Ken Stanford

Breaking a third-of-a-century diplomatic freeze, President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone on Friday and, in a historic shift from years of unwavering animosity, agreed to work toward resolving their deep dispute over Tehran's nuclear efforts.

Time running short, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed urgent legislation Friday to avert a government shutdown early next week, and President Barack Obama lectured House Republicans to stop "appeasing the tea party" and quickly follow suit.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 79 counties in Georgia as primary natural disaster areas because of damages and losses caused by excessive rain that began April 1. Another 48 counties, including Hall, are also included in the declaration because of their proximity to the others.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Friday that it will begin offering benefits to legally married same-sex couples in the U.S. for the first time starting next week.

The stock market is closing lower, capping its first losing week of September, as investors focus on the risk of a U.S. government shutdown.

Bud Selig says he means it this time, that he will retire as baseball commissioner in January 2015. After a decade of maintaining his departure was imminent, the 79-year-old baseball commissioner has put his exit plans in writing.

A potential federal shutdown hurtling ever closer, the Senate dealt an emphatic defeat to a core of rebellious young conservatives Friday and approved legislation preventing government agencies from closing on Tuesday.

Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally returned to their mobile home parks in flood-ravaged Colorado to find that there was little left to salvage - not the water-damaged cars, not the old family pictures and not the sheds carried away by the rushing waters.