
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 ...

NKorea policy in Seoul to soften despite rocket
It is not too early to predict one sure winner of South Korea's presidential election next week: North Korea. President Lee Myung-bak's hardline ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...
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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Most Googled in 2012: Whitney, PSY, Sandy
The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a ...

Lieberman urges compromise in final Senate speech
Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman on Wednesday used his final Senate floor speech to urge Congress to put partisan rancor aside to break Washington's ...
US budget deficit reaches $172B in November
The U.S. federal government's budget deficit widened in November compared to October, a sign that the nation is on a path to its fifth straight $1 ...

THE RESET: Fed forges ahead with easy-money policy
As President Barack Obama and Congress agonize over strengthening the economy without fattening the $16 trillion national debt, the Federal Reserve ...

Obama to match FDR's record of 4 swearing-ins
President Barack Obama is poised to match Franklin Roosevelt's record of being sworn in as the nation's leader four times. While FDR served four ...

2012 styles that made our heads turn
Every year fashion offers up the good, the bad and the ugly. But what the industry is really built on — and consumers respond to — is buzz. Here are ...

Obama's fiscal cliff strategy is tricky balance
Playing both sides, President Barack Obama is trying to balance his public pressure campaign on Republicans over the looming "fiscal cliff" with his ...

Panetta in Afghanistan to meet with Karzai
President Barack Obama will decide shortly how many U.S. troops he wants to keep in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led coalition military mission ends in ...

'Purple tunnel of doom' to be closed for inaugural
Inaugural security teams are trying to prevent another "purple tunnel of doom" from President Barack Obama's first swearing-in. The head of the ...
House GOP press Obama for balanced fiscal deal
House Republican leaders are pressing President Barack Obama to come up with plan they can accept for spending cuts and tax revenue to avoid the ...
Fed expected to revamp bond buying program
The Federal Reserve is wrapping up 2012 the way it began the year, searching for ways to help a U.S. economy that is still struggling with high ...

US economy could withstand brief fall off 'cliff'
It's the scenario that's been spooking employers and investors and slowing the U.S. economy: Congress and the White House fail to strike a budget deal ...