WASHINGTON (AP) — Even after failing a drug test, Rafael Palmeiro insists he was being truthful when he told Congress that he never used steroids. Congress wants to find out for itself. A House committee has Palmeiro’s permission to obtain documents from Major League Baseball about the steroid test that led to his 10-day suspension…

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) — Space shuttle Discovery Commander Eileen Collins said Thursday she is confident about returning her crew to Earth safely, in part due to the unprecedented repairs to her ship while in orbit. “We have looked at everything,” Collins told The Associated Press in an interview. “I wouldn’t fly this flight if…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marines have one of the roughest assignments in Iraq: pacifying the perpetually restive Anbar province, home to Fallujah, Ramadi and Haditha, all sites of heavy American casualties since the insurgency went into high gear last year. Underscoring the heavy load, the Marines have taken casualties disproportionate to their numbers in Iraq.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Tuesday reaffirmed his opposition to any legislation that would allow more federal money to be spent on embryonic stem cell research. “I am confident I have achieved the right balance between science and ethics,” Bush said during a White House interview with reporters from eight newspapers. The president’s comments…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Filmmaker Craig Brewer, whose “Hustle & Flow” has been getting favorable reviews, is shooting another movie in his hometown that even provides a bit role for the city’s landmark skyscraper. “Black Snake Moan,” starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake is putting its soundstage inside The Pyramid, an arena that…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wanted: a distinctive cop show. In a summer of usual suspects, Jorge Zamacona is on the case. The creator of TNT’s “Wanted” isn’t trying to “reinvent the cop wheel.” But he thinks his new Sunday series (10 p.m. EDT), about an elite unit that tracks down the baddest guys in L.A.,…

NEW YORK (AP) — “Starved” feeds on the culture’s jangled issues about food, in shockingly funny ways. Invading an area we might have thought off-limits to TV comedy, this new scripted series uses actors with actual eating disorders to find uneasy humor in the plight of four fictional characters plagued by self-starvation, obesity and bulimia.…

NEW YORK (AP) — Against a backdrop of highly publicized child abductions, some experts are urging parents to abandon the time-honored warning of “Don’t talk to strangers” and instead work creatively with their children on a variety of skills for being safe but not scared. “Our message is that children should recognize and avoid certain…

By DAVID GERMAIN / AP Movie Writer In this photo provided by Focus Features, Don Johnston (Bill Murray) goes on a cross-country journey to find his mysterious ex-lover who claims to have a child with him, in “Broken Flowers.” (AP Photo/Focus Features) In “Broken Flowers,” writer-director Jim Jarmusch again makes clear that the journey, not…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The trial of a Nashville businessman accused of trying to obstruct federal agents investigating how the Sundquist administration awarded state contracts was postponed indefinitely Tuesday so prosecutors could appeal a judge’s ruling. Prosecutors said they would ask the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule a judge who won’t allow them…