WASHINGTON – President Bush said Wednesday that he is not planning on bailing out of Iraq “before the job is done” and will reject other ideas that won’t help the Iraqi government “take the necessary and hard steps” to get a political solution to end the violence there. Bush spoke …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The weather forecast for the planned liftoff of Discovery was downgraded slightly Tuesday but still remained favorable for the first night space shuttle launch in more than four years. Concerns about clouds over the Kennedy Space Center at the launch time of 9:35 p.m. EST Thursday …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) agreed Thursday to pay $14.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer accusing the company of unfair business practices in its crusade to unmask the source of boardroom leaks to the news media. The vast majority of the …

HANOI, Vietnam – Vietnam’s death toll from Tropical Storm Durian rose to 59 on Wednesday as authorities began cleaning up the country’s south coast where more than 120,000 houses were destroyed, officials said. The worst damage was in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, where at least 34 people were killed and …

Bargain hunters and latecomers flocked to stores on Sunday as the retail industry made its last big push for pre-Christmas sales with increased discounts and other come-ons. After a disappointing start to December, many stores are again counting on procrastinators in the final days before Dec. 25 — and post-Christmas …

TOKYO – Nintendo said Friday it will replace 3.2 million straps for its popular Wii computer game controllers after receiving a rash of reports that the devices flew out of the hands of overzealous players. The recall is a bittersweet development for Nintendo — a costly hitch in its three-way …

MADRID, Spain – A powerful car bomb exploded at Madrid’s international airport on Saturday, injuring 26 people and leaving one missing in an attack blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA. The bombing shattered a nine-month-old cease-fire and was a major embarrassment to the Spanish government, which had said it …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday night that a comprehensive cease-fire had been agreed to in the volatile Gaza Strip after more than a week of factional violence there. The truce was to take effect at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT), he told reporters. “There will …

JERUSALEM – The death of a quiet menswear merchant in Appalachian coal country is reverberating in the Holy Land as two leading Israeli hospitals wage a legal battle over the man’s estate of more than $5 million. The dispute has shed light on the intriguing life of Max Lewin, a …

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A strong earthquake shook the remote Kermadec Islands in the South Pacific early Saturday, New Zealand’s geological sciences group said. Less than an hour after the magnitude 6.5 quake struck, a magnitude 5.2 temblor was recorded east of Raoul Island in the Kermadec archipelago, the group …