WASHINGTON (AP) - In a spectacular fall from political prominence, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife agreed Friday to plead guilty to federal charges growing out of what prosecutors said was a scheme to use $750,000 in campaign funds for lavish personal expenses, including a $43,000 gold watch and furs.
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter dubbed the Blade Runner, was charged Thursday in the Valentine's Day slaying of his girlfriend at his upscale home in South Africa, a shocking twist to one of the feel-good stories of last summer's Olympics.
BERLIN (AP) - It was only a matter of time. With many of its debt-ridden euro partners in recession, Germany could only swim against the tide for so long.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of former GOP senator Chuck Hagel as the nation's next defense secretary over unrelated questions about President Barack Obama's actions in the aftermath of the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. Obama accused Republicans of playing politics with national security during wartime, and Democrats vowed to revive the nomination after Congress' weeklong break.
DALLAS (AP) - US Airways CEO Doug Parker has landed the big merger he sought for years. Now the soon-to-be CEO of the new American Airlines has to make it work.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - One Las Vegas shooting range was selling "take a shot at love" packages that include 50 submachine gun rounds. Another offered wedding packages in which the bride and groom can pose with Uzis and ammunition belts. And a third invited lovebirds to renew their vows and shoot a paper cutout zombie in the face.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - For the past decade, the world's most powerful nations have turned to sanctions in an attempt to punish North Korea for a series of rocket launches and nuclear tests. Their stated goal: to stop North Korea's march toward acquiring an arsenal of nuclear-armed long-range missiles.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - For the past decade, the world's most powerful nations have turned to sanctions in an attempt to punish North Korea for a series of rocket launches and nuclear tests. Their stated goal: to stop North Korea's march toward acquiring an arsenal of nuclear-armed long-range missiles.
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) - Karen and Jim Reynolds say they came face to face with fugitive Christopher Dorner, not on a snow-covered mountain trail, but inside their cabin-style condo.
TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) - In their hurry to flee last month, al-Qaida fighters left behind a crucial document: Tucked under a pile of papers and trash is a confidential letter, spelling out the terror network's strategy for conquering northern Mali and reflecting internal discord over how to rule the region.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California opened a $24 million treatment center for mentally ill inmates on Thursday as state corrections officials used the occasion to push for ending federal oversight of that aspect of prison operations.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - NASA has agreed to an "excessive and unnecessarily costly cleanup" of a former rocket test facility near Los Angeles that was the site of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959, the space agency's watchdog said Thursday.
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) - A former "Melrose Place" actress who was drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison, infuriating the victim's relatives, who had hoped for the 10-year maximum.
NEW YORK (AP) - A Tiffany & Co. subsidiary is suing Costco, claiming the wholesale club operator has been selling engagement rings wrongly labeled "Tiffany" rings.
NEW YORK (AP) - Emma Bing, the inspiration for the pregnancy bible "What to Expect When You're Expecting," has given birth in Los Angeles to a boy.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A House committee rebuffed Democratic efforts Wednesday to keep the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program whole, as debate on the farm bill turned into a theological discourse on helping the poor.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - More than four years after the world last heard from O.J. Simpson in court, one of the nation's most famous prisoners spoke again Wednesday in a bid to win freedom from a sentence that could keep him behind bars until he dies.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - An abortion doctor convicted of killing three babies born alive at his rogue clinic dodged a possible death sentence on Tuesday in a hasty post-verdict deal with prosecutors.
SANTA ANA (AP) - Two hikers lost for days in the Southern California wilderness won't be charged the $160,000 it took to find them.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department is investigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt status, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday, widening a probe that includes investigations by three committees in Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) - States should cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half- from .08 blood alcohol level to .05_matching a standard that has substantially reduced highway deaths in other countries, a federal safety board recommended Tuesday. That's about one drink for a woman weighing less than 120 pounds, two for a 160-pound man.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Two startup cooperatives have joined a crowded health insurance market in Oregon, offering a consumer-run experience and hoping to draw customers who prefer smaller not-for-profits, or who support underdogs and alternative, DIY culture.
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Authorities have identified three of the five people found dead in string of homicides in northern Nevada.
GENEVA (AP) - Sotheby's has auctioned off jewels belonging to actress Gina Lollobrigida, fetching just under $3 million for a fancy yellow diamond once owned by a shah of Persia.
METAIRIE, La. (AP) - Chuck Muncie, a Pro Bowl running back with both the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, has died at age 60, the NFL clubs and a family spokesman said Tuesday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles police say they saved a man who was stuck in a chimney at a Los Angeles recreation center after he called 911 from the tight space.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Despite surging state tax revenue, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday announced a spending plan for the coming fiscal year that is $1.2 billion lower than he projected in January.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The budget deficit for the current year is projected to come in well below what was estimated just a few months ago, according to a government study released Tuesday.
IRVINE (AP) - A camp ranger carjacked by Christopher Dorner has sued after failing to get a $1 million reward offered for information that tracked down the killer.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.