U.S. National - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States faces a heightened threat of terrorist attack "for the foreseeable future" but any attack will likely be homegrown, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rock 'n' roll pioneer Ike Turner, whose achievements as one of the founding fathers of the genre were overshadowed by ex-wife Tina Turner's claims that he regularly beat her for almost two decades, died on Wednesday at his home near San Diego. He was 76.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday vetoed a bill expanding a popular children's health care program for the second time, angering Democrats who are locked in a fight with the administration over the budget and spending.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A last minute scramble by U.S. lawmakers to prevent millions of unsuspecting middle income families from being hit with a tax for the very rich shows just how broken the U.S. tax code has become.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc on Wednesday voluntarily recalled about 1.2 million doses of its widely used children's vaccines after quality-control checks found production equipment may not have been properly sterilized.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats are calling the White House's bluff on a threatened veto of an energy bill by refusing to take out language that would remove tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Utilities in the Central Plains restored power to about half of the 1.2 million customers who lost power during the ice storms Sunday and Monday, the electric companies reported on Wednesday afternoon.

XIANGHE, China (Reuters) - The United States and China agreed they need to take steps to boost growth and keep their economies in balance, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Starbucks barista with an ear condition is suing the company for $4 million because she says noise levels in the Manhattan coffee shop where she worked were too high.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Reuters) - A man charged with plotting to blow up New York's JFK airport must have a psychiatric test to see if he can be sent to the United States for trial, a Trinidadian judge ruled on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The crime rate in U.S. cities and suburbs remained essentially unchanged in 2006, the Justice Department said in a report on Wednesday that conflicts with other crime surveys.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Since the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, U.S. store traffic has fallen compared with a year ago as penny conscious consumers hold out for deeper discounts closer to Christmas, according to data released on Wednesday by ShopperTrak RCT

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - State officials on Wednesday began auditing all of Florida's financial holdings after a state money market fund was hit by a run sparked by fears about subprime mortgage investments.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christmas tree ornaments sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other major retailers were made in a Chinese sweatshop employing workers as young as 12 and others who work more than 100 hours a week, a Democratic senator said on Wednesday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have arrested three Venezuelans and a Uruguayan on charges of being undeclared agents for Venezuela involved in a scheme to smuggle $800,000 to a presidential candidate in Argentina, officials said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fraudsters are targeting troubled borrowers facing foreclosure in a scheme that could leave homeowners with even more debt than they otherwise would face, a new online video warns.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell, who has been probing the use of steroids in Major League Baseball, will issue his highly anticipated report on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday.

XIANGHE, China (Reuters) - An assertive China fended off U.S. pressure over currency policy and food safety on Wednesday and told Washington to put its own house in order rather than blame Beijing for its economic problems.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee ended the once stellar Olympic career of U.S. sprinter Marion Jones on Wednesday, taking back her five Sydney 2000 Games medals after she admitted to taking drugs.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Retailer Sears Holdings Corp said on Wednesday that it would reduce over time the use of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, in its packaging and products.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Six Las Vegas high school students were shot and wounded, two of them seriously, on Tuesday in what police said was a schoolyard argument over a girl that spilled into the streets.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A trespassing charge against U.S. actor Shia LaBeouf was dropped on Wednesday after prosecutors announced the drugstore in which he was arrested asked that the case be dismissed, the actor's lawyer said.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado man who shot dead four people at a Christian missionary training center and a church over the weekend died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the rampage, authorities said on Tuesday.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam will deport on Wednesday two more American citizens of Vietnamese origin detained since mid-November on unsubstantiated accusations of involvement in terrorism, the U.S. embassy said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. agency that sets federal sentencing guidelines voted on Tuesday to make retroactive a recent reduction in recommended crack cocaine penalties.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it had documented cruelty to pigs at a supplier for U.S. meat company Smithfield Foods Inc.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Tight presidential races in both parties enter the final stretch in Iowa with back-to-back debates this week, putting the spotlight on the increasingly bitter battles for the state's voters.

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - A teenager says he convinced the White House he was Iceland's president and managed to schedule a call with George W. Bush but was found out before he got to talk to the president.