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MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- Restless Republicans are already looking beyond the embattled presidency of U.S. President George W. Bush to the 2008 campaign. Nearly 2,000 Republican activists opened a weekend conference Friday to hear from presidential prospects and share strategies on a conservative agenda that many believe Washington has forsaken. The delegates were voting in an informal "straw poll" to test the popularity of White House hopefuls including those in attendance -- Massa ...

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Six young Japanese were found dead from asphyxiation in a minivan Friday, charcoal stoves still smoking beside them -- apparently the latest victims of a surge in suicide pacts arranged over the Internet. Authorities said they suspected the five men and a woman, all in their 20s, met online before dying together Thursday night in a forested area 50 miles northwest of Tokyo. T ...

The Bloods, Crips, Disciples and an increasingly popular street gang known as MS-13 were among the gangs targeted in a Department of Homeland Security operation over the past two weeks that yielded 375 arrests of wanted members in 23 states, the department announced Friday. What makes Operation Community Shield different from other crackdowns is that federal authorities for the first time are using immigration and customs authorities in an attempt to dismantle what they call "transnationa ...

By Steve Holland and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will forge ahead with a vote on blocking an Arab-owned company from managing U.S. ports, to ensure the firm sheds its U.S. holdings as promised, a leadership spokesman said on Friday. The Republican-run House's refusal to back away from the showdown vote was another blow to President George W. Bush, who suffered a stinging defeat Thursday when Dubai Ports World said it intended to back out of the deal  ...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Delta terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City was evacuated for about two hours Friday after a man whose shoes provided an initial positive alert for explosives left the screening area, the Transportation Security Administration said. Authorities gave no indication whether the man had been found. TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said the man had taken off his shoes for the  ...

(CNN) -- The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, on a two-year mission to study the Martian atmosphere and surface, and search for water, pulled off a dangerous and tricky maneuver known as "orbit insertion" and began circling the red planet Friday. "It was picture perfect. We could not have planned it any better," MRO Project Manager Jim Graf said. The spacecraft fired its six main engines at 4:24 p.m. ET and was captured by Mars' gravity. The burn lasted 27 minutes. "Burn  ...

By Steve Holland and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will forge ahead with a vote on blocking an Arab-owned company from managing U.S. ports, to ensure the firm sheds its U.S. holdings as promised, a leadership spokesman said on Friday. The Republican-run House's refusal to back away from the showdown vote was another blow to President George W. Bush, who  ...

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Millionaire James Sullivan was convicted Friday of hiring a hit man to gun down his socialite wife to escape a costly divorce. Jurors found Sullivan, 64, guilty of malice murder, felony murder, burglary and two counts of aggravated assault after just over four hours of deliberations. Besides blinking several times, Sullivan showed no reaction as the verdict was read. The jury now must decide Sullivan's punishment -- execution or life in prison. In closing arguments  ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gambino crime family scion John A. "Junior" Gotti dodged a legal bullet for the second time in eight months Friday when a federal jury deadlocked on racketeering charges against him, leading to a mistrial. U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin excused the jury after they said they were at an impasse despite less than two full days of deliberations. Prosecutors quickly said they intended to try Gotti, 42, for a third time. The mistrial came after jurors sent o ...

By William Schomberg and Richard Waddington LONDON (Reuters) - Six of the world's biggest trading powers launched two days of talks on Friday, making a new bid to narrow differences over a global trade deal that is running out of time. With an April 30 deadline fast approaching for agreement on key parts of a new round by the 149-country World Trade Organisation (WTO), top negotiators from the E ...