DALLAS – Federal investigators sought clues Saturday in the burned-out remnants of a bus that exploded in a traffic jam and killed 24 elderly evacuees fleeing Hurricane Rita (search). National Transportation Safety Board (search) spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators would analyze the wreckage for evidence on the cause of the …

BERLIN – Conservative leader Angela Merkel (search) and the chairman of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democratic Party (search) said Monday they both had initiated contacts with potential coalition partners as they wrestled over what government will emerge from Germany’s inconclusive parliamentary election. Merkel urged her rival’s party to “accept that …

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve (search) on Tuesday raised its interest rate target for the 11th straight time and signaled that more rate hikes were likely even as the country recovers from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina (search). The federal funds rate, the Fed’s primary monetary policy tool, now …

NEW YORK – Dave Chappelle (search), who walked away from his hit TV series earlier this year, said working in front of smaller audiences is more his speed. Chappelle, who sold out 10 shows at a northern Kentucky club, said doing standup is “like I’m hanging out with a bunch …

NEW YORK – Bowing to pressure from Sept. 11 families, Gov. George Pataki (search) on Wednesday removed a proposed freedom center from the space reserved for it near the planned World Trade Center memorial, saying the museum project had aroused “too much opposition, too much controversy.” Pataki initially said the …

NEW YORK – News Corp. (NWS), the media conglomerate headed by Rupert Murdoch, said Thursday it will buy Internet company IGN Entertainment Inc. (search) for about $650 million in cash. San Francisco-based IGN and its network of sites, most devoted to video games, will become part of News Corp.’s Fox …

WASHINGTON – Republicans are going ahead with long-standing plans to trim Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits, even though party moderates are balking at cutting programs that aid the poor while hundreds of thousands are homeless from Hurricane Katrina (search). The amount of savings — no more than $35 billion …

WASHINGTON – The government is setting up a special monitoring board to keep checking on medicines once they’re on the market, responding to complaints that officials reacted too slowly to reports linking prescription painkillers to heart attack and stroke. Plans for the board were announced Tuesday on the eve of …

WASHINGTON – STATEMENT BY SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BILL FRIST U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement: “When I first ran for the Senate over 10 years ago, I made a commitment to the people of Tennessee that if elected, I would serve them to the …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The leader of Iraq’s largest Shiite (search) political organization joined the country’s most revered and powerful Shiite cleric Saturday in a strong public push for voter support of a new constitution, three weeks ahead of a national referendum. Also, homicide car bombers killed five Iraqis in and …