Watch “The Big Story Weekend” Saturday and Sunday at 10 p.m. ET! Deadly! Destructive! Within striking distance! Hurricane Wilma (search) is on a collision path with Florida and residents are packing up and heading out in hopes of evading the catastrophic ‘cane. What’s the fallout for this storm-battered region? It’s …

LOS ANGELES – McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) on Wednesday posted preliminary third-quarter earnings above Wall Street expectations due to strong sales in Europe, premium chicken sandwiches and strong breakfast business. Sales at established hamburger restaurants rose 3.9 percent in September, the world’s largest fast-food company said, sending shares up about 1 …

WASHINGTON – Pentagon officials are denying that a live video conference between President Bush (search) and U.S. troops in Iraq was staged. “On behalf of these fine young men and women, we certainly regret any perception that they were told what to say. It is not the case,” said Pentagon …

LOS ANGELES – Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage (search) is a new father. His wife, Alice Kim Cage (search), gave birth Monday to a boy, Kal-el Coppola Cage (search), in New York City, said Cage’s Los Angeles-based publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were available. “They are healthy and happy and …

This is a partial transcript of “Special Report With Brit Hume” from Oct. 11, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, there are more than 80 Iraqi army battalions fighting the insurgency alongside our forces. Progress isn’t easy, …

The marriage of notebook PCs and televisions may be at hand thanks to a trend toward increasingly larger and wider LCD panels in portable PCs. Wide-aspect-ratio (search) LCD screens, such as the 15.4-inch panel, have been appearing in many notebook lines for consumers and corporations for several years. But now, …

LOS ANGELES – Oscar won’t honor stunt work. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (search) announced Wednesday that its Board of Governors voted to deny a request from a group of stunt performer’s organizations to create a new Academy Award for “best stunt coordinator.” “At a time when …

ORANJESTAD, Aruba – The mother of two brothers detained in the Natalee Holloway (search) case acknowledged that her sons initially lied about the night of the 18-year-old’s disappearance, but said it was because they were protecting another suspect. Deepak and Satish Kalpoe first told police that they dropped off Holloway …

VIENNA, Austria – Iran (search) has acknowledged it worked with small amounts of plutonium, a possible nuclear arms component, years longer than it previously admitted, according to a confidential U.N. report made available Wednesday to The Associated Press. The report, which could be delivered as early as Thursday to a …

PHOENIX – About 300 Marine base workers walked shoulder to shoulder through a southern Arizona neighborhood Thursday in search of any stray ammunition from the crash of a bomb-laden Harrier jet (search). As each section was cleared, officials planned to let residents return to the last 52 homes still evacuated …