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SALT LAKE CITY – A street preacher charged with kidnapping teenager Elizabeth Smart (search) was removed from court Tuesday after shouting Biblical admonitions, the fifth time he has been removed from hearings for such a disruption. Brian David Mitchell (search) was in his defense chair only seconds before the outburst: …

WASHINGTON – In a rare breach with the president, Senate Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting a spending ceiling set by the White House for a six-year highway and mass transit funding bill. The Senate voted 76-22 Wednesday to defeat an attempt to rule that the $295 billion bill added to …

The government plans to adjust Medicare (search) payments to remove some financial incentives that have led to a new trend in health care: doctor-owned hospitals that focus on treating more profitable patients. So-called specialty hospitals (search) often focus on cardiac care, orthopedics or surgery, which tend to net higher reimbursement …

BOSTON – Tobacco companies did elaborate research on women to figure out how to hook them on smoking — even toying with the idea of chocolate-flavored cigarettes that would curb appetite, according to a new analysis. Researchers at Harvard University’s School of Public Health (search) said they examined more than …

BOSTON – A widely used screening tool for colon cancer (search), sigmoidoscopy, misses precancerous growths in almost two-thirds of women — a disturbing failure rate twice as high as the one seen in men, a government-backed study found. “All our data until now has been based on men. What this …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Hundreds of American troops backed by helicopter gunships and warplanes swept into remote desert villages near the Syrian border Monday, hunting for followers of Iraq’s most wanted terrorist and reportedly killing as many as 100 militants since the weekend operation began. The U.S. military said some foreign …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Capitalizing on a lull in fighting Tuesday, hundreds of U.S. Marines pushed through a lawless region on the Syrian frontier after intense battles along the Euphrates River (search) with well-armed militants fighting from basements, rooftops and sandbag bunkers. Insurgents kidnapped the provincial governor as a bargaining chip. …

A toddler who was abducted by her non-custodial mother was found in Illinois Thursday after an Amber Alert was issued. Elvade Terwilliger, 2, was found in Mount Vernon, Ill., by police after being abducted from her day care in Charleston, Ill. Police say her mother, Angela Terwilliger, was in custody. …

NEW YORK – Police were calling on possible witnesses to come forward after two small makeshift grenades exploded outside a building that houses the British Consulate, just as Britons went to the polls in a national election. The blast early Thursday caused minor damage and no injuries. Authorities said they …

WASHINGTON – A costly advertising war erupted Monday over President Bush’s controversial court nominees, with opposing groups vowing to spend at least $1 million each over the next two weeks. Responding swiftly to advertising from a group that supports Bush’s nominees, People for The American Way (search) said it would …