HOLLYWOOD actress Sandra Bullock and her husband escaped unhurt after a head-on crash with a drunk driver in the US overnight.

HARDLINE Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today threatened to declare "open war" if the crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his loyalists is not stopped.

NINE Finnish tourists were killed and 22 injured when their coach careered off a motorway in southern Spain.

A BUILDING accommodating a second-hand building supplies company went up in flames in Melbourne's outer-east overnight.

An 18-YEAR-OLD woman has been charged with a string of offences including police assault and drink driving after an incident north of Brisbane early today.

EMERGENCY crews are searching parts of the NSW Central Coast for three missing teenage boys.

ISRAELI air strikes killed five Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip today, hours after militants from the Islamist group drove bomb-laden vehicles into an Israeli border crossing.

BECOMING a republic is just a matter of time, Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes says.

With momentum flagging in their Eastern Conference quarter-final, the Montreal Canadiens could receive a big spark with the return of captain Saku Koivu to their lineup for Game 6 on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, CBC, CBCSports.ca).

Vancouver-born poet and writer Gary Geddes has captured the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in British Columbia.

Participants in this weekend's two major Vancouver street events are expected to have to brave cold weather on the streets, following Friday's snowfall in parts of the Lower Mainland.

in light of the Christian martyrdom tradition and the dangerously bruised egos of a massive movement that sees itself as victimized minority. By Elizabeth A. Castelli Excerpted...

Is there something about mediation itself that resonates with modern ideas of religiosity? By Angela Zito Excerpted from Rethinking Religion 101: Critical Issues in Religious Studies, edited by Bradford Verter and Johannes Wolfart . Forthcoming from Cambridge University Press...

Three powerful new essays from Revealer contributing editors look at the history, theory, and news of religion and media.Persecution Complexes: A preeminent historian of early Christianity looks at contemporary evangelicalism's persecution complexes in light of the Christian martyrdom tradition and

Gov. Tim Pawlenty met with the chief executives of Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines to talk about how their combination will affect Minnesota.

After an attempt to sell it on eBay failed, the iconic Berwyn car "Spindle" may be headed for the scrap heap.

As a consumer, Chicagoan Jason Salavon has had the experience of putting together the sleek furniture of popular retailer Ikea. As an artist, he'd rather break the Scandinavian company down.

After their own tragedy this year, students at Crane High School are trying to focus on the positive. As CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, by cleaning up the neighborhood, they hope to clear out the violence.

Five people were injured, three critically, in a crash this morning in the Near Northwest Side's Bucktown neighborhood.

Family and friends of Alejandra Alex Calderon walk the streets of the Chicago Lawn neighborhood Saturday where their loved one was murdered July 29, 2007 in an attempt to find the killer, as CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.