BAGHDAD, Iraq – Cementing Iraq’s first democratic government in 50 years, one of Saddam’s Hussein’s (search) most implacable enemies took his oath as president Thursday and quickly named another longtime foe of the ousted dictator to the powerful post of prime minister. The new government’s main task will be to …

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Police nationwide were on the lookout Monday night for an ex-convict suspected of killing two people and raping a teenage girl in a 24-hour crime spree. Stephen Stanko (search), 37, is suspected of strangling a female librarian he lived with in South Carolina and shooting a …

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Maybe the lawyer remembered that crack about the electric chair. David Letterman (search), who lives in North Salem, reported for jury duty Monday at the Westchester County Courthouse and was considered for a medical malpractice case. He assured the doctor’s lawyer that he could be fair, …

This is a partial transcript of “The Big Story With John Gibson,” April 4, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY BLAIR, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND: The pope was obviously somebody who led a remarkable life: going through the Nazi occupation of Poland and then the …

SEOUL, South Korea – A top Chinese envoy to South Korea said Friday it wasn’t the right time to discuss referring the North Korean nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council (search) — a move Pyongyang (search) has condemned would be tantamount to a declaration of war. “The important issue …

VATICAN CITY – Got a prayer or a problem for the new pope? Now you can e-mail him. Showing that Pope Benedict XVI (search) intends to follow in the footsteps of John Paul II’s multimedia ministry, the Vatican on Thursday modified its Web site so that users who click on …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents set off a series of explosions Wednesday, killing 12 police officers near Kirkuk and hitting a Defense Department convoy as a senior American official visited the capital, the U.S. military and Iraqi police said. Al-Jazeera television broadcast what it said was video of kidnapped American. The …

NEW YORK – Verizon (VZ) is widely expected to boost its bid for MCI Inc. (MCIP) again now that the long-distance phone company has embraced a rival $9.75 billion bid from Qwest (Q), though it remains unlikely Verizon will need to pay as much to win MCI back. Analysts also …

PARIS – An Iraqi film will compete at the Cannes Film Festival (search) for the first time, vying for the top prize against veteran directors and past winners such as Gus Van Sant. The United States accounts for four of the 20 movies (from 13 countries) selected to compete at …

LOME, Togo – The son of Togo’s late dictator won a resounding victory in a presidential election, sending enraged opposition supporters into the streets Tuesday, where they built flaming barricades and used machetes and nail-studded clubs to battle police and soldiers. Faure Gnassingbe (search) won 1.3 million votes, or 60 …