BEIRUT, Lebanon – The anti-Syrian opposition claimed victory Monday after unofficial results showed its candidates securing a majority in the Lebanese parliament, breaking Damascus’ long political hold on its tiny neighbor. Men, women and children waved flags and danced in the streets of the northern city of Tripoli as news …

WASHINGTON – Majority Leader Bill Frist (search) reversed course on John Bolton’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (search) on Tuesday, after earlier declaring the prospect of a floor vote dead in the water. Frist’s about-face came after a White House luncheon in which President Bush persuaded …

WASHINGTON – A book written and apparently autographed by the man who has revealed himself as Deep Throat, the long-anonymous source from the Watergate (search) scandal, was being offered Wednesday for sale on eBay. The seller of the book by W. Mark Felt (search) said she purchased it at FBI …

NEW YORK – Private equity group Blackstone has agreed to buy hotel owner and franchiser Wyndham International Inc. (WBR) in a deal valued at $3.24 billion, Wyndham said on Tuesday. The Dallas-based company said Blackstone will pay $1.15 per share as part of the deal, while holders of Wyndham’s preferred …

DALLAS – A proposed solution to a lack of communication between English-speaking school principals and Spanish-speaking parents has a lot of people talking in Texas. Some Hispanic Dallas moms say they’re often in the dark about how their children are performing in school because they don’t know English, and the …

The chemotherapy drug Taxotere may help women with breast cancer live longer while keeping the disease at bay. That’s in comparison to an older drug, fluorouracil, say researchers in The New England Journal of Medicine’s June 2 edition. Taxotere “significantly improves the rates of disease-free and overall survival among women …

WASHINGTON – Activists on the right and left are priming for a battle supreme. If President Bush nominates the first new Supreme Court justice in more than a decade, a fight is expected to break out within hours of an announcement. Overnight, the Internet will buzz with e-mails, pro and …

WASHINGTON – The House on Tuesday agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year — to $165,200 — after defeating an effort to roll it back. In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson (search), D-Utah, to force an up-or-down vote on the …

For those of you who haven’t heard me rant and rave about Jimmy Carter (search) lately, it’s time to push record on the TiVo (search). Here’s another one. Jimmy Carter was once president of the United States — a disaster at the time and a profound continuing embarrassment to this …

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A look at the career of Michael Jackson (search): — Aug. 29, 1958: Michael Joseph Jackson is born in Gary, Ind., the seventh of nine children. — 1963: After several years of training, The Jackson 5 begin to perform in public. — Dec. 14, 1969: The …