WASHINGTON -- Eager to show that he feels people's pain, President Bush scuttled a political fundraising trip Thursday to tell the country his administration is working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A steady stream of motorists crossed the new Interstate 35W "smart bridge" as it opened early Thursday, a little more than a year after the old one collapsed into the Mississippi River and killed 13 people.

TECATE, Mexico -- A drug-sniffing dog pulled the U.S. Border Patrol agent to a rusty cargo container in the storage yard just north of the Mexican border. Peeking inside, he saw stacks of bundled marijuana and a man with a gun tucked in his waistband.

WASHINGTON -- In January 2006, an Indian government agency purchased newspaper ads seeking help in building an obscure piece of metal machinery. The details of the project, available to bidders, were laid out in a series of drawings that jolted nuclear weapons experts who discovered them that spring.

SAN'A, Yemen -- On a quiet Ramadan morning, a few people lined up outside the U.S. Embassy to wait for visas while most residents slept late in the Yemeni capital to cut short the Muslim holy month's daytime fast. Suddenly, chaos erupted.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Kim Jong Il's companion and former secretary is emerging as a key player in the communist nation after the autocratic leader's stroke.

GALVESTON, Texas -- Residents trying to get back to this hurricane-ravaged city Wednesday spent hours fuming in gridlocked traffic, only to be turned away at the bridge by officials worried that the crippled island can't accommodate that many people.

NEW YORK -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is avoiding a public face-off with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the new female star of the campaign, while still raising money and votes for the Democrat who wrested the presidential nomination from her.

GALVESTON, Texas -- The death toll from Hurricane Ike is remarkably low so far, considering that legions of people stayed behind as the storm obliterated row after row of homes along the Texas coast. But officials suspect there are more victims out there and say some might simply have been swept out to sea.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered the people of Afghanistan his "personal regrets" Wednesday for U.S. airstrikes that have killed civilians and said he would try to improve the accuracy of air warfare, the imperfect fallback for U.S. commanders who say they don't have enough ground forces for the deepening Afghanistan war.

WASHINGTON -- Someone who takes medication to control epilepsy or diabetes could end up in a situation where he or she is no longer eligible for protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

New U.S. Strike Irks Pakistanis

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A new reported U.S. missile strike inside Pakistan on Wednesday threatened to undermine American efforts to defuse a growing confrontation with Pakistan over aggressive U.S. military actions against Islamist extremists in the country's turbulent northwest border region.