
Election over, administration unleashes new rules
While the "fiscal cliff" of looming tax increases and spending cuts dominates political conversation in Washington, some Republicans and business ...

'Fiscal cliff' talks vexing official Washington
Five weeks after President Barack Obama won re-election and gained more leverage to make GOP conservatives bend on taxes, the new balance of power is ...

Senate legislation targets cyberstalking software
For around $50, a jealous wife or husband can download software that can continuously track the whereabouts of a spouse better than any private ...

Chicago vows to fight concealed carry ruling
With parts of the city in the grip of gang warfare and spiking homicide rates, Chicago aldermen are urging state officials to appeal an appellate ...

Crime, Osprey add to Okinawan anger over US bases
For nearly 70 years, Okinawa has gotten more than its share of America's military — more jets rattling homes, more crimes rattling nerves. It's the ...

Official: Syria fires Scud missiles at rebels
Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, escalating the 2-year-old conflict against rebels seeking to overthrow ...

Asia stocks up as Japan gets boost from weaker yen
Asian stock markets rose Thursday as a weakening yen propelled Japan's benchmark higher. A new bond-buying program by the U.S. Federal Reserve and ...
EPA finds contamination at former rocket test site
Lingering radioactive contamination exists at a former rocket test lab outside of Los Angeles that was the site of a partial nuclear meltdown, federal ...

Feds to probe why alarms failed in W.Va. explosion
Federal investigators are looking into why no alarms sounded as a massive natural gas explosion sent flames as high as hilltops, engulfing homes and ...

US hesitant in condemning North Korean launch
The Obama administration is drawing no "red line" for North Korea after a successful long-range rocket test, tempering the public condemnation to ...
10 arrested in international cybercrime ring
Ten people have been arrested as part of an investigation into international cybercrime rings that steal millions of computer users' credit card, bank ...

No budging as fiscal cliff talks appear stalled
Republicans aren't budging on tax rates, and Democrats are resisting steps like raising the eligibility age for Medicare. Negotiations on averting a ...

Fed links interest rates to 6.5 pct. unemployment
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it plans to keep interest rates ultra-low even after unemployment falls close to a normal level — which it ...

Colorado River seen as depleting regional resource
The federal government isn't going to tap the Missouri River to slake the thirst of a drought-parched Southwest, the government's top water official ...
Senate Dems offer Sandy disaster aid package
Senate Democrats on Wednesday finished cobbling together a $60.4 billion disaster aid package for New York, New Jersey and other states hit by ...

NOAA chief says she will leave in February
The woman who was a key figure in the federal government's response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 said Wednesday she will leave her ...

Honduran congress dismisses Supreme Court justices
Honduras' political standoff escalated Wednesday as legal officials debated whether a congressional vote to remove four Supreme Court justices ...

Why it's so hard to step back from 'fiscal cliff'
The "fiscal cliff" crisis bundles together some of Washington's toughest decisions — the ones lawmakers have dodged for years — and says settle them ...

Census: Whites no longer a majority in US by 2043
White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2043, according to new census projections. That's part of a historic shift that already ...

Lawmaker: NFL players 'trying to back out' on HGH
Accusing the NFL players' union of "trying to back out" of an August 2011 agreement to start checking for human growth hormone, a congressman worried ...

Senate intern, a sex offender, faces deportation
Sen. Robert Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender, now under arrest by ...

Fed projects high unemployment for next 3 years
The Federal Reserve projects the unemployment rate will stay elevated until late 2015, suggesting it will keep short-term interest rates low for the ...

Stocks end little changed after Fed rally fizzles
Stocks ended the day little changed Wednesday after a rally prompted by the Federal Reserve's latest economic stimulus program fizzled out. The Dow ...
Congress ends second bag checks on some flights
Passengers arriving in the U.S. from international airports who miss connecting flights because their checked bags have to be rescreened could get ...
A Fed rally fades away on Wall Street; Dow down 3
An afternoon stock market rally has faded away after investors reassessed the Federal Reserve's latest plans to stimulate the economy. The Dow Jones ...