NEW YORK – General Motors Corp.’s (GM) “Employee Discount for Everyone” program sent the automaker’s sales soaring last month to the highest monthly total in two decades and allowed it to unload huge amounts of inventory. Now, Ford Motor Co. (F) and DaimlerChrysler AG’s (DCX) Chrysler Group are launching pricing …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s state attorney said there was no evidence Terri Schiavo‘s (search) collapse 15 years ago involved criminal activity, and Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday declared an end to the state’s inquiry. Bush had asked State Attorney Bernie McCabe (search) to investigate Schiavo’s case after her autopsy last …

CHICAGO – Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) on Thursday reported a 9 percent increase in June sales at its stores open at least a year, helped by international results and the timing of the July 4 weekend. The largest U.S. warehouse club (search) operator said total sales for the five weeks …

WASHINGTON – In the name of homeland security, motorists are going to see costs skyrocket for driver’s licenses (search) and motor vehicle offices forced to operate like local branches of the FBI, the nation’s governors warn. The new federal law squeezed this spring into an $82 billion spending bill had …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A homicide car bomb exploded Friday on a bridge overlooking the home of President Jalal Talabani (search), killing three of his guards, a spokesman for Iraq’s largest Shiite Muslim group said. The attack occurred about 8 p.m. on Al-Hussein Bridge over the Tigris River (search), according to …

WASHINGTON – Australian Prime Minister John Howard (search) on Tuesday defended his country’s continuing troop presence in Iraq and refused to put a timetable on bringing soldiers home from the U.S.-led campaign, echoing the position of his host, President Bush. “We will stay the distance in Iraq,” Howard told reporters …

NEW ORLEANS – Hank Stram (search), who took the Kansas City Chiefs (search) to two Super Bowls and was known for his inventive game plans, died Monday at a hospital in suburban New Orleans, his family members said. He was 82. Stram died at about 11:15 a.m. He had been …

WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved President Bush’s nomination of Rep. Christopher Cox (search) to be the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The committee also endorsed the nominations of Roel Campos (search) and Annette Nazareth (search) to fill two Democratic positions on the five-member …

SEATTLE – Federal agents have shut down a drug-smuggling tunnel built under the U.S.-Canadian border near Lynden, Wash., a federal source told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Authorities had been monitoring construction of the tunnel for eight months and sealed it Wednesday, shortly after it opened, making three to five …

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