An investigation finds deceptive sales tactics and claims improperly denied by private insurers that run Medicare's huge new drug benefit program.

While Americans have been taught to frown at smoking, consumption has increased 1.7 percent annually in developing countries, meaning people there will smoke 71 percent of the world’s tobacco by 2010.

Its hard-nosed media strategy is far closer in its unromantic view of the press to the campaigns of George W. Bush than Bill Clinton’s free-wheeling 1992 campaign.

Once ridiculed as crackpots and Luddites, opponents of cell towers and wireless technology are starting to get backup from the scientific community.

Acording to the world's leading climate scientists, the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding is now "very unlikely" to be avoided.

Over the decades, Governor Haley Barbour has led a vanguard of Washington lobbyists to progressively greater heights of power and influence.

While on the trail of $9 billion that has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed, the authors find out just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled.

Farmers today can grow two to three times as much grain, fruit, and vegetables on a plot of land as 50 years ago, but the nutritional quality has declined.

Once known as a capital of vice and self-destruction, a New Yorker born in 2004 can now expect to live nine months longer than the average American. What happened?

A premium on political loyalty over substantive experience means that the duds fail upward, obtaining ever more senior government jobs or landing safely in the private sector.

Acording to the findings in a recent study, watching television more than two hours a day early in life can lead to attention problems later in adolescence.

Lawyers behind a proposal that could benefit the 2008 Republican presidential nominee have ties to people who financed attacks on John Kerry's Vietnam War record in 2004.

An analysis of recent standardized math exams and an experiment suggest a reason why New York students have improved their scores: The questions might be getting easier.

Fresh fears over the health hazards linked to using mobile phones have been raised after scientists found that five minutes of handset radiation could trigger cell division.

Money has brought both trappings and trouble for fugitive Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is linked to shadowy businesses and unsavory episodes.

Land once used to grow food is increasingly being turned over to biofuels. This helps to fight global warming - but it is also driving up food prices and hurting developing countries.

The men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Child fighters, once a rare presence on Iraq's battlefields, are playing a significant and growing role in kidnappings, killings and roadside bombings in the country, U.S. military officials say.

A series of in-depth reports in six key regions show the rule of law ranges from being woefully inadequate to effectively non-existant.

Those medically discharged with genetic diseases are left without disability or retirement benefits, even after serving seven years. Some are fighting back.

U.S. military forces in Iraq are now outsized by a coalition of billing corporations whose actions go largely unmonitored and whose crimes are virtually unpunished.

Are your kids McDonald's brainwashed?

Anything made by McDonald's tastes better, preschoolers said in a study demonstrating how marketing can trick the taste buds of young children.

Some lawmakers got a headstart on recess

With both chambers struggling to bring congressional business to a close, some lawmakers got an early jump on the recess and missed the last votes.

Millions of Women Still Fail to Cast Ballots

Of the 49.5 million single, separated, divorced or widowed women in the United States, 18 million are unregistered and 5 million are registered but don't vote.

The Failed States Index 2007

The world’s weakest states aren’t just a danger to themselves. They can threaten the progress and stability of countries half a world away.

Loophole Lets Candidates Skirt Donation Limit

A loophole in political fundraising laws is allowing several presidential candidates to collect donations for their presidential bid and other political entities.

Undercover with D.C.'s lobbyists for hire

Exactly what sorts of promises do these firms make to foreign governments? What kind of scrutiny, if any, do they apply to potential clients?

Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles

A USA Today investigation on the Pentagon's efforts to protect U.S. troops in Iraq.

In Intelligence World, A Mute Watchdog

An independent oversight board created to identify intelligence abuses did report any violations during the first 5 1/2 years of the Bush Administration's war on terror.

'SiCKO' Has BlueCross Exec Scrambling to Respond

"If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community."

Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity

Although crime fell dramatically in NYC during Giuliani's tenure, recent scientific research shows that the mayor deserves only a fraction of the credit.

A family affair

More than one in four members of Congress who hold top positions on committees and subcommittees or are in the House Leadership have used their position to enrich family members.

Selling the threat of bioterrorism

How an ex-Soviet scientist currently working for the U.S. government raised fears, helped shape U.S. policy and sought to profit.