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WASHINGTON – House and Senate negotiators agreed Tuesday on a measure that would provide $82 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan and a nearly tenfold increase in the death benefit for survivors of troops killed in combat zones. Overall, the legislation gives President Bush (search) most of what he asked for …

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines tracked down a band of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan and sparked a battle that left about 23 rebels and two Americans dead, the U.S. military said Monday, in the latest sign of a revived Taliban-led insurgency. The military said warplanes also joined the five-hour clash …

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Graduating U.S. Military Academy cadets — who came here just weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — were told Saturday they were a special group forged by historic events. Gen. Richard Myers (search), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the class “one of …

Important progress has been made in food safety, but there’s still room for improvement, the U.S. government announced today. Infections from common bacteria often transmitted by contaminated food have dropped over the last few years, according to the CDC. Here are the decreases from 1996-1998 to 2004: —E. coli 0157: …

VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II (search) was in “very serious” condition after suffering heart failure, the Vatican said Friday morning. The latest downturn in the pontiff’s health developed after he contracted a very high fever brought on by a urinary tract infection on Thursday. He received the Roman …

Want Greta’s blog delivered directly to your e-mail box? Click here to sign up! The Michael Jackson (search) trial is serious — very serious (whether it be a man getting correctly tried on extremely serious charges or falsely accused.) However the trial is a strange … very strange. In my …

JERUSALEM – Israel said Sunday it will build dozens of temporary homes for settlers uprooted by this summer’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (search) said he will cooperate in coordinating the pullout. Palestinian coordination is considered by the United States and Israel a key step …

ANAHEIM, Calif. – With prescription drugs Vioxx (search) and Bextra already pulled from the market, a study has raised disturbing questions about the heart safety of long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers such as Advil, Motrin and Aleve. Smokers in Norway who took such drugs for at least six months …

WASHINGTON – Federal investigators probing accounting problems at Fannie Mae (FNM) are now questioning how the No. 1 U.S. home finance company treated trusts that it set up to sell securities. Shares of Fannie Mae tumbled more than 6 percent on the news, briefly dropping $3.28 to $49.96 on Monday …

BEIJING – The Chinese government said on Thursday it will not send an envoy to Pope John Paul II’s (search) funeral due to its long-standing policy of refusing to recognize states that have diplomatic relations with rival Taiwan. The Vatican (search) is the only European government that has official relations …