MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water. […]

By Jonathan Kaminsky OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over a river in a rural area north of Seattle collapsed on Thursday, sending vehicles and people into the frigid water below, authorities said. The collapse on Interstate 5 over the Skagit River happened at about 7 p.m. local time between the towns of Mount Vernon and Bur […]

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's top leaders are defending the economic strategies championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though the central bank chief acknowledged a need for better communication with financial markets, a day after Tokyo shares suffered their worst loss since the 2011 tsunami disaster. […]

BOSTON (AP) — Terry Francona felt right at home in the visiting dugout. […]

(Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck in Northern California on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter of the quake was located 2 miles north-northeast of the town of Canyondam, the USGS said. An initial report said the quake was magnitude 5.9. A 5.7 magnitude quake is considered moderate, but has the potential to cause cons […]

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche are rounding up the old crew to restore the downtrodden franchise. […]

DETROIT (AP) — Jimmy Howard kept Jonathan Toews in his misery, making three saves against the struggling star to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Thursday night in Game 4 of the second round series to put the NHL's best team during the regular season on the brink of elimination. […]

Today is Friday, May 24, the 144th day of 2013. There are 221 days left in the year. […]

By Linda Sieg, Yuko Yoshikawa and Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - When ill health and political gridlock forced Shinzo Abe to quit after one dismal year as Japan's prime minister, his pride was dented and his self-confidence battered. One thing, however, was intact: his commitment to a controversial conservative agenda centered on rewriting Japan […]

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Scott Walker tried to introduce himself to Iowa Republicans Thursday as so many would-be presidential candidates often do — one of their own. […]

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over a river in a rural area north of Seattle collapsed on Thursday, sending vehicles and people into the frigid water below, authorities said. […]

(Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck in Northern California on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. […]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America voted on Thursday to lift a century-old ban on openly gay scouts in a major victory for gay rights activists, but the decision means a sea of change for an organization that depends heavily on faith-based groups. […]

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's prosecutor's office said on Thursday it would open an investigation into in a recording the opposition says features a top government ally accusing the deputy head of the ruling Socialist Party of corruption and conspiring against the new president. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday shifted the United States away from a "boundless global war on terror," restricting deadly drone strikes abroad and signaling that America's long struggle against al Qaeda will one day end. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to resilience in the labor market despite belt-tightening by Washington. […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the past few months, the Federal Reserve has been squarely in the financial markets' corner, thanks to its massive dollops of monetary stimulus. But signs that the central bank is discussing reducing that support by purchasing fewer bonds mean that trading is likely to get bumpier in coming months. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday shifted the United States away from a "boundless global war on terror," restricting deadly drone strikes abroad and signaling that America's long struggle against al Qaeda will one day end. […]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America voted on Thursday to lift a ban on openly gay scouts that had been in place throughout the organization's 103-year history, capping weeks of intense lobbying on both sides, the group said in a statement. […]

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker has agreed to a five-year securities industry ban and a record fine to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he broke rules against influence peddling to win bond underwriting business in Massachusetts. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Institutional Shareholder Services has settled civil charges by U.S. regulators that an employee of the prominent proxy advisory firm shared nonpublic voting data in exchange for meals and concert tickets. […]

LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating the murder of a soldier hacked to death on a busy London street were looking on Friday into whether the two suspected killers, British men of Nigerian descent, were part of a wider conspiracy. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some ad sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday. […]

LONDON (Reuters) - In the lurid scene of the red-handed knifeman describing his motives for hacking to death a British soldier in broad daylight, perhaps the most chilling aspect for many Londoners was the man's unmistakably familiar accent. […]

CONAKRY (Reuters) - One person was killed and around 10 injured when security forces and supporters of Guinea's president clashed with protesters marching in the capital on Thursday against planned legislative elections. […]

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Eastern Congo has the best chance in years to secure a lasting peace but the United Nations stands ready to pacify the region by force if need be, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday. […]

PRISTINA (Reuters) - European Union police said on Thursday they had arrested five people, including a wartime ally of Kosovo's prime minister, and were investigating the ambassador to Albania on suspicion of war crimes during Kosovo's 1998-99 conflict. […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Thursday and acknowledged there was considerable skepticism that the two sides would resume peace negotiations. […]

MILAN (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was involved in a tax fraud scheme while he was head of government, a Milan court said in a document released on Thursday explaining its earlier decision to uphold his four-year conviction. […]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The eastern New Mexico peanut butter plant shuttered eight months ago after a salmonella outbreak is back in production, and company officials say their coveted natural and organic butters could be back on store shelves within a month. […]

GENEVA (AP) — International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday. […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reading, writing, arithmetic — and PE? […]

DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill. […]

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report. […]