WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit (search) narrowed unexpectedly in March to $55 billion, the largest drop in over three years as exports rose to a record and imports from China declined, a government report showed on Wednesday. The 9.2 percent plunge in the deficit defied Wall Street forecasts and …

NEW YORK – Maytag Corp. (MYG), one of the premier brand names in America for nearly a century, but struggling recently with sagging market share and profits, said on Thursday it agreed to be acquired for $1.125 billion by investors led by private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC (search). The …

WASHINGTON – Now that the House has given its blessing to rules governing its members’ ethics, the first order of business is expected to be charges against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The House voted overwhelmingly late Wednesday to reverse new Republican-written rules that led Democrats to shut down panel, …

WASHINGTON – Black leaders on Monday accused President Bush of “playing the race card” in his pitch to sell his proposed Social Security (search) overhaul. NAACP (search) leaders Julian Bond and Dennis Courtland Hayes said Bush should focus on addressing the underlying health care reasons why blacks have a shorter …

FORT HOOD, Texas – President Bush visited soldiers at the largest U.S. military base Tuesday, marking the two-year anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime by saying it will be remembered along with the fall of the Berlin Wall (search) as one of history’s greatest moments. Bush thanked the …

WASHINGTON – Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation’s prisons and jails held 2.1 million people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents, the government reported Sunday. By last June 30, there were 48,000 more inmates, or 2.3 percent, more than …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq on Friday, killing at least 50 people, including three U.S. soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq’s newly formed government. An audio tape by one of America’s most-wanted insurgents, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi (search), warned President Bush …

KATMANDU, Nepal – Political appointments made during King Gyanendra‘s autocratic rule have been invalidated and 12 ambassadors to Nepal‘s key allies have been withdrawn, a top official said Sunday. The decision was made by the new Cabinet that was installed last week after the king yielded power on April 24 …

VATICAN CITY – A Vatican study on whether it could permit condoms to battle AIDS has a very narrow scope: married Roman Catholic couples in which one partner has the virus. But its theological underpinnings are centuries old, and could lay the groundwork for an end to the church’s blanket …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A startup company plans to launch an online commerce system Monday that would give people more options in how to get and use digital downloads including games, songs and videos. Cupertino-based Navio Systems Inc.’s software and service platform is sold to content providers like music or …