Ken Stanford

Senate Republicans derailed a Democratic "Buffett rule" bill Monday forcing the nation's top earners to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes, using the day before Americans' taxes are due to defy President Barack Obama on one of his signature election-year issues.

For Taliban militants and U.S. strategists alike, all roads in this impoverished country of mountain passes, arid deserts and nearly impassable goat tracks lead to this ancient capital of 3 million people nestled in a high and narrow valley.

Mitt Romney has tapped a longtime adviser to begin his search for a vice presidential candidate.

The General Services Administration inspector general said Monday that he's investigating possible bribery and kickbacks in the agency, as a central figure in a GSA spending scandal asserted his right to remain silent at a congressional hearing.

Three senior art students at Piedmont College are creating individual exhibitions to show in art galleries around campus. As part of their art capstone course, seniors are required to create an entire gallery of art that they show independently from the other art seniors.

President Barack Obama is returning to his familiar agenda of righting the U.S. economy and winning a second term, wrapping up three days of Latin American summitry that yielded mixed results and were clouded by a Secret Service scandal.

Tornado, hurricane or flood, nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government investigators say.

The search for four yacht crew members thrown from their boat during a weekend race off Northern California was indefinitely suspended, with the Coast Guard saying the "window of survivability" had passed.

President Barack Obama says he expects the investigation of Secret Service misconduct in Colombia to be thorough and rigorous, and says he will "be angry" if the allegations turn out to be true.

The Obama administration said Sunday that a key free trade deal with Colombia will be fully enforced next month, an expected but important victory for the U.S. business community, which contends the pact will be an economic boon for America. Labor union officials, a key constituency for Obama, said they were disappointed by the agreement.