SAN FRANCISCO – The iPod craze apparently hasn’t peaked just yet. Countering Wall Street fears that sales of the ubiquitous personal music player might begin to wane, Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) said the industry-leading device helped fuel a nearly 48 percent profit increase. Company shares surged more than 8 percent …

LONDON – Pete Doherty has canceled a concert and is returning to treatment in a drug rehabilitation clinic, his tour’s concert promoter said Friday. Doherty, 27, the front man for the band Babyshambles, has been publicly battling addiction to heroin, cocaine and other drugs for months. His band was booked …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Israeli prime minister has rejected an ultimatum from militant groups calling for the release of 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in an implied exchange for the life of an Israeli soldier, FOX News has learned. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office released a statement Monday that reiterated …

The growing list of childhood vaccinations reads like an alphabet soup: Hib, HepA, HepB, IPV, PCV, MCV4, DTaP, Tdap, varicella and influenza. Parents dragging their kids to the doctor’s office for those required school shots can expect to hear about more vaccines and, if they’re uninsured, new expenses. Twenty years …

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. – A candidate for the Rhode Island Legislature has gotten an unusual endorsement — from the mayor of Fallujah, Iraq, praising him as that city’s “favorite USA colonel.” Republican James Haldeman, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, had re-entered the Marine Corps to go to Iraq, where he …

KABUL, Afghanistan – An earthquake hit northern Afghanistan early Saturday, killing one woman and injuring 12 other people, including children, a police officer said. The quake happened around 3:30 a.m. in Imam Sahib district of the northern Kunduz province, said Gen. Noor Mohammed Omarkhail, deputy police chief of the province. …

MOGADISHU, Somalia – An Islamic militia leader called for a holy war Friday against Ethiopian troops protecting Somalia‘s weak U.N.-backed government. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, speaking on Radio Shabelle, said Ethiopia’s decision to send troops to protect the transitional government in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, must be met …

NEW YORK – The bad news: this year will be another year of modest pay increases. The worse news: inflation might eat up those gains. The only good news may be that workplace standouts might eke out bonuses and other cash incentives from employers. Companies are relying less on salary …

This is a partial transcript from “On the Record,” July 12, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: An American lawyer vanishes in Mexico. Who is this lawyer, and what happened? Is his client list the clue to what happened to him? Joining us live on …

AMMAN, Jordan – Saddam Hussein’s defense team will boycott his genocide trial “indefinitely,” citing violations by the Iraqi court trying him, his chief lawyer said Sunday. “The court committed several violations of the law and we will not just sit there gagged to give it legitimacy,” said Khalil al-Dulaimi, who …