POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care - and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is shifting the focus of its Iran policy from talk to sanctions, but the prospect of winning early international support for toughened new penalties appears dim.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate ethics committee on Friday admonished Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., for making "inconsistent, misleading or incomplete" statements about the circumstances surrounding his appointment to the seat once held by Barack Obama. The committee didn't recommend any punishment.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A retired State Department worker and his wife accused of a three-decade-long plot to spy for Cuba have pleaded guilty in federal court.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon said Thursday it will scour its procedures for identifying volatile soldiers hidden in the ranks following the Fort Hood shooting rampage and lapses that might allow others to slip through bureaucratic cracks.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prosecutors say they'll drop manslaughter charges against one of the Blackwater Worldwide contractors charged in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting.... Read More
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Fallout continues from the summer controversy over the University of Notre Dame awarding an honorary degree to President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A leading auto organization is projecting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel this year, although fewer people will travel by air due to budget concerns, reduced airline capacity and added charges.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's choice for a top job with the Treasury Department is having tax problems.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Afghan official allegedly took a $20 million bribe to steer a copper mining project to a Chinese company, a glaring example of the claims of corruption clouding the Obama administration's deliberations over expanding the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's top Forest Service official says national forests can store more carbon to slow global warming, but he warns that such a goal must be balanced against the risk of catastrophic wildfires.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Interior Department said Wednesday it will more closely monitor and review state-approved permits for mountaintop coal mining and also tighten the federal permitting process to better protect streams from mining waste.... Read More
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight just to make sure they get an orange wristband Wednesday that would let them meet Sarah Palin.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It seems history won't rest until someone fills in that 18 1/2-minute Watergate gap.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Did the Obama administration really pump billions of dollars into phantom congressional districts?... Read More
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Showing impatience with Iranian foot-dragging, President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and its allies are discussing possible new penalties to bring fresh pressure on Iran for defying international attempts to halt its contested nuclear program.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A member of the panel whose new mammogram recommendations have led to confusion is defending the task force's report.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that trying self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal civilian court in New York is unwise and unnecessary.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Companies fraudulently collected at least $100 million in federal contracts from a $4 billion government program designated for disabled military veterans who run small businesses, congressional investigators charge.... Read More
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The daughter of Sen. John Kerry has been arrested in Hollywood for allegedly driving drunk.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department will give a "seal of approval" to businesses volunteering to use an electronic program to check workers' immigration status.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A 20-foot-long crocodile with three sets of fangs - like wild boar tusks - roamed parts of northern Africa millions of years ago, researchers reported Thursday.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein is encouraging the Obama administration to adopt new energy efficiency standards for televisions, similar to those just approved in her home state of California.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Democratic leader says Congress is closer than ever to overhauling the nation's health care system.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government report says more than 314,000 taxpayers made inaccurate claims for a popular tax credit that helps pay college expenses, getting $532 million they weren't entitled to receive.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration has a simple-sounding strategy for the problem that is Hamid Karzai: Work with him and around him at the same time.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's an issue that Democrats would rather not deal with as they shape a health care overhaul. Yet a new Associated Press poll says most Americans support curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president of Shell Oil Co. says the company did not ask a federal agency to delay a decision on the company's request to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Chukchi Sea.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate has unanimously passed legislation that would provide monthly stipends and medical benefits to family members who stay home to care for severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government watchdog overseeing economic stimulus spending said Thursday that, in its rush to take credit for saving hundreds of thousands of jobs, the Obama administration was overly confident in its job-counting and did not acknowledge significant errors in the figures.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional investigators said Thursday that tens of thousands of questionnaires aimed at measuring the mental and physical health of returning combat troops can't be found.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is a "yes" in a crucial weekend test vote on health care.... Read More
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) -- The United States will do its part to reduce corruption in Afghanistan by examining its own contracts and projects, even as it is demanding the same from the Afghan government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.... Read More
BEIJING (AP) -- Washington's ambassador to Beijing hit out Friday at negative U.S. media coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to China, saying it failed to take into account important progress on many issues.... Read More
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- First mammograms. Now - in an apparent coincidence - Pap smears.... Read More
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, encouraged by many Republicans to run for governor in 2010, is instead leaning toward a run for U.S. Senate, according to two party advisers.... Read More
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Fresh from his weeklong trip through Asia, President Barack Obama is taking time to catch up on dad duty.... Read More
CEDAR CREEK, Texas (AP) -- Thrilled with twin victories this month, Republican governors are looking to lead a party-wide resurgence in 2010 and shape the GOP for years to come.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will have scant time to rest up from his eight-day Asia trip. On Saturday, two days after his return to Washington, the Senate plans a make-or-break vote on his hard-fought plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. Obama also confronts a difficult choice on strategy and troop levels in Afghanistan, which will be criticized no matter what he decides.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- They call it the "Botax."... Read More
ATLANTA (AP) -- For the second time in a little more than a year, a glitch at one of the two centers that handle flight plans for the nation's air travel system set off delays and cancellations for passengers around the country.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Taking aim at Wall Street and the U.S. central bank, an important House committee voted Thursday to assess fees on large financial firms to pay for the failure of their peers and to require a sweeping congressional audit of the secretive Federal Reserve.... Read More
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post, officials said Thursday.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.... Read More
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Fans in Sarah Palin's home state turned out as early as possible Tuesday to snap up copies of her highly anticipated memoir.... Read More
ROME (AP) -- The director of a U.N. food agency questioned Wednesday how world powers could commit so much money to fighting the financial crisis and not to feeding the 1 billion hungry.... Read More
