WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain (search) and others pushing for tougher campaign finance rules won a surprising ally Wednesday as they announced a renewed effort to block partisan interest groups from spending millions of dollars in big donations in congressional and presidential races. Sen. Trent Lott (search), chairman of the …

GENEVA – Global job creation will be weak this year, threatening to drag down economic recovery as companies take on workers at a pace that lags economic growth, the International Labor Office (search) said on Monday. Last year, global economic growth of 5 percent brought the global rate of unemployment …

BRUSSELS, Belgium – A group of conservative European Union lawmakers from eastern Europe called Thursday for a ban on communist symbols, including the red star and the hammer and sickle, to match a proposed EU ban on the Nazi swastika. The group from Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech …

See you in the No Spin Zone at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET! Tonight … “The O’Reilly Factor” is on… Did PBS overreact to the flap over the children’s show “Postcards from Buster”? Did the little animated rabbit, who visited lesbian moms and their kids in Vermont in a …

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House International Relations Committee opened a second front into his investigation of the United Nations on Wednesday as his panel issued three new subpoenas into the Oil-for-Food (search) scandal. Rep. Henry Hyde (search), R-Ill., wrote a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) requesting …

Confirming the wisdom of the poets and philosophers, doctors say the sudden death of a loved one really can cause a broken heart. In fact, they have dubbed the condition “broken heart syndrome.” In a study published just in time for Valentine’s Day (search), doctors reported how a tragic or …

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian militant groups Hamas (search) and Islamic Jihad (search) said Saturday they will not attack Israeli targets, but they refrained from officially joining a Palestinian cease-fire with Israel agreed upon during last week’s summit in Egypt. Leaders of both groups met Saturday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas …

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Bush wished Pope John Paul II (search) a speedy recovery on Thursday after the pontiff was hospitalized for the second time this month. “On behalf of all Americans, Laura and I send our heartfelt best wishes to Pope John Paul II,” Bush said in …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents launched fresh attacks, killing four U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi security troops in roadside bombings, as partial returns from the historic national elections showed a Shiite alliance with ties to Iran rolling up a strong lead over pro-U.S. interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (search). A member …

WASHINGTON – Consumer prices shot up in July, reflecting sharply higher prices for gasoline and other energy products. But new car prices fell by the biggest amount in 30 years, helping to keep underlying inflation pressures tame. The Labor Department (search) reported Tuesday that its closely watched Consumer Price Index …