NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Ray Nagin (search) said Wednesday he is abandoning his proposal to create a downtown casino district as a way of revitalizing the city’s shattered economy, bitterly complaining of resistance from politicians around the state. “We have the most significant challenge of any city in American history …

WASHINGTON – The National Guard and Reserves are suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties (search) in Iraq, their portion of total American military deaths nearly doubling since last year. Reservists have accounted for one-quarter of all U.S. deaths since the Iraq war began, but the proportion has grown …

ROME – U.N. officials said Tuesday they are exploring ways to step up the production of a vaccine in case bird flu mutates and sparks a human flu pandemic (search). David Nabarro, the U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, said it will take six months to build up a …

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan – Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command (search), toured the earthquake devastation in Pakistani Kashmir (search) on Sunday and pledged to “do whatever is possible to help,” including sending 15 more U.S. helicopters and troops to support the relief effort. “From the air I saw devastation …

WASHINGTON – At least 21 detainees who died while being held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed, many during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the American Civil Liberties Union (search). The analysis, released Monday, looked at 44 deaths described in …

WASHINGTON – Key provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act (search) must be renewed, said a former Republican senator heading a panel created to document the need for the measures. Sen. Charles Mathias Jr. of Maryland, the honorary chairman of a nonpartisan commission investigating voting rights abuses nationwide, said the …

Researchers have found a gene that may be linked to dyslexia, a reading disability that affects millions of children and adults. The gene is called “DCDC2.” Scientists have found a gap in that gene in about 17 percent to 20 percent of people with dyslexia who were studied. “The message …

SAN JOSE, Calif. – After revolutionizing the way people listen to music with the popular iPod, Apple Computer Inc.(AAPL) is trying to do the same with video. The company introduced a new iPod on Wednesday that is capable of playing everything from TV shows to music videos. Citing a groundbreaking …

NEW YORK – Rumors have been flying that Hollywood hunk Ben Affleck (search) might be interested in becoming a “Benator.” Is it true? “I’m interested in politics and like to be involved with them, and this is all I’m doing right now,” he told The Associated Press by phone Thursday, …

WASHINGTON – The number of criminal cases opened by the FBI (search) has dropped by nearly half since 2000, a reflection of the bureau’s shift toward stopping terrorist attacks, the Justice Department’s inspector general said Monday. The decline was steepest in drug investigations and extended to organized crime, bank robberies, …