President Obama says Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else. He said that includes the right to build a place of worship on private property in lower Manhattan. The president made his remarks at a dinner at the White House celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The pill ella from HRA Pharma reduces the chance of pregnancy up to five days after sex. Plan B, the most widely used emergency contraceptive pill, begins losing its ability to prevent pregnancy within three days of sex.

Thousands have died in the flooding and mudslides. But experts say some of the damage could have been prevented. Migration and development have outstripped government planning in many areas, particularly with the rapid economic growth and urban expansion in China.

The trial will be on hold for at least 30 days while the only lawyer for Omar Khadr is treated for complications from recent gall bladder surgery, said Bryan Broyles, the deputy chief defense counsel for the military trials at Guantanamo Bay.

Russia's nuclear agency reports that it plans to load fuel into Iran's first nuclear power plant on Aug. 21, moving ahead with launching the facility despite Iran's stubborn defiance of international demand to halt uranium enrichment.

The Budget, a 120-year-old weekly, brings news to Amish communities around the world. Despite the declining newspaper industry, its circulation of 1,900 subscribers has stayed steady for decades. The volunteers who write for the paper, called "scribes," recently gathered in Sugarcreek, Ohio, for journalism training.

Russia said Friday it will begin loading nuclear fuel rods into the reactor of Iran's first nuclear power plant next week.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters defended herself against ethics charges Friday in the court of public opinion. She held an hour-long press conference and PowerPoint presentation to say she has done nothing wrong.

The Smithsonian Institution has returned more than two hundred sacred artifacts, including head dresses and other ceremonial regalia, to the Yurok Indian tribe in northern California. Melissa Block talks with Thomas O'Rourke, chairman of the Yurok tribe, about the repatriation.

The Democratic nominee in South Carolina is accused of showing pornography to a college student. He was the surprise winner of his party's primary even though he did almost no campaigning.

As the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is tested in Afghanistan, Army Command Sgt. Maj. Mike Hall reflects on his career and service in the war. Hall retired only to be called back into service in 2008 by Gen. Stanley McChrystal to help turn around the war effort. The general once called Hall "the finest soldier I have ever known."

Elias Abuelazam, 33, appeared in an Atlanta court agreed to waive an extradition fight and face charges in Michigan related to one of the attacks in a three-state stabbing spree that left five people dead and 13 others wounded.

The war in Iraq has taken a heavy toll on children, many of whom saw their own family members kidnapped, tortured and executed during the brutal sectarian fighting from 2006 to 2008. But there are few services for the country's estimated 4 million to 6 million orphans, and plans to open Iraq's first child-psychiatry clinic have stalled.

A crate of whisky that was trapped in Antarctic ice for 100 years was finally opened Friday -- but it won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historic significance. The crate, recovered from the hut of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in 2006, has been thawed very slowly in recent weeks at a New Zealand museum.

Earlier this month, state Sen. Hansen Clarke defeated seven-term incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in the Democratic primary by running on a platform of targeting tax dollars to impoverished neighborhoods like the one he grew up in.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates had no choice but to sign orders deploying hundreds of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan recently because NATO trainers had not arrived. Pentagon officials and military officers say NATO nations still aren't doing enough.

In northern Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan, the long lines of tanker trucks carrying oil into Iran are under scrutiny. Some observers say it's smuggling that violates international sanctions and Iraq's rules on the sale of oil. Others say it's perfectly legal.

New landslides killed 24 people as downpours threatened more devastation and made rescue work nearly impossible in the remote northwestern region where more than 1,100 people have died.

Retail sales managed a modest 0.4 percent increase in July after two consecutive declines, but the strength was concentrated in higher sales of autos and gasoline. Sales excluding autos were up 0.2 percent as most other retailers saw their sales fall. Meanwhile, consumer prices increased by 0.3 percent, after three months of declines.

The California lawmaker is out raising money for some fellow Democrats. But even more than President Obama, she's the opponent who Republicans seem to like to bash the most. Democrats say most voters won't listen, though.