Helms reportedly won't run again Argentine wreck kills 18 Arafat ready for truce talks Suspect sought in family slayings

Sen. Jesse Helms, one of the most conservative Republicans inCongress, plans to announce Wednesday that he will retire when histerm expires in 2003, the Associated Press has learned. Two sourceswho spoke with staffers in Helms' office said today that the five-term senator's retirement would be announced on WRAL-TV on Wednesdayevening. Helms, who turns 80 on Oct. 18, was first elected to theSenate in 1972. In recent years, he has suffered from a variety ofhealth problems, including prostate cancer. Bill Peterson, generalmanager of WRAL, confirmed Helms had asked for airtime, but added hedidn't know what Helms planned to say.

A cross-country passenger bus in Argentina …

PM: Poland's deficit to be lower than expected

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prime minister says the country's budget deficit in 2011 will be about 25 percent lower than expected because the economy remains strong.

Donald Tusk said Friday that Poland is prepared for any instability that could occur in the coming months in Europe due to the debt crisis in some euro zone countries.

Tusk predicted that Poland's …

Photos: Nicaraguan cancer patient marks birthday

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — In her glowing pink dress and tiara, Maria Jose Martinez looked the part of the excited princess celebrating her 15th birthday as friends and family gathered for her coming-out party.

She and her father entered the ballroom of the Managua hotel in grand style, between two rows of cadets from the Nicaraguan Military Academy standing at attention with bayonets raised. The thin, sad-eyed girl later let out a thrilled laugh as she danced with one of the green-uniformed soldiers.

Just hours before, Maria Jose had woken up in a different world, with no pink dress and no long, gold-streaked hair. She had sat up in bed with her bald pate and T-shirt pale in …

hyaluronic acid: hope in a jar?

If you'd rather go natural than brave the dermatologist's needle, this natural compound may be your answer to more youthful-looking skin

Do you cringe at the sight of crow's feet? Have you boycotted lipstick because it bleeds into those little lines around your mouth? Before you close out your 401 (k) to pay for an antiaging miracle from your dermatologist, take heart. New over-the-counter products containing hyaluronic acid are popping up everywhere, promising to plump lips, erase winkles, and give you dewy, younger looking skin. Here's the scoop.

01

What It Is

A natural compound

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a compound naturally found in your connective …

Border Worker Disregarded TB Warning

ATLANTA - A globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. The inspector has been removed from border duty.

The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

The patient was identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer who …

Abortion doc: Lawyers, Kan. board OK'd referrals

An attorney for one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers says Kansas is prosecuting his client for doing something that a state medical board official had supported.

Defense attorney Dan Monnat told jurors in opening statements Monday that a former director of the Kansas Board of Healing Arts suggested that Dr. George Tiller get second opinions for late-term …

After 44 years, British GI baby finds U.S. roots

Watching war movies used to tear at the heart of Patrick Hiles.

As he saw American heroes defeat enemy troops in one ofHollywood's many recasts of the Second World War during his childhoodin Warndon, England, Patrick pondered the whereabouts of his GIfather, who left Britain for the United States in 1948 with promisesto send for him and his mother, Nancy.

"All I had was a drawing of my dad, which was done in France,"said Patrick. "I never knew of him other than the drawing. I used tolook at it and think: `I wonder, are you dead?' "

Patrick's parents married in 1945 at St. George's CatholicChurch in Worcester, just before the end of World War II. …