WASHINGTON – Former President Clinton said Thursday the U.S. should try talking to Iran about its nuclear weapons ambitions without imposing a lot of conditions. “If you think you might have trouble with somebody, and God forbid if you think it could lead to a military confrontation, then there needs …

PHOENIX – An ex-con was charged in two sexual assaults linked to a serial killing investigation, but police still are not saying he is the so-called Baseline Killer believed responsible for eight deaths during the past year. Mark Goudeau, a 42-year-old construction worker, was charged Monday with 17 felony counts …

LOS ANGELES – Paris Hilton’s arraignment on drunken-driving charges has been postponed to December at the request of her attorney, a spokesman for city prosecutors said Wednesday. Hilton was originally scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges that she was driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of at …

MOSCOW – Security forces raided a Moscow jail and freed the warden and 14 employees several hours after they were seized Monday by inmates wearing guards’ uniforms and armed with metal rods, Russian authorities said. None of the hostages was harmed, Yuri Kalinin, the head of the agency that runs …

WASHINGTON – Another member of the Bush family is getting cozy with former President Clinton. First lady Laura Bush joins the former president as a keynote speaker opening his three-day Clinton Global Initiative in New York next week. Clinton has famously formed a close friendship with the current president’s dad. …

EAST AURORA, N.Y. – He’s still red, fuzzy and really ticklish, but now Elmo’s laughing fits have him slapping his knee, falling to the floor, rolling over and pounding his arm. Fisher-Price, a unit of Mattel Inc., on Tuesday took the wraps off T.M.X. Elmo, ending months of unprecedented secrecy …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Caught in a scheduling squeeze, NASA decided to try to launch space shuttle Atlantis on Friday without replacing a troublesome electrical component. Friday had been the last launch day available before the U.S. space agency ran into a scheduling conflict with the Russian space agency. But …

CHICAGO – Foie gras could soon be back on the menu in Chicago — Mayor Richard M. Daley says he doesn’t have the stomach for the city’s month-old ban. Daley, who recently called the ban on serving the goose- or duck-liver delicacy in restaurants “the funniest law they ever passed,” …

HILLSBORO, Ore. – Police arrested a man who returned to an 87-year-old woman’s house to apologize for raping her in the spring. Joshua Lee Moreno, 20, of Hillsboro fled on a bicycle after the woman screamed and called for help following the apology, said Cmdr. Chris Skinner of the Hillsboro …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Democrat Ted Strickland has a nearly 2-1 lead over Republican Ken Blackwell with three weeks left in the race for governor, a poll released Wednesday shows. The Quinnipiac University poll found 59 percent of likely Ohio voters favored Strickland, a Methodist minister and six-term congressman, while 32 …