WASHINGTON – Embattled Food and Drug Administration (search) Commissioner Lester Crawford (search) resigned Friday, telling his staff that at age 67 it was time to step aside. President Bush designated the National Cancer Institute’s director, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, to be the agency’s new acting commissioner. Crawford’s resignation came just …

WASHINGTON – U.S. retail gasoline prices increased for the first time in three weeks, the government said Monday, as gasoline production came to a halt at more than a dozen refineries along the Gulf Coast because of Hurricane Rita (search). The national price for regular unleaded gasoline rose 1.7 cents …

LONDON – Thousands of protesters demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq took to the streets Saturday in London, Athens, Paris and other cities around the world, chanting slogans against the United States and Britain. The protests, the first major demonstrations sinceSaddam Hussein (search)was ousted earlier this year, come …

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Scores of Palestinians crossed from Gaza into Egypt (search) Wednesday evening before Egyptian security forces closed the border in an attempt to restore order three days after Israel left the territory. Elsewhere in Gaza (search), a Hamas militant disrupted a celebratory rally at an abandoned Jewish …

Taking an inside look at the seedy world of arms-dealing, “Lord of War” (search) straps on the Uzi this weekend and hopes to make a killing at the box office. Nicolas Cage (search) plays a wily dealer, trying to balance domestic responsibilities with staying one step ahead of the law. …

CHICAGO – Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (BRL) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA) on Tuesday said they have entered into an agreement to launch a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis’ Allegra allergy tablet before a U.S. court rules on patent challenges. The news lifted the shares of Teva and Barr, while sending Sanofi …

NEW ORLEANS – French humanitarian aid officials met on Thursday to examine ways of providing support for victims of Hurricane Katrina (search) in the United States, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said. France is considering ways of mobilizing relief teams from the French Antilles (search) in the Caribbean, ministry spokesman …

WASHINGTON – Six truckloads of medical materials from the Strategic National Stockpile are headed to hurricane-stricken Louisiana and Mississippi, and 10 temporary hospitals should open at area military bases by Friday night. The government said emergency medical shelters are being established at Fort Polk, La., the Mississippi Air National Guard …

TOKYO – A Japanese space probe is heading back toward an asteroid for a second landing attempt after failing to touch down over the weekend, officials say. Communications between the Hayabusa probe and Japan’s space agency, JAXA, have returned to normal after the vessel inexplicably stopped short of the asteroid …

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday ordered Internet company Lycos to reveal the identity of a client in a benchmark decision on privacy that was praised by copyright groups as a way to go after illegal swapping of music and movies online. It is the first …