NEW YORK – The state’s redevelopment agency signed off Friday on a scaled-back Sept. 11 memorial with a list of victims’ names to be displayed at street level and less underground space for a museum. The board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. moved forward with a developer’s proposal to …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A South African court gave prosecutors until early September to prepare corruption charges against Jacob Zuma after lawyers for the would-be-president argued the case — the most explosive one since apartheid — should be thrown out. The case, which coincides with another trial of lawmakers accused …

JERUSALEM – Dispelling reports of a deal with Hamas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said freeing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier would be a “major mistake” and said there can be no negotiations with the “bloody organization.” Shortly after Olmert spoke in Jerusalem, Hamas’ exiled …

Audiences embark on another session of summer swashbuckling this weekend as Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” hits theaters — bringing with it Johnny Depp‘s beloved, Oscar-nominated pirate captain who’s really, well, a clown. Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow thrilled fans in the first “Pirates” film with a character …

This is a partial transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” July 20, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. Watch “The O’Reilly Factor” weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the “Radio Factor!” BILL O’REILLY, HOST: “Personal story” segment tonight, for the first time in his tenure …

BEIRUT, Lebanon – This is the sixth installment of an ongoing blog written by American Spencer Witte, a native New York resident who is studying and living in Beirut, Lebanon. July 27, 2006 “A Country Pacing in the Hallway” In the mid-1990s, $600 million went toward renovating Beirut’s only international …

Key events involving the safety of Vioxx and other painkillers: —May 1999: Food and Drug Administration approves Merck & Co.’s (MRK) Vioxx, a Cox-2 inhibitor, for treatment of arthritis and acute pain in adults. —June 2000: Merck gives FDA results of VIGOR study, which shows Vioxx users suffered five times …

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – High winds, heavy rain and tornadoes pounded parts of the Midwest and the South, leaving at least eight people dead, stranding people in cars, forcing others from their homes and leaving thousands without power. The death toll in Kentucky on Saturday reached seven, including a father and …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Three separate newspaper reviews of e-mail messages suggest Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd played a more direct role in an internal investigation of media leaks than previously disclosed. The Washington Post reported that an e-mail message sent by HP Chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn suggested …

VIENNA, Austria – The European Union‘s foreign policy chief and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator on Wednesday abruptly postponed a planned meeting less then a day before they were to hold talks on easing tension over Tehran’s refusal to stop enriching uranium. Cristina Gallach, the spokeswoman for EU top foreign policy …