House members handed out bonuses to staffs during budget crisis

Even as deep federal budget cuts loomed at the end of last year, members of Congress from both parties paid taxpayer-funded bonuses to their...

Measure would widen president's power to fight terrorists

Tucked away in a $690-billion defense spending bill is a little-noticed provision that would expand the president's power to pursue...

Star witness in Chicago terrorism trial 'pleased' by Mumbai attacks

After spending two years scouting out targets for Pakistani terrorists who unleashed the deadly Mumbai attacks in 2008, David Coleman...

Tim Pawlenty formally announces run for presidency

Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign rests on this question: Will Republican voters itching for confrontation with President Obama deliver...

In Joplin, there was no time to prepare

When the tornado hit, Staci Perry, a scrub technician at St. John's Regional Medical Center, had just left the operating room to grab a...

Judge to rule on Jared Loughner's mental fitness for trial

A federal judge is set to determine this week whether Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)...

Israel cannot return to pre-1967 boundaries, leader insists

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday repeated his criticism of President Obama's plan for peace negotiations with...

U.S. insurer faces criminal investigation over Iraqis' unpaid death benefits

An administrative law judge has referred a U.S. insurance company for criminal investigation after the firm failed to pay benefits to...

Supreme Court upholds order for California to release 46,000 inmates

The Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-4 decision, has an upheld an injunction by a three-judge panel ordering California to release about 46,...

Senate votes to extend Patriot Act

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to extend expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for four years despite objections of a coalition...

Former IMF chief's DNA matches sample on maid's clothes, sources say

Test results returned Monday found that DNA from former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn matched material on the...

Tornado kills at least 89, leaves 'total devastation' in Missouri town

A powerful tornado slammed into Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, killing at least 89 people as it ripped the top off a hospital, sheared parts of the...

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels decides not to run for president

The Republican field in the 2012 presidential race narrowed as another establishment favorite opted against a run and prompted a new bout of...

Deliberate flooding of Atchafalaya River Basin puts wildlife on the run

When confronted with rapidly rising floodwaters, wild animals tend to react the same way humans do. They run for high ground.

Obama stresses urgency of peace talks in speech to pro-Israel group

President Obama reassured a powerful pro-Israel group that America's support for the Jewish state's security is "ironclad" but insisted on a...

Texas drought has farmers on the ropes

The wind in West Texas is famously powerful and incessant. But this year, more big blows than anyone can remember have roared through,...

Gingrich hits bumps in presidential campaign

By the time Newt Gingrich got here, his first week as an official presidential candidate had been a doozy. He'd been skewered by members...

GOP Medicare plan gets tough test in House race in New York

Kathy Hochul, the Democrat within reach of a stunner in the special U.S. House election here Tuesday, is not yet two minutes into her...