ACCRA, Ghana -- The people of this country seated in the nook where West Africa curves into the Gulf of Guinea along the Atlantic Ocean have long felt they are trendsetters for Africa. (Today)

They rallied against tax hikes, against abortion rights, against the notion that global warming was man-made and for gun rights. (Today)

TOKYO -- Taunting the United States on its birthday, North Korea fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan early yesterday in a provocative move that some experts said might have been intended to discourage deployment of new missile defenses against the communist state. (Today)

BAKERSVILLE -- There's not as much water as there used to be in Laurel Hill Creek, said Clair Saylor, who has lived along the pools and riffles of the pretty little trout stream for all of his 64 years. (Today)

WASHINGTON -- As the most ambitious energy and climate-change legislation ever introduced in Congress made its way to a floor vote last Friday, it grew fat with compromises, carve-outs, concessions and out-and-out gifts designed to win the votes of wavering lawmakers and the support of powerful industries. (Today)