WASHINGTON – President Bush took his proposals to slow Medicare and Medicaid spending to a new scale in his proposed 2009 budget even though previous, more modest efforts to trim the entitlement programs went nowhere. Over the next five years, the president would reduce by $196 billion the two entitlement …

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced Thursday that he is breaking relations with Colombia because of his opposition to the Colombian raid on a guerrilla base in Ecuador. Ortega announced his decision while sitting beside Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who is touring the region to rally opposition to …

PHOENIX – The family of a New York woman who died in police custody at the Phoenix airport in September filed an $8 million claim against the city Wednesday, the first step in filing a wrongful death suit. The claim was immediately rejected by the city in a letter to …

Anthony Minghella filmography, according to imdb.com: Director: 1. The Ninth Life of Louis Drax (2008) (announced) 2. New York, I Love You (2008) (filming) 3. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (2008) (completed) 4. Breaking and Entering (2006) 5. Cold Mountain (2003) 6. Play (2000) 7. The Talented Mr. Ripley …

A Christmas charity drive by some elementary school kiddies in Bellevue, Wash., has been axed after some parents complained that the “Giving Tree” with colored mittens all over it was a symbol of Christianity that has no place in public schools, according to KOMO-TV. The tree at Medina Elementary School, …

LOS ANGELES – Colin Farrell is being treated for exhaustion and dependency on prescription medication, his publicist said. The medication was prescribed to the Irish actor after a back injury, publicist Danica Smith said in a written statement Monday. The statement said Farrell had checked himself into a treatment center, …

NEW YORK – Gwen Stefani announced that she’s pregnant at a concert in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday evening, People magazine reported on its Web site. “I want you to say it loud enough so the baby hears it,” the 36-year-old pop star shouted during a sing-along of her song …

LOS ANGELES – Pioneer Electronics Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a high-definition Blu-ray DVD disc drive for personal computers in the latest twist in a multibillion dollar battle over next-generation DVD standards. Pioneer is part of the Blu-ray consortium, led by Sony Corp., which is vying against a rival high-definition format …

WASHINGTON – Lawyers asked the Bush administration on Thursday why a German citizen, taken prisoner by the CIA in a case of mistaken identity in 2004, was not allowed into the United States last weekend. Khaled al-Masri was seeking entry to publicize the lawsuit he filed Tuesday in U.S. District …

Gay Movies | Golden Globes | ‘King Kong’; Soul Tomorrow Night Steve Martin’s Oscar ‘Curse’ Comes True On March 25, 2001, host Steve Martin opened the Oscars with this bon mot, a curse of sorts: “This show is being watched by roughly a billion people around the world, and everyone …