Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday Aug. 26, 2008.

NEW YORK CITY: August 27 - Wall Street posted a big advance after the government reported a larger-than-expected increase in orders for big-ticket manufactured goods that indicated the economy is stronger than many investors thought.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods jumped 1.3 percent in July compared with the previous month, led by a big gain in demand for commercial aircraft. That was well above the 0.1 increase expected by economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. [More]

A lightning storm is visible in an eastern band of the Hurricane Gustav storm system in the distance off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: August 27 - Gustav swirled toward Cuba on Wednesday after triggering flooding and landslides that killed at least 22 people in the Caribbean. Its track pointed toward the U.S. Gulf coast, including Louisiana where Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc three years ago.

Oil prices jumped above US$119 a barrel as workers began to evacuate from the offshore rigs responsible for a quarter of U.S. crude production and much of America's natural gas.

"We know it's going to head into the Gulf. After that, we're not sure where it's heading," said Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. "For that reason, everyone in Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm. At that point, we're expecting it to be a Category 3 hurricane." [More]

Bay Minette City Council District 1
CORBETT 306 64%
BYRD 173 36%

Bay Minette City Council District 2
PHILLIPS 272 72%
LAMEY 106 28%

Bay Minette City Council District 3
BIGGS 239 72%
DENSON 91 28%

Bay Minette Mayor
TILLERY 688 51%
EDWARDS 672 49%
[More Election Results]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: August 27 - Tropical Storm Gustav stalled in the Caribbean early Wednesday a day after hitting Haiti as a hurricane.

But the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm could regain hurricane strength later in the day or on Thursday once it moves away from Haiti.

As of 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Gustav's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kph) with higher gusts. The storm was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince. The storm had not moved much during the last few hours, the hurricane center said. But it was expected to continue moving toward the west-northwest. [More]

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is surrounded by media as he walks from the election night headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska Tuesday Aug. 26, 2008, after winning the Republican nomination for the U. S. Senate.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: August 27 - Even though he's facing federal charges, Ted Stevens remains feisty as ever. The 84-year-old Republican handily won his primary race for Senate and immediately proclaimed the November election a "piece of cake."

That's despite some major hurdles Stevens faces in the next few months.

Stevens has a September trial that will keep him off the campaign trail for weeks, and he's up against his toughest opponent in his 40 years in office: popular Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. [More]

U.S. Marshal deputies direct several suspected illegal immigrants from the federal courthouse in Hattiesburg, Miss., to a waiting van for transportation to a overnight holding facility, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008.

LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI: August 27 - A day after the largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history, Elizabeth Alegria was too scared to send her son to school and worried about when she'd see her husband again.

Nearly 600 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally were detained, creating panic among dozens of families in this small southern Mississippi town.

Alegria, 26, a Mexican immigrant, was working at the Howard Industries transformer plant Monday when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stormed in. When they found out she has two sons, ages 4 and 9, she was fitted with a bracelet and told to appear in federal court next month. But her husband, Andres, wasn't so lucky. [More]

Henry Lee Burton talks with a reporter while sitting in his truck before going to work in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.

NEW ORLEANS: August 27 - Marsha Williams had always hesitated when mail arrived from the government. After Hurricane Katrina, she began to fear the letters.

One warned that her apartment building could be shut down because of unrepaired storm damage. There were legal notices and forms. What did they all mean? At age 51, Williams was embarrassed she could not read much more than her own name and address.

Three years after Katrina, residents of New Orleans are still buried in a blizzard of government paperwork. But for thousands of storm victims seeking federal aid, the challenge is made more difficult by a little-known obstacle: More than 40 percent of the city's adults lack the literacy skills to comprehend basic government forms. And recovery programs have done little to ease the burden. [More]

In this still image from video provided by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a scene from a TV commercial created by the Cancer Project called "Protect Our Kids" is seen.

CHICAGO: August 27 - A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy's haunting lament: "I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer."

It's a startling revelation in an ad that vilifies one of America's most beloved, if maligned, foods, while stoking fears about a dreaded disease.

But the boy doesn't have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted. [More]