UNITED NATIONS – A U.N. team probing the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister found that some of his killers were probably terrorists, and said Tuesday that Syria’s president has agreed for the first time to meet with investigators. The meetings, expected later this month, would mark a significant reversal …

NEW YORK – Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable on Thursday threw their support behind fellow cable operator Cablevision’s (CVC) plan to offer a digital video recording service that can replace DVR boxes. The proposed new service will allow cable TV subscribers to record programs on Cablevision Systems Corp.’s …

LOS ANGELES – Randy Quaid, who plays a tough sheep rancher in “Brokeback Mountain,” claims he was fleeced for his work in the movie. Quaid filed a lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging the producers got him to work cheap by falsely claiming the movie was “a …

My Fellow Americans: Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message …

ASHLAND, Ore. – If not for their wrong turn in the mountains of southern Oregon, the case of Elbert and Becky Higginbotham might well have lingered in an in-basket of the cash-strapped office of the sheriff of Navajo County, Ariz. Eleven months ago, they’d been caught with a small amount …

NEW YORK – Asked recently whether he wants to be president, Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded in that brusque, smart-alecky way New Yorkers are famous for: “Which letter of the word ‘No’ do you not understand?” But three months into his second term, the Republican billionaire who used to merely tolerate …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. and Iraqi forces detained 20 suspected insurgents early Saturday, four at a west Baghdad mosque identified by the U.S. military as a possible haven for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The soldiers surrounded the Sunni al-Khayr mosque complex in the violence-plagued Khadhra neighborhood late Friday, said police 1st …

NEW YORK – Gambino crime family scion John A. “Junior” Gotti dodged a legal bullet for the second time in eight months Friday when a federal jury deadlocked on racketeering charges against him, leading to a mistrial. U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin excused jurors after they said they were …

SEOUL, South Korea – Britney Spears’ songwriters have accused a South Korean pop composer of plagiarism and are seeking damages, a music publisher said Wednesday. Universal Music Publishing Korea, the company that handles South Korean copyrights for Spears’ music, said her songwriters had complained that “Get ya,” performed by Lee …

LOS ANGELES – A computerized system that guides arriving planes onto a runway at Los Angeles International Airport failed on Monday, delaying numerous flights around the country. A few incoming flights were diverted, others were forced to circle the airport, and some planes were ordered to remain on the ground …