MALIBU, Calif. – Shannen Doherty was bruised and cut on her thigh in a car crash that sent another motorist to the hospital, authorities and Doherty’s publicist said Tuesday. The 34-year-old actress was driving a Range Rover and making a left turn onto the Pacific Coast Highway on Monday when …

WASHINGTON – With congressional lobbying reform plans cropping up faster than a Washington power player can say, “Check, please,” it seems almost a foregone conclusion that a bill will become law no later than the fall midterm election, political observers say. But whether the final rules actually will work is …

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company’s taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent. The department’s early objections were settled later in the …

WASHINGTON – Today’s cold, dry climate on Mars evolved about 3.5 billion years ago, ending a period when that planet had seen moist conditions, research indicates. An international team of scientists developed a timeline for Mars’ geological evolution, reporting in Friday’s issue of the journal Science that the planet had …

YAKIMA, Wash. – The United Farm Workers of America and one of the nation’s largest labor recruiters have reached an unprecedented agreement to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for guest workers brought to the United States for farm work. The agreement follows months of heated UFW criticism of the …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Four more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said as the U.S. death toll for the month surpassed the total for all of March. More than 40 Iraqis also died, including at least 22 in a car bombing near a Shiite mosque northeast of …

BAGHDAD – Editor’s note: U.S. Army Capt. Dan Sukman is serving a one-year deployment to Iraq. For previous entries and his bio, see the Soldier’s Diary archives. April 12, 2006 2330 hours Just finished watching a couple episodes of “The Simpsons: Season 6.” I have been watching the show in …

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. (F) said on Thursday it is offering interest-free loans to consumers nationwide on its Escape hybrid and Mariner hybrid sport utility vehicles. The automaker earlier offered the cheap loans only in California and Washington, D.C. Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com’s Autos page. Click here to …

LONDON – Oil prices briefly rose to a record high above $72 a barrel Thursday, then declined as traders locked in profits from recent rallies and Royal Dutch Shell said a key oil platform damaged by Hurricane Katrina would be producing at pre-Katrina levels by the end of June. Oil …

NEWARK, N.J. – A former UBS PaineWebber (UBS) systems administrator was sentenced Wednesday to eight years and one month in prison for attempting to profit by detonating a “logic bomb” program that prosecutors said caused millions of dollars in damage to the brokerage’s computer network in 2002. Roger Duronio also …