Private employers hired more workers over the past three months than first thought, a glimmer of hope for the weak economy ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

Private employers hired more workers over the past three months than first thought, a glimmer of hope for the weak economy ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province.

Gang representatives in Chicago held a press conference Thursday to explain why gangs cannot be held solely responsible for stopping street violence, which has escalated this summer.

The Obama administration is weighing a package of business tax breaks - potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars - to spur hiring and to combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small businesses, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

With the economy downshifting into first gear and their poll numbers sagging, the White House and Democratic congressional leaders are desperate for an economic and political game-changer as they head into the November elections. As it happens, there's one close at hand: the expiration of the "Bush" tax cuts at the end of the year. In this instance, the politics of obstructionism appear to work in the Democrats' favor. If Republicans follow ...

When Ruth Garcia's twins are born in two months, they'll have all the rights of U.S. citizens.

The first direct talks for nearly two years between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been hailed as "constructive" by the United States.

An off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded early Thursday, sending its crew of 13 scrambling into the water and creating a sheen of spilled oil.

BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.