LOS ANGELES (AP) - After playing in the sand, the Curiosity rover is poised to trek across the Martian landscape in search of a rock to drill into, scientists reported Thursday.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) - Although Mike D'Antoni is still on crutches after his recent knee surgery, he's already at work with the Los Angeles Lakers.
KETTLEMAN CITY, Calif. (AP) - A Central California hazardous waste dump that has been targeted by fines and claims by nearby residents involving birth defects has another headache: The state has issued 72 violations alleging small spills went unreported during the past four years.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Top national security officials trudged to Capitol Hill on Thursday to grapple with fallout from the David Petraeus sex scandal as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asked service chiefs to review ethics training for military officers. He said he was unaware of any other top brass who could turn out to be ensnared in the debacle.
NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian militants barraged Israel with more than 200 rockets on Thursday, killing three people as Israel pressed a punishing campaign of airstrikes on militant targets across the Gaza Strip. Three rockets targeted the densely populated Tel Aviv area, setting off air raid sirens in brazen attacks that threatened to trigger an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
LONDON (AP) - The 17-country eurozone has fallen back into recession for the first time in three years as the fallout from the region's financial crisis was felt from Amsterdam to Athens.
For some American workers, picking the right health insurance is becoming more like hunting for the perfect business suit: It takes some shopping around to find a good fit and avoid sticker shock.
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.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A regional garbage collection agency has tossed out plans to build a mega-landfill for Los Angeles' trash less than two miles from Joshua Tree National Park in the remote Southern California desert.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia man charged with murder after losing two sons to untreated pneumonia told police he believes in "divine healing," not medicine, to "break the devil's power."
NEW YORK (AP) - Major stock indexes closed out their first weekly loss in a month in quiet trading Friday.
NBC and sister networks will air Blake Shelton's concert to help his fellow Oklahomans affected by this week's storms in their home state.
NEW YORK (AP) - Fatburger, a chain with a devoted following on the West Coast, said Friday it will sell its branded frozen beef patties in Walmart stores nationwide.
PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) - A Palmdale couple has been arrested after the woman's 8-year-old son was beaten, burned and left in critical condition.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - It's considered the Holy Grail of comic books: Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, featuring the debut of Superman. David Gonzales found one mixed in with old newspapers insulating the ceiling of a house he was renovating in a small town in Minnesota.
PHOENIX (AP) - The jury foreman in Jodi Arias' trial says the panel just couldn't decide whether the killing of her boyfriend was enough to merit a death a sentence.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrower terror threat from smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.
BAKERSFIELD (AP) - Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the death of a Bakersfield man beaten by deputies was due to the man's heart disease, not baton blows from officers.
GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) - An earthquake in far northeastern California did not injure anyone but did cause moderate damage, including to a water tank that supplies hundreds of homes with drinking water, local authorities said Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) - The forecast for summer travel, 2013: Partly sunny.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Less winter runoff has allowed visitors to enjoy mostly clean water at California beaches, according to a report released Thursday.
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders - a fiercely contested compromise that some warned could fracture the organization and lead to mass defections of members and donors.