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The mother of missing Florida toddler Caylee Anthony was arrested and charged Friday with forgery, fraudulent use of personal information and petty theft, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said. Casey Anthony -- wearing a T-shirt with Caylee's picture and the words "Have you seen me?" -- was taken to a unmarked police car amid cheers from protesters outside her parents' home.

Authorities and residents along the Gulf Coast are scrambling to prepare for the landfall of a major hurricane over the next few days. Dangerous Category 3 storm Gustav continued to gather steam early today as it moved across the Caribbean towards the western tip of Cuba.

An alleged terrorist leader suspected of plotting the bombing of a Philippine superferry more than four years ago, killing at least 116 people, has arrived in Manila after his arrest in Bahrain, a Philippine justice official said Saturday.

Police raided a rental hall used by a group organizing protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday.

An airstrike by Pakistani fighter jets killed more than 30 Taliban fighters, including an alleged high-ranking Taliban commander, a government spokesman said Saturday.

Officials in some Gulf Coast states spent the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Friday gearing up for what could be the biggest threat to the region since Katrina hit in 2005.

Ricky Murray was having a miserable year long before a storm named Gustav started threatening the Gulf Coast area. Now he's afraid he will lose his family because of a previous hurricane.

The McCain campaign calls Sarah Palin a "tough executive who has demonstrated" readiness to be president. But the Obama campaign calls her a candidate with "the thinnest foreign policy experience in history." Today, a brand new part of Palin's identity dominates the political scene: game-changer.

Tropical Storm Gustav's winds and rain blasted Jamaica early Friday and the storm's path was expected to take it to Grand Cayman later in the day, according to the National Hurricane Center.

At least 17 Smithsonian Institution executives with six-figure salaries will see pay cuts, many in the tens of thousands of dollars, under reforms adopted by the museum complex.

John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up."

At 14, Andrew Busskohl got a second chance at life when he underwent a heart transplant. But four years later, neighbors have more fear than compassion for him.

Sen. John McCain today announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, calling her "the running mate who can best help me shake up Washington." Palin said, "To have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give and I promise nothing less."

John McCain's brilliant but risky "Hail Mary pass" choice for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah "Barracuda" Palin, has the political world saying first: Who? And then: Why?

Report card: McCain's pick of Palin

Courtland Cox stood on a podium with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and listened to a dreamer.

Republicans praised John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate on Friday, while Democrats said it didn't change the dynamics of the presidential race.

Charlie Dominguez is spending his 47th birthday standing in line at Invesco Field, hoping he will be able to count a ticket to Sen. Barack Obama's Thursday night acceptance speech among his birthday gifts.

A chemical plant explosion in West Virginia prompted authorities to tell thousands of residents in nearby areas to stay in their homes.

Personal income fell in July by the biggest drop in 3 years after surging the prior two months because of $90 billion in economic stimulus payments.

Despite a stadium packed far past capacity, with nearly 90,000 supporters wildly applauding nominee Barack Obama as he spoke Thursday, Republicans responded with one hand gesture: thumbs down.

Sen. John McCain's campaign has told Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty he will not be the GOP vice presidential nominee in November, sources told CNN today. Meanwhile, the arrival of a private jet from Alaska at the Middleton, Ohio, airport Thursday night raised speculation that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be McCain's pick. Middleton is near Dayton, where McCain is expected to name his running mate at a rally today.

Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination in a packed stadium Thursday night and laid out his credentials to take on and beat Republican candidate John McCain in the fall election. "We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight. On November 4, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough," he said.

You knew Barack Obama would deliver a magnificent speech in accepting the Democratic nomination for president. And he did.

A bounty hunter said Thursday that he will revoke the bond of a Florida woman suspected in the disappearance of her toddler daughter and that the woman would be returned to jail Saturday.

Twelve decapitated bodies were found Thursday on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a local official said.

Gasoline prices rose for the first time in more than a month, according to a nationwide survey of gas station credit card swipes Friday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of the presidential election candidates. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, Putin said the U.S. had encouraged Georgia to attack the autonomous region of South Ossetia.