised by coalition troops, the U.S. military said in a statement. Afghan soldiers had been conducting "combat reconnaissance in an area of known militant presence," the statement ...

Thirty armed militants were killed on Thursday during a fight with troops in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said. The incident occurred in the Gereshk district of Helmand province, and the militants were killed by Afghan soldiers advised by coalition troops, the U.S. military said in a statement. Afghan soldiers had been conducting "combat reconnaissance in an area of known militant presence," the statement said, when militants fired at the troops with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades and a firefight eventually ...