While emphasizing President Barack Obama hasn't made any final decisions yet, administration officials tell The Associated Press that he is moving closer to sending tens of thousands of more forces to Afghanistan. The number would be just under the 40,000 sought by his top general there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

The Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood massacre apparently acted alone, despite repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric overseas, investigators say. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 people at the Army base in Texas on Nov. 5 before being shot himself, is now awake and talking to doctors.

As Tropical Storm Ida makes its way toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, many residents there long used to the fury of Mother Nature refuse to leave the area. The weather system, which continues to weaken, should make landfall later this morning.

John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind in the sniper attacks that gripped the nation's capital with fear for three weeks in 2002, is set to die by lethal injection in Virginia tonight, unless the state's governor steps in.

The three Florida teens accused of pouring rubbing alcohol on a 15-year-old before setting him on fire are charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder. The victim is in critical condition with burns covering 65 percent of his body.

The Large Hadron Collider is shorted out when a bird drops part of a baguette into its external machinery. The $10 billion atom smasher has already been beset by various technical glitches, but the baguette-toting bird took the LHC staff by surprise. Luckily the massive gizmo was powered down at the time of the incident, and suffered no major damage.

A Brazilian college backs down on its plan to expel a female student for wearing a short dress to class. Although Bandeirante University earlier accused Geisy Arruda, 20, of flouting "ethical principles, academic morality, and dignity," the school has now invited her to return. Some of the students who heckled Arruda may also be temporarily suspended.