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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried out her rusty Russian in a Moscow radio interview Wednesday, only to get caught out by a question on whether she might run for president. ADVERTISEMENT "Da (Yes)," Rice answered in Russian, before realizing her misunderstanding and hastily adding "Nyet" (No) -- seven times.Rice's interview on Ekho Moskvy radio turned into a linguistic ordeal when the Soviet expert and former provost of Stanford university fielded a schoolgirl listener's question on how she achieved her career success."It's too complicated to answer!" Rice, in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, started out in English. "It is...

<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Emboldened by their success at the polls, the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress believe they have a new opportunity to move the nation away from the system of employer-provided health insurance that has covered most working Americans for the last half-century.</p>

Along with security issues like war and terrorism, the economy and health care were near the top of the list of the nation's most important problems in an AP-Ipsos poll. In a poll by CBS News in October 2000, the most important problems were Social Security (news - web sites), education and health care. National defense and the military were at 2 percent. National security issues were picked by 55 percent of Americans as the most important problems facing the nation, according to the poll taken in early October — up from 43 percent who named national security issues in...

WASHINGTON - It used to be only Superman who could see through concrete walls, but an exhibit at the National Building Museum shows mere mortals can do it too. AP Photo   Called "Liquid Stone," the show features variations of translucent concrete, a newfangled version of the old construction standby that offers a combination of aesthetics and practicality.

Prices for medicines most used by older Americans rose steadily after the Bush administration enacted the new Medicare law late last year, the nation's largest group representing the elderly said on Wednesday. Reuters Photo   AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, said brand-name drug prices have climbed 3.4 percent -- or three times the rate of inflation -- since December. The jump was one of the sharpest quarterly spikes since 2000, the report said. The findings follow another AARP report this year that showed prices for drugs used most by the elderly grew 6.9 percent in...

... A crowd of mostly Hispanics gathered at two corners near the motel, holding large Mexican flags and chanting, "Let them go!" At one point the crowd of about 30 people blocked the street as three large vans pulled up to take away the immigrants. One person threw a rock at police and struck a squad car. About a dozen officers lined up shoulder to shoulder and cleared the street as the vans departed. An official from the Mexican Consulate office spoke to some of the immigrants to advise them of their rights to an attorney before they were taken...

Recent U.S. Border Patrol arrests of undocumented immigrants in San Bernardino County this month did not follow procedures of the Department of Homeland Security, eight congressmen learned Friday. As a result, the department is reviewing the operations of the newly formed Mobile Patrol Group at the border patrol station in Temecula, which has arrested more than 420 people in interior operations this month, said Suzanne Luber, a spokeswoman for the department. Such operations in the future will be reviewed and authorized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington, D.C., Luber said. In a private meeting, Asa Hutchinson,...

With pictures of the sadistic sexual abuse of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison still spilling out onto the front pages, it is not too early to draw some conclusions. The neoconservative hour is over. All the blather about "empire," our "unipolar moment," "Pax Americana" and "benevolent global hegemony" will be quietly put on a shelf and forgotten as infantile prattle. America is not going to fight a five- or 10-year war in Iraq. Nor will we be launching any new invasions soon. The retreat of American empire, begun at Fallujah, is underway. With a $500 billion deficit, we do not...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) said on Friday it has scrapped the development of two new computer chips in order to rush to the marketplace a more efficient chip technology more than a year ahead of schedule. AP Photo Related Quotes AMDINTCDJIANASDAQ^SPC 14.9126.4710117.341917.961098.70 +0.54+0.49-123.92-19.78-15.29 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   Analysts said the move showed how eager the world's largest chip maker was to cut back on the heat its chips generate. Intel's method of cranking up chip speed was beginning to require expensive and noisy cooling systems for computers. The chips being...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday as worries that the Federal Reserve will start laying the groundwork for higher interest rates when it meets next week offset positive earnings from big companies like Procter & Gamble Co. (PG). Five sessions of losses left the Nasdaq with its biggest weekly fall for two years. The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) closed down 46.70 points, or 0.45 percent, at 10,225.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) dropped 6.65 points, or 0.60 percent, to 1,107.24. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) fell 38.63 points, or 1.97 percent, at 1,920.15....

The poison arrives in an ice cream truck, "Happy Birthday to You" crackling from a single speaker wired to the roof. On this street in Anaheim, the neighborhood kids drop their bikes and balls and make a beeline for their mothers to beg for money.

While Linux (news - web sites) advocates look to desktop software to challenge Microsoft's desktop championship, a new top-ranked contender is coming from a direction that's both unexpected and obvious: Google. • More On Storage • More On Security & Privacy • More On Servers • More On Small Biz • More On Mobile & Wireless • More On Networking Google Photo A Menu of Upgrades Amp up your PC without breaking the bank. Plus, the latest hard drives and RAM Demystified.   But first, Google needs to overcome privacy concerns, as proposed terms of service for its upcoming...

These guys sound like content license nazis, so here is just a link to the article.

BusinessInfosys reverses outsourcing trend Bangalore, April 8. (AP): Infosys Technologies, which has risen to become the country's second-largest software maker thanks largely to outsourced work from the West, plans to reverse that trend by investing US$20 million to create nearly 500 consulting jobs in the United States. The company has set up a subsidiary in Fremont, California to provide business consulting to American corporations. The new company, Infosys Consulting, has begun ``aggressive hiring in America,'' Infosys chief executive officer Nandan Nilekani told reporters Thursday. ``As we are looking to expand our global footprint, we are creating local employment in the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush's administration cited 55 countries Thursday, including Canada, in its annual review of countries it alleges have the worst trade barriers faced by U.S. exporters. The report, which also named three trading groups, is intended to guide administration negotiating strategy in the coming year in attacking alleged barriers that are causing the greatest harm to U.S. companies. If direct talks with a country do not produce results, then the administration can bring a case against the country before international regulators with the World Trade Organization. The United States is running record trade deficits, with...

Every two months or so, the financial markets fix their attention on the Fed's Open Market Committee meeting, eager for any hint about the bank's next move.And since June, the Fed, aside from a few clues in its post-meeting statements, hasn't budged.The Fed's aggressive rate cuts from 2001-2003 to a 45-year low of 1% have helped revive economic growth, but hiring remains tepid. So if the recovery starts to falter, how much ammunition does the Fed really have left in its monetary arsenal? Some say not much. Sherry Cooper, chief economist for Toronto-based BMO Nesbitt Burns, said the Fed has...

<p>The government's longtime chief analyst of Medicare costs said yesterday that Bush administration officials threatened to fire him last year if he disclosed to Congress that he believed the prescription drug legislation favored by the White House would prove far more expensive than lawmakers had been told.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record $43.1 billion in January, as rising oil prices helped keep imports near historic highs and exports retreated despite the weaker dollar, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The monthly trade gap was larger than the mid-point analyst estimate of $42.1 billion. Average prices for imported oil leapt to $28.55 per barrel in January, the highest since March 2003. Jon Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investors Service (News - Websites) in New York, said the widening trade gap was "consistent with other signs of an economy that appears to...

By Dick Satran NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's secret weapon last year was a declining dollar, which provided extra firepower to nudge corporate earnings higher when a shaky recovery was just getting under way. Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 10583.922029.821144.94 +3.78-2.75+0.03 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   Officially, Washington always supports a strong dollar. The dirty little secret, though, is that U.S. policy makers love to see it drop like it did last year, since this bolsters exports and boosts corporate profits -- both of which help American stocks. But now that the currency is rising in value,...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Modern-day slavery is alive and well in Florida, the head of a human rights center said Tuesday as it released a report on people forced to work as prostitutes, farmworkers and maids across the state. Human traffickers bring thousands of people into the United States each year and Florida is believed to be one of the top three destinations, along with New York and Texas, according to the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.