WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama welcomed news Friday of better-than-expected private sector job growth. But with the unemployment rate ticking upward nevertheless, he said he'd roll out new plans next week to spur the economy....

COMBAT OUTPOST SENJERAY, Afghanistan (AP) -- 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....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government official said Friday that a scientist has been detained in Miami after screeners found a metal canister in his luggage that looked like a pipe bomb....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Jesse Kelly was still basking in the glow of his victory in an Arizona congressional primary when the Democratic congresswoman he's trying to unseat released a scathing TV ad branding him "a risk" who would gamble away people's retirement savings....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress seems increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up, even on wealthier Americans....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is likening the federal government to a drug dealer....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In an early sign of promise, Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged Thursday in a cordial first round of talks to keep meeting at regular intervals, aiming to nail down a framework for overcoming deep disputes and achieving lasting peace within a year....

PHOENIX (AP) -- It will go down as one of the most painful openings to a political debate in recent memory....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An anti-abortion group plans to air radio ads in three congressional races calling for the defeat of Democratic incumbents, among the first ads to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling this year that freed corporations to directly influence elections....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government safety officials have not found a connection between a new kind of Pampers diapers and the severe skin reactions reported by some parents' groups....