U.S. National - Reuters

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury on Tuesday charged the jailed polygamist leader of a breakaway Mormon sect with sexually assaulting a child and indicted five followers after state officials raided a polygamist ranch near Eldorado in April.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The trouble that began last summer in the financial markets raised the likelihood of a U.S. recession, but for America's middle class, the downturn has been under way for many years, experts plan to tell a congressional panel on Wednesday.

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Like wannabe Dark Knights answering the call of the "bat signal," throngs of grown men wearing tights and capes converge this week to revel in all manner of superhero lore and merchandising at the 39th annual Comic Con Convention.

MANILA (Reuters) - All six crew members aboard a U.S. B-52 bomber that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Guam earlier this week are dead, the U.S. Air Force said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A moratorium on the opening of new fast food restaurants in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles moved one step closer to reality on Tuesday in a measure aimed at countering obesity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it will soon release long-awaited revised estimates of how many Americans become infected with the AIDS virus every year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Testimony that could help clear executed American communist Ethel Rosenberg of charges she helped pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1950s will remain secret, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A second volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands has erupted in less than a month, shooting steam and ash as high as 20,000 feet into the air, officials said on Tuesday.

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Rap star DMX has been indicted in Arizona on charges that he used a false identity to try and avoid paying medical expenses incurred during a hospital visit, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Dolly strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour (160 kph) as it neared the Texas coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A San Francisco jury convicted a 24-year-old man on misdemeanor charges on Monday for pulling Elie Wiesel from a hotel elevator in an incident the Holocaust survivor, author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient thought was a kidnapping attempt.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Video games sold in New York state must clearly label ratings for violent content under a law signed on Tuesday, which rights groups criticized as likely unconstitutional.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - WSI Corp increased its forecast for the number of named storms and hurricanes for the 2008 hurricane season due to warming in the Atlantic basin, the private forecaster said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new chief of USA Track & Field has asked U.S. President George W. Bush not to pardon or commute disgraced sprinter Marion Jones's conviction for making false statements to federal investigators about her drug use.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Viagra, a popular anti-impotence pill, may help some women on antidepressants have better sex, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Young adults are being hit harder by rising U.S. energy and food costs and a weakening economy than older Americans because they are just entering the workforce and are strapped with credit card debt, a report released on Tuesday said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drivers in the South have been hit hardest by soaring U.S. gasoline costs and state governments there should take more steps to help cut fuel consumption, said a report released on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found a jalapeno pepper contaminated with a strain of salmonella that has sickened more than 1,200 people, officials said on Monday.

CANTERBURY (Reuters) - Sudan's Anglican church leader called for the resignation of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson on Tuesday to save Anglicanism from schism.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The decline of more than 12 percent in crude oil prices last week shaved about 1 percent from prices at the pump as consumers paid less for gasoline and diesel fuel, the government said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Record gasoline prices are fueling a boom in sales of fuel-efficient scooters across the United States, as commuters ditch their gas-guzzlers and don helmets and goggles to beat high prices at the pump.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Single mother Mary White worked as a sales clerk until the bank foreclosed on the home she rented.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is already a month ahead of schedule, portending a rough year for tropical storms for the United States, Caribbean and Central America although most likely not a repeat of the devastating 2005 season.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced U.S. sprinter Marion Jones has asked President George W. Bush to commute her six-month prison sentence for lying to prosecutors about her steroid use, a Justice Department spokesman said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Dolly continued to strengthen slightly early Tuesday as it moved over the warm waters of the western Gulf of Mexico towards the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest update.

OKEELANTA, Florida (Reuters) - A $1.75 billion land purchase deal Gov. Charlie Crist announced last month to save the Florida Everglades could also mark the beginning of the end for the state's powerful sugar barons.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A British actress who earned YouTube stardom after posting monologues about her failed high society marriage was cruel to her husband and must vacate their apartment within a month, a New York judge ruled on Monday.

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - Wall Street banks and brokerages may cut bonuses for their highly-paid workers by some 20 percent this year, New York Gov. David Paterson said on Monday, estimating that each 10 percent reduction in bonus pay costs the state $350 million in tax revenues.