Workers search for victims in sludge

Workers searched for six people missing at Kolontar, one of three villages in Hungary hit this week by a wave of toxic red sludge from a plant reservoir that burst.

Poor healthcare may shorten American lives: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans die sooner than citizens of a dozen other developed nations and the usual suspects — obesity, traffic accidents and a high murder rate — are not to blame, researchers reported on Thursday.

Israel bombs Hamas base in Gaza, no one hurt

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli war planes bombed a Hamas Islamist training camp in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Thursday following a rocket launching from the enclave a day earlier, Israeli military sources and Hamas officials said.

Verizon to sell Apple iPhone from early 2011: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apple Inc plans to begin making a new iPhone by the end of the year, and Verizon Wireless will begin selling them in early 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Michelle Obama ranked world’s most powerful woman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – First lady Michelle Obama beat out heads of state, chief executives and celebrities to rank as the world’s most powerful woman in Forbes magazine’s annual listing on Wednesday.

U.S. deports record number of illegal immigrants

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. authorities deported a record 393,000 illegal immigrants in the 2010 fiscal year that ended last month, half of whom had committed a crime, Department of Homeland Security officials said on Wednesday.

How Republicans could block healthcare reform

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans could keep their promises to stop healthcare reform even if they cannot repeal it, simply by blocking legislation needed to pay for it, one expert argued on Wednesday.

Manhunt after Midwest shootings

A gunman who killed one man and shot three others in a two-state rural shooting rampage south of Chicago remained on the run early Wednesday, authorities said.

U.S. job losses in 2009 likely bigger than thought

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economy likely shed more jobs last year than previously thought, but analysts say the undercount by the government should prove less severe than it did during depths of the recession.