President Bush, energized by news that U.S. unemployment was at a five-year low, tried to focus the Battle for Congress on the economy Friday, hammering away at Democrats — in particular, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — who he says will do away with tax cuts. “People are working in …

NEW YORK – Police think The Game should stick to rap, not law enforcement. The rapper was arrested this week after telling a cab driver that he was an undercover police officer and persuading the driver to run a series of red lights, police said Saturday. The 26-year-old, whose real …

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Republican Max Burns conceded defeat Thursday to U.S. Rep. John Barrow, accepting his 864-vote loss without requesting a recount. Burns ended his rematch race with Barrow, and one of the nation’s closest House races, with a phone call to congratulate the Democratic incumbent. Burns, a former congressman, …

BALTIMORE – Mayor Martin O’Malley reclaimed the Maryland governor’s office for Democrats on Tuesday. O’Malley cut into Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich‘s base in the Baltimore suburbs and rolled up huge margins in Democratic strongholds in the city and the suburban counties around Washington. With 75 percent of the precincts reporting, …

VICTORVILLE, Calif. – Firefighters in the U.S. Forest Service’s honor guard practice for hours, folding flags in neat triangles, marching in two tight lines and standing at attention as its bagpiper plays “Amazing Grace.” They also pray the preparation goes to waste. The 12-member guard has been performing close to …

HIALEAH, Fla. – State Rep. Ralph Arza resigned Wednesday and was charged with two felonies in connection with leaving obscenity-filled messages and a racial slur on a colleague’s voice mail. State prosecutors charged Hialeah Republican Arza, 46, with one felony count each of retaliating against and tampering with a witness. …

CAMDEN, N.J. – An FBI informant who had a stormy day on the witness stand last week will answer more questions Monday in the trial of five men accused of planning to attack soldiers on Fort Dix. It will be the third day of cross-examination of Mahmoud Omar, the 39-year-old …

VIENNA, Austria – The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Thursday that his agency’s Syria probe has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei did not point any fingers in the …

BEIJING – China’s drug regulator ordered a nationwide recall of a hemorrhoid medicine Wednesday because of concerns it may cause liver problems in the latest drug problem to hit the country. The State Food and Drug Administration said in a statement on its Web site that it had ordered Vital …

HONG KONG – More than 400,000 people are poisoned by snakebites worldwide each year and 20,000 of them die, with most cases occurring in the poorest countries, researchers say. In an article published in U.S.-based open access Public Library of Science Medicine, the researchers said the burden from snakebites was …