washington

The H1NI virus formerly known as swine flu has now effectively struck all corners of the globe, infecting tens of thousands of people in at least 64 nations, and continuing to spread readily across borders and within communities.

An emotional Nancy Reagan said Wednesday that a bronze statue of her late husband that will rest permanently in the Capitol Rotunda is "a wonderful likeness" of the nation's 40th president.
"He would be so proud," said the teary-eyed former first lady.

Kavya Shivasankar doesn't want a cell phone, and she doesn't like the makeup applied for television appearances that began early Friday, the morning after she spelled "Laodicean" to win the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

What kind of war might North Korea wage against South Korea, and, by extension, us?
Military intelligence officers told the authoritative publication Aviation Week that the North's million-man army is too "unbalanced" to repeat the 1950 offensive that backed U.S. and South Korean forces into a perimeter around Pusan.

Kavya Shivashankar and her dad knew exactly what they were going to do if she won the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night.

Kavya Shivashankar won the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night. The 13-year-old eighth-grader from Olathe, Kan., correctly spelled "Laodicean," meaning lukewarm or indifferent in religion, to win $40,000 in cash and prizes. Second place went to Tim Ruiter, 12, from Centreville, Va.

Eleven elite wordsmiths in the Scripps National Spelling Bee are ready for primetime Thursday night after jousting earlier through three rounds of semifinals for three-and-a-half pulverizing hours - 30 minutes longer than expected.

Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha -- under fire for steering controversial federal money to his district -- has a Navy veteran with a Harvard degree lining up to challenge him for the Democratic nomination next year.

President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court represents a brilliant political strategy that could bring Latino voters -- the nation's fastest-growing electorate -- to the Democratic Party for generations to come, many experts say.

There's no telling what kind of a hit, if any, President Obama took in the Wall Street collapse, but his financial-disclosure reports at least let us watch how his investment choices are faring from now on.