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Insured workers may see their share of medical costs go up as employers continue struggling to pay for rising health care prices, an analysis released Wednesday concludes. The report shows that although employees’ out-of-pocket medical payments have steadily risen for the last decade, employers may soon require many of them …

OAKLAND, Calif. – Mayor Jerry Brown (search), two-time governor, three-time presidential candidate and longtime spiritual scholar, has gone where relatively few politicians dare: The one-on-one, warts-and-all world of the personal Web log. His entries so far have included a vigorous defense of his idea for parolee curfews, a thoughtful reminiscence …

LONDON – Prime Minister Tony Blair (search) unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, changing leadership in defense and health, while boosting the prominence of his Europe minister as he put his government back in business after a third term victory dampened by a reduced majority in Parliament. As expected, Blair kept …

WASHINGTON – Bush administration officials are growing increasingly weary of accusations about hostile behavior by John Bolton (search), President Bush’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The last salvo comes from reports about three former senior government officials interviewed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee (search) staffers and …

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney (search) said the United States is relying on China (search) to persuade North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program, despite Beijing’s reluctance to exert pressure on its neighbor. Talks involving China, the United States, Russia, Japan and South Korea have been sidelined for …

Low-dose aspirin helps prevent heart attacks and strokes from occurring in people at high risk. But do the risks of aspirin therapy outweigh the benefits in the elderly? An Australian researcher thinks they might, and he says a large clinical trial is needed to find out. Epidemiologist Mark R. Nelson, …

DES MOINES, Iowa – A hospital emergency room was locked down for more than two hours after a postal worker came in who had been exposed to a suspicious powder in a letter, officials said. In New York City, three people prompted a similar response at a Brooklyn hospital after …

WASHINGTON – A senior State Department official ruled out on Thursday the possibility of providing Iran (search) with fresh economic incentives as a means of curbing its nuclear ambitions. “There is no reason to believe that extra incentives offered by the United States at this point would make a real …

CLEARFIELD, Pa. – The burger war is growing. Literally. Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub (search), which lost its crown as the home of the world’s biggest burger earlier this year, is now offering a new burger that weighs a whopping 15 pounds. Dubbed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the burger comes …

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Abu Farraj al-Libbi (search), believed by U.S. counterterrorism officials to be Usama bin Laden’s No. 3 man, is being held in Pakistani custody. Officials hope he can lead them to the elusive Al Qaeda leader. “This is somebody we watched a lot every single day — he …