Posted: 8:41 AM Italian officials say they have identified the bodies of an American couple and two German nationals who perished when the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsized.

Posted: 8:09 AM As Congress investigates an $823,000 General Services Administration conference at a Las Vegas resort, a fired GSA executive who threw a party there on the taxpayers' dime has been sent a letter by his former agency demanding $1,960 reimbursement for the party in his room.

Posted: 6:16 AM Under pressure to take action on rising gasoline prices, President Barack Obama wants Congress to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, increase penalties for market manipulation and empower regulators to increase the amount of money energy traders are required to put behind their transactions.

Posted: 5:16 AM More people pull the night shift. Teens text past midnight and stumble to class at dawn. Travelers pack red-eye flights.

Posted: 8:51 AM To the world's military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts.

Posted: 8:43 AM U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace last month, pushed up by higher sales of electronics and home and garden supplies. The increase suggests consumers aren't pulling back on spending in the face of higher gas prices.

Posted: 7:49 AM On the fifth anniversary of the campus shooting rampage that left 33 dead, students at Virginia Tech would be heading to class Monday, a departure from past years when the school marked the day by suspending classes.

Posted: 6:03 AM President Barack Obama's proposal to impose a "Buffett rule" tax on the rich is generating enormous political wattage, but the plan itself would directly affect only a tiny fraction of Americans.

Posted: 5:50 AM DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the maker of "Shrek," ''Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda," is teaming up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to help people convert their old DVDs into an online movie library.

Posted: 5:10 AM 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.

Posted: 5:06 AM When a tornado shrouded in darkness and wrapped in rain dropped quickly from the sky above this northwest Oklahoma town, many residents relied on television weathermen to warn them of impending devastation. Others learned of the monster twister from neighbors or calls from frantic relatives.

Posted: 4:59 AM Tornado, hurricane or flood, nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government investigators say.

Posted: 2:53 PM Battles continue to rage in Afghanistan's capital.

Updated: 2:31 PM James Cameron has shored up his position as king of the worldwide box office.

Posted: 2:26 PM Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says a claim by Mitt Romney about disproportionate job losses by women during the Obama administration is "misleading and ridiculous."

Posted: 1:48 PM Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the retrial of Roger Clemens.

Posted: 1:44 PM A senior House Republican says he doubts that a Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia was a one-time incident.

Posted: 10:49 AM Campaign advisers to President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney say the general election will offer competing visions of how to help the middle class.

Posted: 10:38 AM A federal official says there may be human remains embedded in the mud of the North Atlantic where the New York-bound Titanic came to rest when it sank 100 years ago.

Posted: 10:33 AM The Coast Guard says one sailor is dead and four are missing after their yacht ran aground during a race off San Francisco.

Updated: 6:10 AM Authorities say search and rescue crews are combing an area of northwest Oklahoma around the towns of Woodward and Tangier after a tornado just after midnight, local time, left five people confirmed dead and several others injured.

Posted: 10:19 AM Starting next year, the check will no longer be in the mail for millions of people who receive Social Security and other government benefits.

Updated: 10:13 AM Both parties in Congress are forcing symbolic votes in the coming week on dueling tax plans that affect millionaires and smaller businesses. That'll set the stage for long fights about taxes during the presidential campaign and on Capitol Hill.

Posted: 11:36 PM Officials say a small western Iowa community has been severely damaged by a possible tornado.

Posted: 6:17 PM Baseball-sized hail is tearing the siding off homes in northeast Nebraska, a tornado has touched down in Kansas and forecasters are warning residents across the nation's midsection to brace for "life threatening" storms.