GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Soon after Osama bin Laden's driver got here in 2002, he told interrogators the identity of the al Qaeda chief's most senior bodyguard — then a fellow prison camp detainee.

This startling information was revealed in the fourth day of the war crimes trial of Salim Hamdan, 37, facing conspiracy and material support for terror charges as an alleged member of bin Laden's inner circle. » read more

A South Carolina tourism official set up a three-day tour of the state to try to win inclusion in a London ad campaign to attract gay tourists.

Andrew Roberts, the chief executive of the tour company that touted the state as a gay destination, said he toured the state because he initially was skeptical about how welcoming South Carolina would be toward gay tourists. To find out, Roberts said he met with local tourism officials in Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head in April. » read more

The galling gas prices that have dominated national political discourse are now fueling Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, putting both candidates' economic and political IQs to the test.

Meanwhile, Lunsford has popped up at filling stations around Kentucky this summer to pump gas for drivers and make his pitch that McConnell has been one of the Washington policy-makers in the driver's seat over the last quarter century that allowed prices to explode. On Thursday, Lunsford unveiled his "eight-point plan for energy independence" in Louisville. » read more

Several hundred angry state workers rallied on the west steps of California's Capitol Thursday to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to temporarily slash the pay of most of them to $6.55 an hour because of the state's continuing budget mess.

"It appears to me that the governor did not know who he was messing with," said Yvonne Walker, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000. "We're not political pawns." » read more

MIAMI — An Arkansas man pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the slayings of four Miami Beach charter boat crew as part of a plea agreement that would send him to prison for the rest of his life.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert also said that his co-defendant, Guillermo Zarabozo, 20, of Hialeah, shot the two crew mates, Branam's half-brother, Scott Gamble, 35, and first mate Samuel Kairy, 27. All the victims were from Miami Beach. » read more