SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. consumer safety officials said on Tuesday they are reviewing all Sony-made lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers for fire hazards after Dell Inc. (DELL) announced the largest electronics recall in the United States. Dell, the No. 1 maker of personal computers, on Monday said it is recalling …

UNITED NATIONS – Children in Sudan are living in grave danger of abduction, killing and sexual violence, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report. The report Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council said there are thousands of documented cases of women and children abducted for forced labor or forced …

DARMSTADT, Germany – Chancellor Angela Merkel quizzed German astronaut Thomas Reiter about his scientific experiments, sleeping habits and guitar-playing skills during a linkup Thursday with the international space station’s crew. Reiter, 48, arrived at the station July 6 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He is to spend six months there …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – After nine months of testimony, the troubled trial of Saddam Hussein adjourned Thursday until mid-October, when the five judges are expected to render a verdict that could send the ousted president to the gallows. The final hearing ended without Saddam in court but with two of his …

RALEIGH, N.C. – Twenty crew members and passengers were evacuated from a plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Wednesday, due to smoke and fire in the aircraft. There were conflicting accounts as to what exactly happened onboard the American Eagle flight. Airport spokeswoman Jill Denning said takeoff was aborted when …

Massive fires have killed four firefighters and burned nearly 24,000 acres in Southern California so far. Authorities say the blaze is a case of arson. — Thirty-six firefighters have died in California while fighting wildfires from 1926 to 2004. — As of September, 15 federal, state and local firefighters died …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Saddam Hussein, the iron-fisted dictator who ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter of a century, was found guilty of crimes against humanity Sunday and sentenced to death by hanging. The so-called Butcher of Baghdad, who was president of Iraq from 1979 until he was deposed by Coalition …

The pirates who seized a Saudi oil supertanker in a brazen hijacking dropped anchor near a Somalia fishing village as a Somali official vowed to rescue the vessel and “use force if necessary.” The ship anchored near the impoverished village of Harardhere, a pirate stronghold some 265 miles by land …

DENVER – A man used a hydrogen-peroxide powered jet pack to travel 1,500 feet across the Royal Gorge near Canon City on Monday. Daredevil Eric Scott said it was incomparable to anything he’d done in the past, saying he’d never gone that far or had such a huge gap below. …

NEW YORK – China has blocked access to the New York Times Web site, the newspaper said Saturday, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal. Computer users who logged on in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou received a message that the site was …