Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 years in Congress, died Friday. He was 86.

John McCain has struggled to solidify lines of attack against Mr. Obama, Republican operatives say and some of his own advisers acknowledge.

It could turn out to be one of the significant comments of the 2008 campaign — and due to the July 4 weekend, it isn’t getting much notice. The nation’s highest ranking military officer warned Wednesday upon his return from a visit to Israel that a strike on Iran would be a very bad idea.

Four people were shot dead early Friday outside a house party in Milwaukee, police said.

Roger Federer defeated Marat Safin to advance to the Wimbledon men's final and will face Rafael Nadal.

A ferocious wildfire burning through the Los Padres National Forest continued creeping closer to town on the Fourth of July, after jumping a fire line and claiming several more homes this week.

The U.S. military says it flew thousands of spy flights over Colombian jungles trying to find and free three Pentagon contractors since their kidnapping in 2003.

Thousands of personal items which belonged to Rosa Parks, the civil rights pioneer,  are set to be sold at auction.

Divers recovered seven bodies Friday and fought strong currents to search for five other missing boaters after two canoes were crushed as they passed through a dam in Slovenia.

Britain's senior intelligence official has been rushed to a London hospital after falling into a coma, officials said Friday, but foul play is not suspected in his sudden illness.