A united, well-organized opposition led by a youthful state governor gave President Hugo Chavez the race of his life Sunday as Venezuelans turned out in huge numbers for a presidential election on the country's socialist direction.

Fewer people are sending paper greeting cards, a worrisome challenge for the nation's top card company.

Officials with the Chicago Marathon say one man suffered a cardiac arrest near the end of the race and nine others were also hospitalized.

Germany's finance minister is keeping the pressure on Greece to implement reforms and spending cuts before a visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A lot depends on the weather but if all goes well tonight, the first privately contracted supply mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to get under way.

Soon after his pending sentencing, Jerry Sandusky will probably be walking into a Pennsylvania state prison with little more than a watch and wedding band.

A federal judge in Los Angeles will decide next week whether the man behind an anti-Islamic film that sparked violence in the Middle East should be sent back to prison for violating his probation.

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Olivia has formed in the eastern Pacific but poses no threat to land.

A police officer at the University of South Alabama has fatally shot a naked student whom authorities said repeatedly charged the officer.

Conspiracy theorists are suggesting that the decline in the jobless rate last month from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent is the result of political manipulation.

Chicago school officials say they've come up with a plan to pay for the first year of a new teacher contract.

Mexico's state-owned oil company reports it has found possible reserves of as much as 125 million barrels of oil at a deep-water well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Drilling companies beginning to explore the Utica Shale got a piece of good news Friday when the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the rock formation in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states holds enormous reserves of natural gas and oil.

Internet company eBay has canceled the sale of a Halloween mask of Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes.

The Michigan Lottery says a Detroit woman took home $1 million in the multi-state Powerball game from a free ticket.

The parents of a Rutgers University student who killed himself after his roommate used a webcam to see him kissing another man have decided not to sue anyone involved in the case.

The results of a large new study strongly suggest free birth control, a bitterly contested Obama administration policy, could have a significantly positive effect on women's health.

President Barack Obama continues to point out what he contends are a series of deliberate misstatements by rival Mitt Romney.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has described his disparaging remarks about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes as "not elegantly stated." Now he's calling them "just completely wrong."

Greek police clashed with shipyard workers protesting pay arrears Thursday after they broke into the Defense Ministry grounds, while hundreds of farmers on tractors tried to invade the country's second-busiest airport on Crete during an anti-austerity protest.

Health officials are expecting to find more cases of a rare and deadly form of meningitis that has sickened more than two dozen people in five states. Four have died.

Rush, Deep Purple, Public Enemy and N.W.A. are among the group of first-time nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is replacing the city's entire Board of Ethics.

Conservatives are using a speech President Barack Obama delivered as a candidate in 2007 to accuse him of using racially charged rhetoric.

The price of oil fell Tuesday as investors weighed positive U.S. economic news against ongoing concerns about Europe.