A judge upheld Montana water-quality standards aimed at protecting rivers in the Powder River Basin from pollution caused by coal-bed methane development.

By Allison Askins, The State, Columbia, S.C. Dec. 25--A Columbia native was among 10 American service men and women who received personal holiday greetings via telephone from President Bush on Sunday. Seaman Rayford B. Mitchell, who serves aboard the U.S.

By Nick Wadhams and Carl Freire Associated Press UNITED NATIONS --The North Korean nuclear crisis settled into diplomatic debate Tuesday, with China agreeing to punishment but not the severe U.S.-backed sanctions that it said would be too crushing for its impoverished communist ally.