WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is getting ready to vote on extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for people out of work the longest, a showdown that many legislators hope will finally end a standoff that has dominated Washington since the fall. Lawmakers were expecting the House and Senate to […]

LONDON (AP) — They foiled plots and cracked Nazi codes, but Britain’s spies were unable to solve the mystery of Charlie Chaplin’s birth. Although the entertainer is celebrated as one of London’s most famous sons, newly declassified files reveal that Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service found no records to back up Chaplin’s claim that he […]

CHESTERFIELD, N.J. (AP) — A school bus carrying elementary school children collided Thursday with a dump truck, killing a student who is the daughter of a state trooper and injuring several other children, authorities said. The accident occurred at about 8:30 a.m. at a four-way intersection in the town of Chesterfield, south of Trenton. A […]

NEW YORK ( AP) — The family of a Russian billionaire has bought a New York City penthouse apartment for $88 million. The Wall Street Journal says the property on Central Park West in Manhattan is now the most expensive apartment in New York. The seller was Sanford I. Weill, the former head of Citigroup […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Even if they sit up and beg, future winners of New York City’s Westminster Dog Show won’t get the traditional victory steak at Sardi’s. The New York Post reports that the city Health Department plans to enforce its rules against pets in restaurants. This year’s winner, Malachy the Pekingese, lunched at […]

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian woman is suing a weight-loss company that fired her for gaining weight. Brazil’s Superior Labor Court says the woman is suing the Brazilian branch of Weight Watchers International that sacked her in 2006 because she gained more than 40 pounds. The case reached Brazil’s highest labor court last week […]

BAGHDAD The rifles are first taken apart and hidden in cigarette cartons and kerosene tanks. Younis al- Lehaibi and his sons then divide them into their trucks and head out to Iraq’s vast, dusty border with Syria. Their objective: to smuggle weapons to Syrian rebels who seek the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. It’s a […]

NEW YORK M itt Romney says they’re “job creators” and vows to come to their aid as president. Newt Gingrich visited them on his “jobs and growth” bus tour. President Barack Obama calls them “the engine of our economy.” If there’s one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on, it’s that small business is the answer […]