WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court will take up California's ban on same-sex marriage, a case that could give the justices the chance to rule on whether gay Americans have the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles has a new member of the family.
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haitians have suffered widespread hunger following an unusually active storm season this year and are likely to experience more, according to a study released Friday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Authorities have released a long-sealed autopsy report showing that rapper Notorious B.I.G. was shot four times in a 1997 drive-by shooting in Los Angeles that remains unsolved.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A lawyer in Tennessee who is mysteriously linked to millions of dollars in campaign contributions steered to congressional candidates doubled his investments in the weeks before Election Day and quietly funneled $6.8 million more to a prominent Tea Party group, according to new financial statements filed with the government.
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) - More than 2,000 people are gathering at Pearl Harbor on Friday to mark the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack that killed thousands of people and launched the United States into World War II.
LONDON (AP) - A nurse who fell victim to a prank telephone call seeking information about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge has died, the London hospital where she worked reported Friday.
SEATTLE (AP) - Marijuana became legal under Washington state law Thursday. So, bong hits and funny brownies for everybody?
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. hiring gains held steady in November despite disruptions from Superstorm Sandy and employers' concerns about impending tax increases from the year-end "fiscal cliff."
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Software company founder John McAfee was hospitalized briefly Thursday after being denied political asylum in Guatemala, and his lawyers said they were making a last-ditch effort to keep him from being flown back to Belize for questioning about the killing of a fellow American expatriate.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Republicans slammed right-to-work legislation through the Michigan House and Senate Thursday, drawing raucous protests from throngs of stunned union supporters, whose outnumbered Democratic allies were powerless to stop it.
NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine government's geological hazard maps show why this farming community was largely washed away by a strong typhoon: "highly susceptible to flooding and landslides." That didn't stop some villagers from rebuilding even with bodies still lying under the mud.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The 2012 presidential election broke the $2 billion milestone in its final weeks, becoming the most expensive in American political history, according to final federal finance reports released Thursday. The reports detailed a last-minute cascade of money from mega-donors and an onslaught of spending by the Obama and Romney campaigns and "super" political action committees.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California has transformed into a major player in stem cell research, but the taxpayer-funded institute responsible has "significant deficiencies" in how research dollars are distributed, experts said Thursday.
GENEVA (AP) - International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The state's largest health insurers, including Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente, will be among 13 plans competing for policies from millions of Californians who are expected to purchase coverage through the state's new health exchange, officials announced Thursday.
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest on Thursday - although his record may last only a few days. An 81-year-old Nepalese man, who held the previous record, plans his own ascent next week.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) - A band of thunderstorms battered the Oklahoma City area Thursday, slowing cleanup operations in the suburb where a tornado killed 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Declaring America at a "crossroads" in the fight against terrorism, President Barack Obama on Thursday revealed clearer guidelines for the use of deadly drone strikes, including more control by the U.S. military, while leaving key details of the controversial program secret.
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Groups of youths have burnt down a restaurant, torched more than 30 cars and injured three police in a fourth night of riots in suburbs of the Swedish capital that started following a fatal police shooting.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A 37-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a case in which a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria's civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime's military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America's national leadership will vote Thursday on whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks, a critical and emotionally charged moment for one of the nation's oldest youth organizations and its millions of members.
DUARTE, Calif. (AP) - Officials say a woman in a Los Angeles suburb found a bear cub sitting on her kitchen counter.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer on Thursday became the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Everest, a Nepali official and Miura's Tokyo-based support team said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama in which he plans to pledge more transparency to Congress in his counterterrorism policy.
A Los Angeles Unified School District teacher, who lives in Valencia, has pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing child pornography, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.