WASHINGTON - Leaders of al-Qaida lost some control of the terror network last year due to the arrests and deaths of top operational planners, but the group remains the most prominent terror threat facing the United States and its allies, the State Department said Friday.

Politicians often revel in the control they wield, but the ever-ballooning size of tax breaks to lure developers has triggered them to make an unusual request.

Thunder hit the Desert Vista field early Tuesday evening, but there was no raining on the Desert Mountain parade that is now headed to the top of the Central Region.

NACO, Ariz. - Civilian border patrols used to be viewed around the U.S. as crackpot publicity stunts by the extreme fringe of the immigration control movement.

The great teams always find ways to win without their best players.

The trouble started on the Kourys’ 2003 wedding anniversary — the first in a series of irksome maintenance problems after their Gilbert apartment complex was converted into a condominium owners association.

January 31, 2005

In the Aug. 3 AFN, Susan Stamper-Smith provided us with the normal National Rifle Association (NRA) talking points on the futility of gun control, as a response to the horrific massacre in Colorado (“The futility of gun control”). Her basic assertions are that mad killers will always find the way to kill (“If every last gun was shipped across our borders fast and furiously, murderers would still find a way to kill”), and that if only people in the Aurora movie theater were packing heat a tragedy could have been minimized.

SUVA, Fiji - Fiji's military commander said Tuesday that he had seized control of the country and dismissed the elected prime minister after a weeks-long standoff between the two leaders rooted in tension between the South Pacific nation's indigenous people and its ethnic Indian minority.

OAXACA, Mexico - Federal forces stormed Oaxaca and pushed protesters and striking teachers out of the city center they had occupied for five months, leaving the colonial city resembling a battleground, with riot police and burned vehicles lining the streets.

CHIBA, Japan - Nintendo thinks it has the answer for people scared off by all the complex switches and buttons on home video-game controllers - a simpler device that looks like a TV remote control and can be waved like a wand or a baseball bat.

LOS ANGELES - It used to be that celebrities sought treatment for things they put into their mouths. Now it's for things that come out of them.

August 20, 2004

NAJAF, Iraq - Militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr removed weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf but remained in control of the holy site Friday amid efforts to end their 2-week-old uprising.

JERICHO, West Bank - Ehud Olmert on Monday became the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian town since the outbreak of fighting seven years ago, meeting under heavy guard with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to talk about the creation of a Palestinian state.

The arrest of Arizona’s ACLU leader was caught on video, but it’s up to a U.S. District Court jury to determine whether police arrested her unnecessarily or whether she had it coming.

Folks, I don’t advocate the total repeal of the Second Amendment, but can we please put it in perspective? Can there be a balance between that right and the “inalienable” right of those children in Connecticut to life and the pursuit of happiness?

Teenage girls will be able to continue to get birth control in Arizona without a parent’s consent. House Majority Leader Steve Tully, R-Phoenix, said Wednesday he is scrapping his legislation which would have made it illegal for a doctor to prescribe any medication to anyone younger than 18 without the specific OK of a parent or guardian.

Tom Giller was once an active part of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, recommending that public art be included with downtown developments.

It’s settled. The Mesa City Council on Monday formally adopted dust-control measures to keep in step with the state mandate to improve air quality levels.

Queen Creek is committed to cleaning up the air but is choking on unfunded state requirements aimed at the issue, town officials say.

New projects are starting on the Sonoqui Wash in the hopes of providing better flood control for the Queen Creek area.

Mark Sweeney hit his first home run of spring training and added a double during an impressive day.