Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin made an unannounced visit to Way's Fruit Farm during the farm's annual fall festival today, surprising fellow festival-goers.

WASHINGTON Facing financial woes at home, state officials continued to press Congress to boost the economy by giving federal money to folks they know will spend it: the unemployed, the poor and road builders, among others.

WASHINGTON In an Associated Press telephone interview shortly after President-elect Barack Obama announced that James L. Jones will be his national security adviser, Jones discussed his new role.

WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks Monday are sweet political gifts for the Republican who'll become governor of Arizona and the yet-to-be-named Democrat who'll assume Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat.

WASHINGTON President George W. Bush says history will judge him, but he is getting his own crack first. Bush is using his final 50 days in office to tout his legacy, hoping to leave a lasting impression of overshadowed progress. On Monday, World AIDS Day, Bush was heralded for his leadership in fighting the disease, a point that even his Democratic critics readily concede.

UNITED NATIONS Susan Rice, the first African-American woman named as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, brings to the job a lifetime's work on international issues, an insider's knowledge of the White House and State Department, and close ties to President-elect Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON The woman who wanted to be president stepped up to a podium too tall, turned the microphones down and began by addressing the man who defeated her: "Mr. President-elect."

WASHINGTON Federal health officials estimate that the struggling economy will speed up by one to three years the exhaustion of the Medicare trust fund covering hospital and nursing home care.

WASHINGTON The Bush administration, anxious to defuse dangerous tensions after India charged that there was a Pakistani link to the Mumbai terrorist attacks, said Monday that it had no indication of Pakistani government involvement.

WASHINGTON The Bush administration, anxious to defuse dangerous tensions after India charged that there was a Pakistani link to the Mumbai terrorist attacks, said Monday that it had no indication of Pakistani government involvement.

AUGUSTA, Ga. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged Georgia voters to back Sen. Saxby Chambliss in Tuesday's runoff in an election eve appeal that underscored her popularity within the Republican Party and the GOP's efforts to stave off erosion of its shrinking Senate numbers.

LONDON Happily contemplating another woman as the top U.S. diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she will offer advice, privately, and then get out of the way.

WASHINGTON Veteran Congresswoman Nita Lowey (LOH-ee) has taken herself out of the running to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

CHICAGO President-elect Barack Obama named his national security team Monday, vowing to bolster military strength with diplomacy. Highlighting the change, he named Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state.

WASHINGTON President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.

WASHINGTON On Monday, the Supreme Court:

WASHINGTON With two years of experience already on the job, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to provide a steady hand for the first wartime presidential changeover since Vietnam.

WASHINGTON President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.

WASHINGTON Hillary Rodham Clinton's nomination as secretary of state is another milestone for a former first lady who was the first to win elective office, the first to run for president herself and now the first to be chosen for a Cabinet position.

CHICAGO Barack Obama says the U.S.-Iraq security agreement approved by Iraq's parliament puts the U.S. on a "glide path" toward reducing forces there.

WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be national security adviser is a Vietnam war veteran who rose to become a Marine four-star general and NATO commander, but is at least as well known for his diplomatic skills.

CHICAGO President-elect Barack Obama says that in choosing independent-minded people like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert Gates for his administration, he wanted people who have strong opinions and are not shy about expressing them.

CHICAGO President-elect Barack Obama expressed sympathy for the victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai but declined to say whether the Indian government would be justified in pursuing terrorists in next-door Pakistan.

CHICAGO President-elect Barack Obama is nominating Susan Rice to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

WASHINGTON Facing severe cutbacks in state services as the recession deepens, the nation's governors pressed their case on Capitol Hill Monday, asking for at least $40 billion to help pay for health care for the poor and disabled.

WASHINGTON Marking World AIDS Day, President George W. Bush said Monday that his presidential initiative on the deadly disease has already met its goal of treating 2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

WASHINGTON The top U.S. negotiator in international talks to rid North Korea of nuclear arms was heading to Asia Monday to prepare for a new round of negotiations next week.

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court has declined to block the retrial of celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht, who is accused of using government workers and equipment to benefit his lucrative private practice.

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a pipeline company over denial of environmental permits for a proposed natural gas pipeline through Long Island Sound.

LONDON The Bush administration stopped short of blaming last week's terror rampage in India on Pakistani extremists Monday, but said the new civilian government in Pakistan must cooperate fully and hide nothing.

WASHINGTON Ground combat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War lasted just 100 hours, but it's meant 17 years of pain and anguish for hundreds of thousands of veterans.