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Holidays

New Orleans' challenge: policing 2 huge parties
A New Orleans police force famed for its crowd control prowess is getting help from state and federal authorities as the city hosts an estimated ...
Inauguration watch: a special dress ends a big day
AP journalists fanned out across the capital to cover Inauguration Day as part of a running feed of content and analysis. Here are their reports.
Inauguration Day marks rare intersection with King
President Barack Obama plans to use a Bible that belonged to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he takes his oath of office on the holiday honoring ...
Fed survey: US economy picked up at end of year
Holiday shopping, strong auto sales and a recovering housing market helped boost the U.S. economy from the middle of November through early January, ...
US retail sales rose 0.5 percent in December
U.S. consumers increased their spending at retail businesses in December, buying more autos, furniture and clothing. Steady job growth and lower gas ...
Terrorism suspect's mindset debated at Ore. trial
There's no dispute that a 19-year-old Muslim college student tried to set off a car bomb at Portland's 2010 Christmas tree lighting ceremony, but how ...
Microsoft may have exited gadget show prematurely
Microsoft may have relinquished its starring role in America's gaudiest gadget show a year too early. After 13 straight years in the spotlight, ...
Conn. grants $500K for lost business in Newtown
For Vito Kala, owner of an Italian restaurant not far from a street leading to the grade school in Newtown where 20 children and six educators were ...
CES unveils big TVs with 'ultra-high definition'
The race to make TVs larger and larger has created a colossal problem for manufacturers: As screens grow, picture quality worsens — unless the viewer ...
Egypt Copts mark Christmas with fear of future
Egypt's minority Christians were celebrating their first Christmas after the election of an Islamist president and a new pope — and following adoption ...
Sgt. in Saudi military accused of Vegas child rape
A sergeant in Saudi Arabia's air force was jailed in Las Vegas on charges that he pulled a boy into a hotel room and sexually assaulted him the ...
Body of missing Calif. woman found at Lake Tahoe
The search for a missing 19-year-old California woman who disappeared on New Year's Eve at Lake Tahoe ended Friday when her body was found behind a ...
Berlin elephants feast on tasty Christmas trees
Elephants at the Berlin Zoo finally got a chance to tuck into their Christmas dinner: A feast of donated pine trees. The zoo treated its elephants and ...
Ivory Coast New Year's death toll rises to 64
Ivory Coast's health minister says the death toll in the New Year's stampede has risen to 64. Health Minister Raymonde Goudou, speaking to the press, ...
Retailers report higher December sales
A last-minute surge in spending saved the holiday shopping season. Major retailers including Costco, Gap and Nordstrom on Thursday reported ...
Macy's key revenue figure rises in December
Macy's said Thursday that revenue in stores open at least one year rose 4.1 in December, edging past Wall Street estimates. But the figure grew less ...
Fiscal cliff deal forged in flurry of final talks
They had 80 hours to finish or fail. Stuck in a "fiscal cliff" stalemate, trust nearing tatters, President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans changed ...
Venezuelans on edge amid shifting news on Chavez
Supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez alike nervously welcomed the new year Tuesday, left on edge by shifting signals from the government ...
Many weddings as gay marriage becomes legal in Md.
Same-sex couples in Maryland were greeted with cheers and noisemakers held over from New Year's Eve parties, as gay marriage became legal in the first ...
Hundreds ring in 2013 with icy plunge in NY waters
Hundreds of hardy swimmers rang in 2013 with a plunge into the icy sea off Brooklyn's Coney Island, an area struggling to recover from Superstorm ...
France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year's Eve
Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year's Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that remained ...
Stampede after fireworks kills 61 in Ivory Coast
A crowd stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show early Tuesday in Ivory Coast's main city, killing 61 people — many of them children and ...
Playboy Hugh Hefner marries his 'runaway bride'
Hugh Hefner's celebrating the new year as a married man once again. The 86-year-old Playboy magazine founder exchanged vows with his "runaway bride," ...
Thieves break into Paris' flagship Apple store
Masked and armed thieves used the New Year's Eve fete to rob the flagship Apple store in Paris. The French press reported that up to €1 million ($1.