NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP said Thursday that it will pay $4.5 billion in a settlement with the U.S. government over the disastrous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and plead guilty to criminal charges related to the deaths of 11 workers and lying to Congress.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Country music star Shania Twain arrived on horseback Wednesday for a two-year headline gig at Caesars Palace, parading up the Las Vegas Strip with a herd of 40 horses.
NEW YORK (AP) - Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found.
NEW YORK (AP) - The National Book Awards on Wednesday honored both longtime writers and new authors, from Louise Erdrich for "The Round House" to Katherine Boo for her debut work, "Beyond the Beautiful Forevers."
LOS ANGELES (AP) - U.S. homes are entering the foreclosure process at a slower pace than a year ago, and fewer properties are being repossessed by lenders, new data show.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - FBI Special Agent Frederick Humphries II played a key role in stopping a terrorist attack aimed at blowing up Los Angeles International Airport just as the year 2000 dawned. He fatally shot a man who threatened him and other law enforcement officers with a knife during an altercation at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 2010.
Modest good news for college students: An annual survey predicts employers will increase hiring of new 4-year college graduates about 5 percent in the coming year. Demand for graduates with associate's degrees is expected to increase more sharply - by about 30 percent compared to last year's survey- while MBA hiring appears headed for an unexpected decline.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Mexican brother-sister duo Jesse & Joy and their pop hit "Corre!" ran away with four awards at the 13th Annual Latin Grammys, but Colombian rockero Juanes danced away with the award for best album for "MTV Unplugged" Thursday night.
CARMEL, Calif. (AP) - A former California school teacher accuses school officials in a lawsuit of failing to accommodate her breastfeeding schedule.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - U.S. officials are demanding answers after learning soldiers who were trained, vetted and equipped by the U.S. government chased down and killed a 15-year-old boy in Honduras, a country plagued by crime where the U.S. is already withholding tens of millions of dollars in police and military aid due to concerns about human rights violations.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. official says the Army has suspended the security clearance of the woman who had an affair with CIA Director David Petraeus, triggering his resignation.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California coastal regulators have rejected a proposal by a utility to map earthquake faults near a nuclear power plant by firing air cannons offshore.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Responding warily to his administration's sudden sex scandal, President Barack Obama said Wednesday he's seen no evidence that national security was damaged by the revelations that ended his CIA director's career and imperil that of his Afghan war commander.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Roger Latham had considered taking a short flight Tuesday night in his small plane with his flying instructor and a couple of other experienced pilots to attend a conference on flight safety held by the Federal Aviation Administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a challenge to Republicans, President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to extend expiring tax cuts immediately for all but the nation's highest income earners as a way to eliminate half of the so-called "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the economy back into recession.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) - A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Antonio Banderas will play the charismatic miner known as "Super Mario," who in 2010 became the public face of 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for 69 days.
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A van carrying church members returning from a California gathering careened off of a southern Illinois freeway and overturned several times Monday, killing five people and sending six others to hospitals, authorities said.
Ray Manzarek, a founding member of The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complimented Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Seth MacFarlane is too busy to host the Oscars in 2014.
FRESNO (AP) - Authorities say a central California homeowner killed a robbery suspect with a samurai sword during a home invasion.
FRAZIER PARK (AP) - A fire that broke last week near Frazier Park has closed a state park and already has cost more than $6 million to fight.
ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) - It could be an anxious wait of up to two months for people in a small Florida city to find out who won the highest Powerball jackpot in history: an estimated $590.5 million.
SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) - When Lindsay Carter heard on the radio that a violent storm was approaching her rural Oklahoma neighborhood, she gathered her belongings and fled. When she returned, there was little left.
ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) - Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million - the highest Powerball jackpot in history.
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday:
ATLANTA (AP) - President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, on Sunday told graduates of historically black Morehouse College to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people's lives.
SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) - One of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday in Oklahoma turned homes in a trailer park near Oklahoma City into splinters and rubble and sent frightened residents along a 100-mile corridor scurrying for shelter.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press on Sunday called the government's secret seizure of two months of reporters' phone records "unconstitutional" and said the news cooperative had not ruled out legal action against the Justice Department.
EDMOND, Okla. (AP) - A powerful storm system rumbled through the Plains and upper Midwest on Sunday, spawning tornadoes that damaged homes and buildings near Oklahoma City and put the Tulsa area on high-alert.