BAGHDAD, Iraq – Government forces fanned out across Baghdad on Wednesday, setting up checkpoints, frisking motorists and causing huge traffic jams on the first day of the largest security operation in Iraq’s capital since Saddam Hussein’s ouster three years ago. President Bush, back in Washington after a surprise visit to …

WASHINGTON – Late mortgage payments dropped sharply in the opening quarter of this year, a big improvement after delinquencies hit a 2 1/2-year high in the closing quarter of last year. Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com’s Real Estate page The Mortgage Bankers Association, in its quarterly mortgage survey released Monday, …

DALLAS – Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $250,000 by the NBAon Tuesday for his outbursts following Game 5 of the NBA finals. Cuban was cited for “several acts of misconduct” he committed after Dallaslost 101-100 in overtime to the Heatin Miami on Sunday night. Furious with several calls, Cuban …

TEPETITAN, Mexico – Mexico‘s presidential candidates are promising to be big spenders, pledging roads, railways and even oil refineries they say will modernize the country and attract investment. Mexico desperately needs better infrastructure — one group of engineers estimates $330 billion worth. But many fear the candidates’ proposals are a …

WASHINGTON – The government must spend whatever necessary to avoid undue hardships for people in connection with the theft of data from several agencies, a House panel was told Tuesday. “Unfortunately, as we have all come to realize, the question is not whether another incident of information theft will occur …

MIAMI – A plan hatched by seven men to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower and other buildings was “more aspirational than operational,” FBI officials said. The group of men, who were arrested Thursday when authorities busted their alleged hide-out in a Miami warehouse, had no explosives and lacked adequate funding. …

PINON CANYON MANEUVER SITE, Colo. – The car slid to a stop on a sun-baked road, drawing the attention of wary soldiers squinting through sand blown by a hot wind. Nearby, someone started running and soldiers started shooting. In seconds, a woman in a dark-colored shawl was screaming her boy …

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday to send a clear, strong message in any meetings with Hamas officials that the militant group must stop terror attacks on Israel. In response, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, Russian officials offered assurances that …

Dear Friends, Just when you’re about to start gnashing your teeth and pulling your hair out in the national ritual leading up to the April 15 tax filing deadline, here comes the friendly IRS with some helpful tools/brochures. Seriously. And while we’re on the subject, let’s remember that the folks …

JERUSALEM – Doctors removed nearly 2 feet of Ariel Sharon‘s large intestines Saturday during emergency surgery, his seventh operation since suffering a debilitating stroke last month. Surgeons managed to stabilize the comatose Israeli prime minister after initially fearing for his life, but the latest complication makes it even more unlikely …