MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – “Did our dad have to die?” Peggy Cohen wanted to know as mine safety regulators opened an emotional public hearing on questions still surrounding the January disaster that left 12 men dying deep inside the Sago Mine. Families of the deceased miners held framed photographs of their …

NEW ORLEANS – Longtime port developer Joseph Cocchiara Jr. stands between railroad tracks and old warehouses. He could walk 100 feet and fall into the murky Mississippi River, yet he’s on some of the most coveted property in the city. The lure: the riverfront is some of the highest ground …

PASADENA, Calif. – The ground heaves, an earthquake is born. Underground sensors along fault lines detect rumblings humans can’t and relay signals to a central computer. Precious seconds before anything is felt, wailing sirens blare that a big one is on its way. That sliver of time could be used …

ATLANTA – Delta Air Lines Inc.pilots approved an agreement Wednesday with the bankrupt carrier that calls for $280 million in annual concessions, including an initial 14 percent pay cut, the union said. The vote by the Atlanta-based airline’s rank-and-file pilots was 61 percent in favor, the union said in a …

SEOUL, South Korea – An unidentified assailant attacked the leader of South Korea’s main opposition party on Saturday, the country’s Yonhap news agency reported. Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the Grand National Party, suffered a wound to her face during campaigning for the upcoming local elections. It was not immediately clear …

Postmenopausal women who gain more than 60 pounds during their adult years are three times as likely to be diagnosed with the most deadly forms of breast cancer as women who gain 20 pounds or less, a study shows. Weight gain after age 18 was found to be a significant …

MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin fired several high-ranking security and law enforcement officials on Friday, Russian news agencies reported. Officials in the Federal Security Service, Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s Office were among those dismissed, the reports said. The news agencies did not offer reasons for the firings, but …

LOS ANGELES – Singer Chaka Khan said her son is a kind, gentle man who she believes accidentally killed his friend nearly two years ago in her home. Khan, whose real name is Yvette Stevens, testified Thursday in the murder trial of her son, 27-year-old Damien Patrick Holland. Holland is …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – An Afghan human rights group said Friday an estimated 34 civilians were killed in a U.S. airstrike on a southern village this week — far higher than the official toll. Abdul Qadar Noorzai, the director of the Kandahar office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said …

HOUSTON – Former Sen. and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, a courtly Texan who as the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 1988 famously told rival Dan Quayle he was “no Jack Kennedy,” died Tuesday. He was 85. Bentsen, who represented the state in Congress for 28 years, died at his Houston …