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Nastia Liukin couldn't watch, for she knew she might be the one who had let another world title slip away. Meanwhile, Alicia Sacramone couldn't wait. She wanted to get out on the floor, show 'em what she had, and see if it was good enough to save the day. Sacramone did it, coming through with a floor routine full of attitude and glitz, one good enough to rally the Americans to a world championship Wednesday and prove that winning gold medals in gymnastics is more about determination than perfection

AUSTIN, Texas - Heather Burcham, whose battle with cervical cancer led her to urge legislators to try to keep girls from sharing in her fate, has died of the disease. She was 31. Burcham, of Houston, died Saturday. "Her pain and suffering have forever ceased," Gov. Rick Perry said Monday. He said she was "an inspiration to myself, my staff and others." Perry issued an executive order in February that would have required the newly approved human papillomavirus vaccine for girls entering the sixth grade, to help protect them from cervical cancer

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, said the country is in "great danger" of the U.S. government staging a terrorist attack or a Gulf of Tonkin style provocation, as the war in Iraq continues to deteriorate. The Texas congressman offered no specifics nor mentioned President Bush by name, but he clearly insinuated that the administration would not be above staging an incident to revive flagging support. During the radio interview, Paul said the government was conducting "an orchestrated effort to blame the Iranians for everything that has gone wrong in Iraq."

WASHINGTON - The former executive assistant to White House political adviser Karl Rove is seeking immunity from prosecution before testifying about administration ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a House investigative committee revealed Tuesday. Susan Ralston, the aide who resigned last fall, told lawyers for the committee this month she would provide information if protected from prosecution. In a sign that Congress' probe into the Abramoff matter is widening, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also signaled plans to seek further documents and information about the former lobbyist's contacts with the Bush White House from "former and current...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to let a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia expire in 2009 and replace it with a less formal agreement that eliminates strict verification requirements and weapons limits, a senior U.S. official says. This would continue President George W. Bush's practice of repudiating arms control as a means of curbing nuclear weapons while relying more on countermeasures like export controls, interdiction and sanctions. This approach makes many arms control experts uneasy, but the Democratic-led U.S. Congress has shown little interest in the START treaty's fate. Some congressional aides say whatever Bush does,...

WASHINGTON - Al Franken, a comedian and best-selling author before launching his Senate campaign this year, is worth between $4.3 million and $9.9 million, according to a financial disclosure form he filed with the Senate. Franken, a Democrat who hopes to challenge Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record) next year, listed a salary of just over $1 million last year from his corporation, Alan Franken Inc. That corporation is the business entity that provides Franken's services — such as speaking engagements and his prior service on Air America Radio — and then pays Franken a salary at the...

XM Satellite Radio today announced it will launch a new radio channel dedicated to the 2008 presidential election, marking the first time that a national radio channel has been devoted to a presidential campaign. The 24-hour, commercial-free channel, created in association with C-SPAN and other media outlets, will be called “POTUS ‘08.” The channel’s name (pronounced POH-tus) comes from the Secret Service code name for the President of the United States. The channel will be “free to air” on XM, meaning that it will be broadcast free to all XM radio receivers. If a consumer has an XM radio but...

Senator Byron Dorgan says he`ll try to kill a temporary worker program that`s part of an immigration overhaul announced by President Bush and other lawmakers. It also would create a temporary worker program for new arrivals and a different program to cover farm workers. Dorgan says he`ll try to kill the temporary worker program because it would bring in a potentially unlimited stream of immigrants to compete with Americans for jobs and depress wages.

WASHINGTON -- American actress Drew Barrymore was named a World Food Program ambassador against hunger, the United Nations agency announced Wednesday. Barrymore just returned from a trip to Kenya, where she toured WFP-supported school meal projects, the agency said in a statement. She plans to spend the week in Washington to advocate legislation in the U.S. Congress to increase money for school meals from $100 million per year to about $300 million per year over the next five years. "I can't think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes...

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, yesterday posted its worst monthly sales figures since its records began in 1980. The company said same store sales fell 3.5% in April on the same month a year ago. Same store sales measure the performance of stores that have been open for at least 12 months. But Wal-Mart was not the only US retailer turning in a poor performance in April, triggering fears that the US housing slump might be spilling over into consumer spending and that the economy might be taking a turn for the worse.

ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS, Manchester, N.H. – Republican John McCain says he intends to appoint a Democrat to a high-profile Cabinet post if he’s elected president. “There are very highly qualified Democrats on a number of issues,” McCain said. “The more efforts you can make towards bipartisanship, I think in Washington today, the better off you are. But it also better be, one, an important post and, two, a person who has the ear of the president.”

WASHINGTON - Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., died early Sunday of cancer, an aide said. Millender-McDonald, who was 68, died at her home in Carson, Calif., said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen. McQueen could provide no details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had. The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness.

LONDON (Reuters) - A consortium of Middle Eastern investors and American buyout firms is preparing a $50 billion approach for Dow Chemical Co. (DOW.N: Quote, Profile , Research) in what could be the world's biggest ever leveraged buyout, a paper said on Sunday.