08:00 pm | PHOENIX – It will go down as one of the most painful openings to a political debate in recent memory. Gov. Jan Brewer stumbled and stammered through her opening statement during a televised debate Wednesday night, suffering through an embarrassing, cringe-eliciting pause that lasted more than 10 seconds. With her…

07:30 pm | PHOENIX – The Justice Department sued the nation’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” on Thursday, calling Joe Arpaio’s defiance of an investigation into his office’s alleged discrimination against Hispanics “unprecedented.” It’s the first time in decades a lawman has refused to cooperate in one of the agency’s probes, the department said. The…

06:53 pm | BUXTON, N.C. – The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 115 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina’s dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storm’s projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.…

03:15 pm | KAMPALA, Uganda – A Ugandan court has charged two additional suspects in connection with the July bomb blasts that killed 76 people. The charges Thursday bring the total number of suspects to 34. The two men were charged with 89 offenses which include 3 terrorism charges, 76 charges of murder…

02:45 pm | CANBERRA – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard inched closer to a return to power on Thursday after one of four independent lawmakers holding the balance of power threw his support behind her Labor Party. Labor has promised to introduce a new tax on mining profits tax and a $38 billion…

02:30 pm | KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that while the fight against corruption must be led by Afghans, the U.S. is working on new ways to prevent millions of American dollars flowing into the nation from underwriting bribery and graft. Gates spoke to reporters in the Afghan…