ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Flash flooding carried a teenager on a 5-mile ride down a drainage channel before he was rescued, as the waters blocked roads, inundated homes and forced evacuations in parts of the Southwest. More thunderstorms and heavy rain were likely Sunday in New Mexico, the National Weather Service …

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that President Bush personally blocked Justice Department lawyers from pursuing an internal probe of the terrorism surveillance program that monitors Americans’ international calls and e-mails when terrorism is suspected. The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility announced earlier this year it could not …

SAN FRANCISCO – Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday’s session are Citigroup Inc., United Parcel Service Inc. and Biopure Corp. • NEW! FOXBusiness.com’s Investing Center Citigroup (C) is expected to report earnings per share for the second quarter of $1.06, according to analysts …

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a frenetic set of meetings amid Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, declared Tuesday the United States wants an “urgent and enduring” peace where problems are solved without war. Talking to reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said, “We need to …

LONDON – Aviva PLC, Britain’s largest insurance company, said Thursday it will take over U.S. insurance company AmerUs Group Co. (AMH) in a $2.9 billion deal that will expand the U.K. insurer’s reach into the U.S. market. Aviva will pay $69 in cash per AmerUs share, a 10 percent premium …

BEIJING – China‘s death toll from tropical storm Bilis rose to 612 on Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, as the country braced for the arrival of Typhoon Kaemi. Bilis initially hit the mainland as a typhoon on July 14, triggering flooding and mudslides in the southeastern coastal provinces …

WASHINGTON – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi failed to get her colleagues Tuesday to close the House’s doors for a highly unusual secret session to discuss a classified intelligence analysis on global terrorism. The House voted 217-171 against going behind closed doors to discuss the report, which is being declassified …

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Thirteen French tanks, the most powerful armor ever deployed by a U.N. peacekeeping force, rolled ashore Tuesday, beefing up a mission aimed at helping cement an uneasy cease-fire in Lebanon. But some European officials are concerned international peacekeepers will be at best ineffective and at worst humiliated …

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – A helicopter carrying Brazil’s Senate President Renan Calheiros crashed just before landing Saturday morning, but none of the four people aboard were injured, his spokesman said. A candidate for governor in the northeastern state of Alagoas, Teotonio Vilela, also was in the helicopter when it crashed …

CHICAGO – Protesters marched, carried signs and called for a boycott Saturday because their beloved Marshall Field’s store, the shopper’s magnet on State Street for more than a century, had been replaced by a New York icon — Macy’s. “Hell No. Not My Dough” and “Macy’s Is Just Wal-Mart with …