WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats are confronting deep divisions within their nervous ranks over whether to support President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans — or just punt the entire matter until after voters go to the polls Nov. 2.

WASHINGTON — Virtually unknown a month ago, Christine O'Donnell rode a surge of support from tea party activists to victory in Delaware's Republican Senate primary Tuesday night, dealing yet another setback to the GOP establishment in a campaign season full of them.

WASHINGTON — Retail sales rose in August by the largest amount in five months, adding to evidence that a late spring economic swoon was temporary and not the start of another recession.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) -- The tragic explosion of a gas pipeline in a San Francisco suburb has shed light on a problem usually kept underground: Communities have expanded over pipes built decades earlier when no one lived there.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran freed an American woman on $500,000 bail Tuesday, more than a year after she was detained along the border with Iraq. However, authorities said they were not considering the immediate release of the two companions arrested with her.

NEW YORK — The imam leading the effort to build an Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site said Monday that a resolution to the raging debate over its location is being examined.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans will oppose any effort to renew soon-to-expire Bush administration tax cuts if upper income taxpayers are excluded from the reductions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama insisted Friday that the U.S. economy is showing improvement from the deepest recession in decades but conceded the "progress has been painfully slow."