Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second-biggest city.

NYT: Republicans are on track to do particularly well in Midwest swing states in the Nov. 2 election, according to the FiveThirtyEight gubernatorial forecasting model.

More than five decades after a partial nuclear meltdown just outside Los Angeles, state and federal officials Friday announced agreements to remove all contamination.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: More than a decade ago, British physicist Stephen Hawking said there was a 50-50 chance that a unified 'theory of everything' would be discovered within 20 years. Now he explains why he thinks the theory has been found.

Several relatives of 104-year-old reclusive heiress Huguette Clark went to court Friday, asking for a guardian to protect her. Msnbc.com's Bill Dedman reports.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who gained fame defending the state's immigration law and warning of border violence, says her claim that headless bodies were turning up in state was 'an error.'

FOX reality show has yet to announce a new lineup, but  Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Elton John are among  the reported front-runners. The show returns to the air in January.

Even Rafael Nadal felt compelled to applaud when his second-round opponent at the U.S. Open hit a spectacular, full-sprint winner. The shot put Denis Istomin within two points of tying the match at a set apiece, but he couldn't close the deal and lost to the top-seeded Spaniard 6-2, 7-6 (5), 7-5 Friday night.

Game icon Duke Nukem will wield his over-the-top guns and attitude yet again. After more than a decade of delays, 'Duke Nukem Forever' will debut on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC game systems in 2011.

If Kendrick Meek gets almost every one of Florida's Democrats, he can win the Senate race. But will that happen in a year in which polls show a GOP edge in voter enthusiasm?

Her play sparkling as much as her sequined dress, Venus Williams easily eliminated 185th-ranked qualifier Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-1 on Friday night at the U.S. Open.

Rookie Jaime Garcia beat the Reds for the fourth time, halting the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game losing streak and ending Cincinnati's four-game run in a 3-2 victory on Friday night.

A team of NASA doctors and engineers recommended Friday that Chilean authorities regulate the day-and-night sleep patterns of 33 trapped miners, boost their Vitamin D intake and phase in an exercise program as their nutrition improves.

Mexican police have arrested six suspects in a bar fire that killed eight in the resort city of Cancun.

Tiger Woods shoots a 1-over 72, while Zach Johnson and Jason Day beat up on the TPC Boston and beat the rain to share the lead at 8 under in the Deutsche Bank Championship on Friday.

A scientist detained at Miami's airport because of a suspicious item in his luggage had once been charged with illegally transporting bubonic plague, a senior law enforcement official said.