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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- John Spencer, who played a dedicated politico on "The West Wing" who survived a serious illness to run for vice president, died of a heart attack Friday, his publicist said. Spencer, 58, died at a Los Angeles hospital, said publicist Ron Hofmann. He would have been 59 next week. Spencer played Leo McGarry, the chief of staff to President Jeb Bartlet (Martin Sheen ...

By Katherine Baldwin and Mark John BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain said it would put forward a take-it-or-leave-it final proposal on the European Union's long-term budget on Friday that would cut London's rebate and boost aid to poor new east European members. After two days of tough summit bargaining, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the offer would ensure London paid a fair share towards the cost of enlargement to the ex-communist countries and open the way to an eventual reform of all EU spendin ...

By Mussab al-Khairalla and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - After a peaceful election, Iraqis hope their next government will end nearly three years of bloodshed, but rebels and U.S. commanders said on Friday the insurgency was far from finished. In a sign that some militants will fight on regardless of Thursday's parliamentary poll, three mortar rounds landed near the Interior Ministry in Baghdad. Police said no one was hurt. Election officials counted and recounted at least 10 million ball ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Commentator Robert Novak, who hasn't been seen on CNN since swearing and storming off the set in August, will leave the network after 25 years and join Fox News Channel as a contributor next month. Novak, 74, said Friday he probably would have left CNN anyway when his contract expired this month even if it hadn't been for the incident. The suspension actually served to eliminate a delicate problem for CNN, which had received some criticism for keeping the political columnist  ...

LANCASTER, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A prosecutor said Friday he will seek the death penalty against an 18-year-old accused of killing the parents of his 14-year-old girlfriend, and no criminal charges will be brought against the girl. Lancaster County District Attorney Don Totaro said statements from the suspect, David Ludwig, have exonerated Kara Beth Borden, and convinced investigators that she had no role in planning or carrying out last month's shootings of her parents. "There was no plan or n ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate on Friday rejected efforts to renew expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, dealing a major blow to President Bush and the Republican leadership. Senators on both sides of the aisle argued that some of the act's provisions infringe on civil rights. The bipartisan group proposed a three-month extension to continue debate and amend certain provisions, but the Senate also rejected that proposal Friday. The Senate needed 60 votes to override a filibuster and end deba ...

ATHENS, Greece -- Widely condemned remarks by Iran's president about Israel and the Holocaust were "misunderstood" by Western governments, the country's interior minister has said. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked international outrage on Wednesday when he described the Holocaust as "a myth" and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska. But speaking at an Athens conference on immigration on Friday, Mostafa Pourmohammadi told The Associated Press: "Actually the  ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday he was poised to make a new EU budget proposal to leaders of the 25-nation bloc that would make changes to Britain's rebate and allow it to pay its fair share for enlargement. "It also allows us as Britain to pay our fair share of the costs of economic development in these new member states of the European Union but preserves absolutely the rebate in respect of the rest of expenditure ," Blair told reporters at a European Union summi ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "Goddamned son of a bitch!" The soldier's shouting woke me up. I was riding in the back of a Humvee heading from Baquba to Baghdad when a rock nearly hit the gunner whose head was sticking out the roof. The rock was thrown by a kid, one of many rocks I saw being thrown. I don't want to give the wrong impression, however. I saw dozens of kids smiling and waving at American soldiers, too. But sometimes, when the kids get in groups, they also throw rocks. There's not much  ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc. is in exclusive talks to pay $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in Time Warner Inc.'s online unit AOL, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. "Those talks include, among other things, a $1 billion investment for a 5 percent stake in AOL," said the source. This confirmed an earlier report on The Wall Street Journal's Web site.