NEW YORK – GNC Corp., which sells vitamins, minerals and specialty supplements, on Friday withdrew its initial public offering citing rocky market conditions, according to a spokesman. “The market has not been very receptive to new issues in the last few weeks,” said Ben Pratt, Director of Corporate Communications for …

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s Cabinet issued a statement Sunday saying the country faces “real annihilation” by Israel, and accused the Jewish state of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians. “We are facing a real annihilation carried out by Israel,” Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after an emergency cabinet meeting. CountryWatch: …

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he had abandoned plans to attach an estate tax cut to pension-overhaul legislation, removing one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a compromise on that bill. Frist had earlier considered the pensions bill as the most likely vehicle for the estate …

WAUKEGAN, Ill. – A coroner’s jury has declared the death of a heart attack victim who spent almost two hours in a hospital waiting room to be a homicide. Beatrice Vance, 49, died of a heart attack, but the jury at a coroner’s inquest ruled Thursday that her death also …

ELIZABETH, N.J. – Republican Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. was surprised to learn his fundraiser featuring former President Bush was happening the same day as Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez‘s fundraiser with former President Clinton. “Maybe they can car pool,” Kean joked during a recent conversation with The Associated Press. The …

Plate Patrol Ever get road rage? Wish there was a safe way to get back at that awful driver who cut you off, then slammed on his breaks? Now there is! Mark Buckman of Virginia has created www.platewire.com, a Web site where angry drivers can log on and vent about …

“Neck breaking” and “household weapons” were among the Google searches done on a computer available to the mother of missing Florida toddler Caylee Anthony, newly released court documents show. The 3-year-old girl’s mother Casey Anthony is behind bars on first-degree murder, manslaughter and other charges. She has pleaded not guilty …

BAGHDAD – A series of bombings struck Baghdad for the third straight day Wednesday, killing nine people and wounding more than 30, police said. The attacks were part of an upswing of violence in the capital this month that has set back recent security gains. In the face of heightened …

Even as General Motors and the entire U.S. auto industry teeters on the edge of collapse, its major rivals are hardly celebrating. Toyota and other Japanese carmakers say the bankruptcy of any of Detroit’s Big Three would spell serious trouble for them as well. Should that happen, “the damage to …

HENDERSON, Texas – Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers’ living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for …