US News

The familiar knocking of knuckles spreads only one-twentieth the amount of bacteria that a handshake does, researchers report.

President Barack Obama, who has said he was one of the untold millions of people around the world who were inspired by Mandela's life, is set to announce the name change at a town hall-style event on Monday in Washington with several hundred young leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa.

In this July 24, 2014, file photo, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., holds up two pages of resource requests from the Department of Veterans Affairs on Capitol Hill in Washington.

A federal judge struck down the District of Columbia's ban on carrying guns outside of a person's home, concluding it violates Second Amendment rights.

If a rematch of the 2012 presidential election were held today, GOP nominee Mitt Romney would top President Barack Obama in the popular vote, according to a new national survey.

Sen. Rand Paul is proposing legislation aimed at eliminating criminal sentencing rules that adversely impact minorities, saying that "we need some fresh ideas to combat old and festering problems."

U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes' campaign says former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to join her at a campaign rally in eastern Kentucky next month.

A small airplane with engine trouble struck a pickup truck during an emergency landing on a Nevada highway Saturday morning, authorities said.

Comparing their campaign to the civil rights movement, fast food workers from across the country voted Saturday to escalate their efforts for $15-an-hour pay and union membership by using nonviolent civil disobedience.

The government should clarify federal rules about bringing musical instruments on to commercial flights as carry-on luggage, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said, after a report of problems encountered by a band flying to Rhode Island for the Newport Folk Festival.

This April 7, 2010 file photo shows a Federal Express delivery truck travelling north of Fremont, Neb.

A third execution by lethal injection has gone awry in six months, renewing debate over whether there is a foolproof way for the government to humanely kill condemned criminals, and whether it's even worth looking for one.

A workman quickly slides a dust mop over the floor at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va., near Washington, in this file photo.

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks about the economy at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in Los Angeles, Thursday, July 24, 2014, on the final day of his three-day West Coast trip.

The talk in American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War halls and barrooms across Montana has been about Sen. John Walsh since the Democrat linked a cribbed research project he wrote in 2007 to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Arizona has temporarily halted executions after the prolonged death of a convicted killer during an execution described by Sen. John McCain and others as tantamount to torture.

Rep. Curt Clawson, a congressman for all of one month, made an embarrassing mistake this week when he confused two Obama administration officials with representatives from India.

A Florida judge on Friday overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in a ruling that applies to Miami-Dade County, agreeing with a judge in another county who made a similar ruling last week.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee; former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

After traveling around the country for the last year to better understand what works to combat poverty, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan now has a 'discussion draft' with the key ideas he thinks can help the poorest Americans get ahead, and where the federal government has a role.