NEW YORK – Merck & Co. (MRK) researchers privately sought to reformulate Vioxx (search) in 2000 to reduce its cardiovascular side effects, even as the drug maker was publicly playing down a study that highlighted the pain relief medication’s potential heart attack risk, an internal company document shows. The widely …

This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” June 22, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. Watch “Hannity & Colmes” weeknights at 9 p.m. ET! SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Earlier today, Alan had the opportunity to speak with Natalee’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty. Here is that interview. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) …

WASHINGTON – The State Department is investigating “serious and credible” reports that minorities in Kurdish-held areas of northern Iraq have been wrongly arrested and detained, spokesman Sean McCormack (search) said Wednesday. The U.S. government has conveyed its insistence on the rule of law and its support for minority rights to …

NEW YORK – Output at factories in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States slowed this month, a regional central bank said Thursday, the latest evidence that the U.S. economy may be headed for softer growth. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve (search) said its business activity index fell to minus 2.2 …

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit (search) widened less than expected in April to $57 billion, as both exports and imports set records, the Commerce Department (search) said on Friday. The monthly trade gap expanded 6.3 percent from March, but was below the median forecast of $58 billion from a …

NEW YORK – This is a TV event that aims to be as big as its story. A cycle of six weekly two-hour films, “Into the West (search)” spans 65 years of U.S. history — 1825 to 1890 — embracing big events like the Gold Rush, the building of the …

NEW YORK – Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs Group (GS) and two other Wall Street brokerages agreed to pay a total of $20 million to settle allegations they overcharged clients for high-yield corporate bonds, a regulatory group said on Wednesday. The penalties, also levied againstDeutsche Bank (search)andMiller Tabak Roberts Securities LLC …

CHICAGO – Spice seller McCormick & Co. Inc. (MCK) Thursday cut its earnings outlook for the full year due to the strengthening U.S. dollar and its shares fell to their lowest level in 2-1/2 years. The reduced forecast came along with a slight dip in McCormick’s second-quarter profit, as higher …

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (search) on Monday read aloud a ruling he had authored, but offered no news about his own plans, disappointing court watchers who had expected him to announce his retirement. Even so, the 80-year-old justice may have presided over the nation’s highest …

WASHINGTON – U.S. drivers paid more at the gasoline pump for the third week in a row, as crude oil costs climbed to a new record high, the government said Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline jumped 3.1 cents over the past week to $2.16 a gallon, up …