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WASHINGTON – Democrat Steve Israel first met Republican Tim Johnson when Israel, in a rush to get out of town at the end of a congressional week, bloodied Johnson by slamming the door to the House chamber on his foot. Israel, a third-term congressman from Long Island, N.Y (search)., says …

WASHINGTON – It took George Washington (search) less time to win the Revolutionary War (search) than it has taken Rep. Roscoe Bartlett to win passage of a bill to make the government again call Presidents’ Day by its legal name — Washington’s Birthday. But the Maryland Republican is not giving …

WASHINGTON – The White House on Monday presented President Bush’s $2.57 trillion budget, laying out a plan for fiscal 2006 that includes major spending cuts. The budget, which begins Oct. 1, depends on a healthy economy to boost revenues by 6.1 percent to $2.18 trillion. Spending, meanwhile, would grow by …

UNITED NATIONS – Sudan (search) insists its courts should prosecute alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses in Darfur (search) despite calls by the United States and other Security Council members for international trials — though they disagree where. Sudan’s first vice president, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, told the U.N. Security …

The government is adding viruses for the first time to its list of known or suspected causes of cancer, including hepatitis B and C (search) and a third virus that causes sexually transmitted diseases. Lead, X-rays and compounds in grilled meats also are joining the list. It has been known …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Under the watch of armed Western security guards and monitors, Iraqi election workers are doing a second count of the country’s historic vote, tapping at computer keyboards and sifting through bags of tally sheets. Papers rustled and scissors snapped as elections employees standing behind a long counter …

MUNICH, Germany – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (search) on Saturday came out against a German proposal that would create a trans-Atlantic rival to NATO to coordinate and develop policy among alliance nations. Rumsfeld described the 26-country alliance, created in 1949 to confront the Soviet Union’s military strength in the …

NEW YORK – Fashions may come and go, but on the WB television network, the Camden family goes on and on. The network has ordered a 10th season of “7th Heaven” (search) episodes, which will make it the longest-running family drama ever on prime-time TV. It will surpass “The Waltons” …

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – When an Arabic-language Web site carried a photo this week of a toy soldier with a gun to its head, many people were briefly tricked into believing a U.S. infantryman was in Iraqi rebel hands. On such insurgency-friendly Web sites, videos of actual beheadings and guerrilla …

NEW YORK – CBS (search) will televise a one-hour prime-time tribute to Dan Rather (search) the night he leaves the evening news anchor chair, and its producer says it won’t avoid the story that has clouded his final days on the job. “Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers” (search) will air …