Search results for

While the East Coast is digging out from a major winter storm, California is praying for rain. The state just finished one of the driest years on record, and that has water managers, farmers and others worried.

The Polar Star, a Coast Guard cutter, is expected to take seven days to reach the 123 crew members still stuck on the Russian and Chinese vessels. Meanwhile, the 52 scientists and paying passengers who were trapped aboard the Russian vessel are on their way home.

He made the announcement Sunday while giving his weekly blessing at the Vatican. The trip would be the pope's second foreign trip, following his visit to Brazil in July 2013.

The U.S. has long opposed an Iranian role in the so-called Geneva II talks later this month, but Secretary of State John Kerry's comments in Jerusalem may be the first sign that opposition is softening. Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces are battling a range of rebel groups, some of them backed by the West.

Senate Democrats will ring in the New Year with a vote on a three-month extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed. Benefits for those jobless for more than six months expired on Dec. 28. Prospects for a revival of benefits are uncertain at best in the Senate, and the measure faces even bigger hurdles in the House.

From 1943 to 1944, the Women Air Force Service Pilots flew more than 60 million miles across the U.S. chartering soldiers, test-flying planes and conducting training exercises during World War II.

Angela Merkel suffered the injury while cross-country skiing in the Swiss Alps. She didn't realize she had a fractured hip until she returned to Berlin.

Nicholas Simmons, 20, hadn't been seen since New Year's Day. On Sunday, USA Today published a photo of him. The young man was in Washington, D.C., trying to keep warm on a steam grate. His family saw the picture. With help from the newspaper, an AP photographer and police, their loved one was found.

The coldest temperatures in years and gusty winds that blasted the Midwest are expected to travel as far south as Brownsville, Texas, and Central Florida. The arctic air has caused temperatures to drop 20 to 40 degrees below average in several states and forced businesses and schools to close.

In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, Robert Gates says the president was unsure the Afghan surge would work and was openly distrustful of military leaders. "I never doubted Obama's support for the troops, only his support for their mission," he writes. The book is scheduled for release Jan. 14.