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HONOLULU (AP) - Comforted by the U.S. military's missile defense systems, Hawaii residents doubt a North Korean missile would light up the clear island sky like fireworks on the Fourth of July. But that doesn't mean the islands' laid-back beach-goers aren't worried that a long-range missile could be launched in the direction of Hawaii's emerald mountains and white sand beaches around Independence Day. "The North Koreans are unbalanced and could try anything," said Dan Gleason while walking his Jack Russell mix dog in downtown Honolulu. "If they do hit Honolulu, I hope it's a good shot, because I don't want...

WASHINGTON – The House on Friday impeached a federal judge imprisoned for lying about sexual assaults of two women, in the first such vote since impeaching former President Bill Clinton a decade ago. The impeachment of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Texas sets up a trial in the Senate. Kent is the first federal judge impeached in 20 years. The House approved four articles of impeachment against Kent accusing him of sexually assaulting two female employees and lying to judicial investigators and Justice Department officials. All four articles passed unanimously.

NEW YORK – CBS isn't commenting on reports that veteran newsman Walter Cronkite is gravely ill. The 92-year-old former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites. CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco had no comment on Friday. Bob Schieffer said, "All of us are praying for the best, and our thoughts are with Walter's family." The host of CBS' "Face the Nation" and a longtime Cronkite colleague, Schieffer noted that he had no current news on Cronkite's condition. The face...

18 June 2009 5:10 AM, PDT Ashton Kutcher is urging the U.S. government not to intervene in the crisis in Iran - because he fears a repeat of the Iraq war. Officials in Tehran are monitoring social networking sites including Twitter.com and Facebook following violent demonstrations over the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week. Kutcher has taken to his Twitter blog to voice support for the Iranian people - and urge U.S. officials not to get involved in the uprising. He writes: "Considering how well fighting 4 freedom in Iraq went, I dont know that we should B...

WASHINGTON -- Responding to criticism from a Senate Democratic ally, President Obama explained why he fired the Inspector General of the AmeriCorps without the 30-day notification required by law, calling Gerald Walpin so "confused" and "disoriented" that there was reason to question "his capacity to serve." In a letter to the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Committee that oversees AmeriCorps, Obama listed these alleged defects in Walpin's leadership as an Inspector General.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan will speak at the Unitarian Church of Staten Island on June 24 at 6:30 p.m. The founder of Gold Star Families for Peace became an anti-war activist when her oldest son, Casey, 24, was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004.

America's leader President Barack Obama has beaten out Brad Pitt and David Beckham to top a new poll to find the world's Most Stylish Man. The movie star came in second and soccer stud Beckham was third on the list, which was compiled by top shirtmakers Thomas Pink. The company asked 3,000 men visiting their stores around Europe and America for their style guru opinions - and the majority opted for Obama. The top 10 style icons on the list are: 1. Barack Obama 2. Brad Pitt 3. David Beckham 4. Daniel Craig 5. Al Pacino 6. George Clooney 7....

INDIANAPOLIS – A rare leather-bound book that played an influential role in America's early history could bring a windfall for a soldier training for his second tour in Iraq. Indiana National Guard Capt. Nathan Harlan was a high school junior when he paid $7 for a 1788 first edition of volume one of "The Federalist" — a two-volume book of essays calling for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Harlan, a 35-year-old from Granger, Ind., said he always thought his find might be worth about $500, not the thousands it could fetch when it's sold online Tuesday by Heritage Auction...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A dissident Democrat who helped Republicans apparently seize control of the New York Senate is returning to his caucus, a move that would throw the chaotic chamber into a 31-31 tie between Democrats and the coalition that overthrew them last week, a newspaper reported Monday. Queens Democratic Sen. Hiram Monserrate divulged the flip-flop to a columnist for the New York Daily News. He said he was returning to his caucus because Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens, elected majority leader in January, had been replaced. A spokesman for the Senate caucus, Austin Shafran, couldn't immediately confirm the...

12 June 2009 12:15 PM, PDT Stephen Baldwin's New York home is set to be auctioned off by authorities after the actor defaulted on more than $824,000 (£549,330) in outstanding mortgage payments. Documents filed in Rockland County show the Hollywood star and his wife Kennya have been missing repayments to finance firm Bankers Trust Co., despite only paying $515,000 (£343,330) for the property in 1997. And Baldwin, who is currently competing in reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, may find himself homeless when he finally emerges from the Costa Rican jungle - the mansion has...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (June 12) - Ten-year-old Kennedy Corpus has a rock-solid excuse for missing the last day of school: a personal note to her teacher from President Barack Obama. Her father, John Corpus of Green Bay, stood to ask Obama about health care during the president's town hall-style meeting at Southwest High School on Thursday. He told Obama that his daughter was missing school to attend the event and that he hoped she didn't get in trouble.

BLANTYRE, Malawi – Madonna can get "Mercy," Malawi's highest court ruled Friday. The court overruled a lower court, saying the pop star can adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. "I am ecstatic," Madonna said in a statement in which she also thanked the court. "My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her." Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula said he would now arrange a passport for Chifundo, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the girl.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- The Peabody Hotel in Memphis has filed a lawsuit against the Rev. Al Sharpton's civil rights group claiming some bills from a convention last year haven't been paid. The Memphis Daily News reported that the lawsuit in Shelby County Circuit Court against Sharpton's New York City-based National Action Network seeks nearly $70,000. The lawsuit doesn't detail what the charges are for, and Peabody officials declined to comment. The group's 2008 convention was held in Memphis to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King in the city.

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street may be losing its luster for new U.S. college graduates who are increasingly looking to the government for jobs that enrich their social conscience, if not their wallet. In the boom years, New York's financial center lured many of the brightest young stars with the promise of high salaries and bonuses. But the financial crisis has tainted the image of big banks, and with fewer financial jobs available, Uncle Sam may be reaping the benefit. "Some grads might have seen two of their older siblings go through the dot-com crash and the emptiness...

NEW YORK – The economic crisis isn't over yet, but ABC News is concentrating some reporting on what life will be like when it is. A network-wide series of reports next week on "The New Normal" will look at how businesses and personal habits have changed in the wake of the recession. "World News," "Nightline" and "Good Morning America" will all do stories, culminating in a "20/20" special on June 19. ABC News President David Westin said the network has held a series of off-the-record meetings with economists, business leaders and regulators over the past year and he was struck...

Boys who have a so-called "warrior gene" are more likely to join gangs and also more likely to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, a new study finds. "While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a 'low-activity 3-repeat allele,' play a significant role," said biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver of Florida State University. In 2006, the controversial warrior gene was implicated in the violence of the indigenous Maori people in New Zealand, a claim that Maori leaders dismissed. But it's no...

Moshe Kai Cavalin, 11, graduates with honors from East Los Angeles Community College this week, but just don't call him a genius. 11-Year-Old Graduates From LA College Watch Video Moshe Kai Cavalin, 11, is graduating with honors from East Los Angeles Community College this week. "I consider myself a regular kid who works hard and does his best," says this only child of a Taiwanese mother and an Israeli father. When Cavalin started college at the age of 8, he may have been the youngest person in class, but he ended up tutoring some of his 19- and 20-year-old classmates...

WEIMAR, Germany – President Barack Obama witnessed the Nazi ovens of the Buchenwald concentration camp Friday, its clock tower frozen at the time of liberation, and said the leaders of today must not rest against the spread of evil. The president called the camp where an estimated 56,000 people died the "ultimate rebuke" to Holocaust deniers and skeptics. And he bluntly challenged one of them, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, to visit Buchenwald. "These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time," Obama said after seeing crematory ovens, barbed-wire fences, guard towers and the clock set at 3:15, marking...

TOWNSHEND, Vt. (AP) - For weeks, Greg Noel roamed the spine of the Green Mountains with a handheld GPS unit, walking dirt roads and chatting with people as he helped create a map of every housing unit in the United States. Work was good: The sun was out, the snow was gone and the blackflies hadn't begun to hatch. But now that work is over and Noel, 60, and more than 60,000 other Americans hired in April to help with the 2010 census are out of work once more. It's a familiar predicament in today's economy, in which some 2...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney is lying when he claims that classified CIA memos show that enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked.