WASHINGTON – President Bush is heading to Asia this week with high hopes of securing a nuclear deal with India. Supporters say the pact would allow the United States to provide the technology and nuclear fuel India needs to meet its growing needs for energy and ease demand for oil. …

NEW YORK – U.S. mortgage applications slid to this year’s low as demand for loans to purchase homes fell last week to the lowest level since November 2003 despite a drop in interest rates, an industry trade group said Wednesday. Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com’s Real Estate page The Mortgage …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian women will be allowed to attend soccer matches for first time since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran’s president said in a decree posted on his Web site Monday. Women would sit in separate section of the stands, away from the usually raucous male fans. “The …

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – President Bush is trying to calm Americans’ outrage over soaring gas prices by ordering an investigation into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, his spokesman said Monday. During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries …

This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” April 24, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: The woman at the center of the Duke rape allegations had a brush with the law herself in 2002 when she pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors related to a …

LOS ANGELES – Four TV broadcast networks and their affiliates have filed court challenges to a March 15 Federal Communications Commission ruling that found several programs “indecent” because of language. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, along with their network affiliate associations and the Hearst-Argyle Television group of stations, filed notices …

INDIANAPOLIS – Vice President Dick Cheney made a brief visit to the city Friday, speaking to about 100 people at a private luncheon to raise money for the Republican National Committee. The event at the Columbia Club on Monument Circle was closed to the public and media, and he entered …

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Cheeta the chimp, star of a dozen “Tarzan” movies in the 1930s and 1940s, celebrated his 74th birthday with sugar-free cake. Although healthy and active, Cheeta is diabetic. “He had a good time. The party went real good,” said keeper Dan Westfall, operator of the primate …

WASHINGTON – The IRS wants taxpayers to file electronically. But sending returns over the Internet requires many people to use a paid preparer or tax-preparation software, adding an extra fee to their tax bill. The two senators who sit atop the Finance Committee, Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Democrat …

NEW ORLEANS – High heels echoing, Ruby Ducre-Gethers crosses the floor of her airy but unlivable home — ear on her cell phone, eyes on the workers replacing her flooded-out walls, and mind on payback at the ballot box. Across town, Irma Williams says the election for mayor this Saturday …