ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Democratic presidential candidateJohn Kerry (search)said Friday that the Bush administration ignored overcharging in defense contracts awarded toHalliburton (search), the company once headed by Vice PresidentDick Cheney (search), calling it evidence of the president’s mismanagement of the war in Iraq. “Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, has profited from …

COLCHESTER, Conn. – A powerful blast leveled a decades-old Ukrainian church in this eastern Connecticut town just before 7 a.m. on Friday, shaking nearby buildings and sending debris hundreds of feet from the scene. Authorities said there were no injuries and all workers at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church (search) …

NEW YORK – Technology stocks climbed near a 2-month high as investors bought beaten-down semiconductor companies despite a revenue warning from Broadcom, but rising oil prices renewed worries about corporate profits, limiting overall gains. TheDow Jones industrial average (search)ended down 2.29 points, or 0.02 percent, at 10,310.78, according to the …

The presidential election is 36 days away, but the news shows and vote-watchers are looking to a closer date — Thursday night’s first presidential debate between President Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, scheduled to take place in Coral Gables, Fla. Battle of the Reigning Champs Former Massachusetts Governor William …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – U.S. troops and helicopter gunships killed five suspected Taliban rebels Friday, hours after militants attacked Afghan army troops in southernAfghanistan (search), a provincial governor said. The Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint of Afghanistan’s fledging national army at midnight in the area of Thor Nasar in Deh Rawood …

BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakotans gathered enough signatures to force a November vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the Secretary of State said Wednesday. A petition circulated by theNorth Dakota Family Alliance (search)had 42,093 legal signatures, considerably more than the 25,688 needed to put the idea on the …

LONDON – Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror,Al Qaeda (search)has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday. Al Qaeda is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States …

WASHINGTON – Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost more than $50 billion next year, a top Defense Department official told Congress Thursday in the Bush administration’s clearest description yet of the conflicts’ price tags. The remarks by Deputy Defense SecretaryPaul Wolfowitz’s (search)edged the administration toward critics’ estimates that combat …

Here’s what is on tap for Wednesday: ‘FOX & Friends First’ (6 a.m. ET) Are the Senate hearings on the Abu Ghraib (search)prison abuse in danger of becoming too political? Julie Roginsky, Democratic strategist, and former Republican New York Congressman Dan Frisa, join the debate. Plus, the photos from the …

HARTFORD, Conn. – Three years ago, Debra Avery and her family were shocked to learn they were direct descendants of Mary Sanford, a wife and mother of five who was hanged in Connecticut in 1692 after being convicted of witchcraft. On Thursday, they trekked to the state Capitol, in the …