Brian Naylor

President Obama leaves Thursday night on a trip that will take him back to his father's homeland, while at the same time making him the first sitting president to visit two key East African nations: Kenya and Ethiopia.

The president's first stop is Kenya. He will not visit his father's ...

Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta announced she is resigning on Friday, after the government revealed more than 22 million federal employees had their personal data stolen.

The government said Thursday it will make federal marriage benefits available to all same-sex couples.

The Obama administration had previously extended most federal benefits to married same-sex couples. But the federal government could not distribute Social Security and VA benefits to couples living in states where such marriages were prohibited.

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Updated at 9:40 p.m. ET

The U.S. government says it's concluded "with high confidence" that the Social Security numbers of 21.5 million people were stolen from government background investigation databases.

The Office of Personnel Management says that number includes 19.7 million individuals who applied for a background investigation and ...

The New York Stock Exchange says a planned software update caused Wednesday's system shutdown that halted trading for more than 3.5 hours.

In a statement, the NYSE says its problems began Tuesday night with the rollout of a software release. The exchange says that as customers began connecting after 7 ...

Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET

Trading has resumed on the New York Stock Exchange, after computer related problems forced the exchange to suspend trading for more than three and a half hours.

The exchange "temporarily halted" trading as of 11:32 a.m. ET; trading resumed at approximately 3:10 p.m. ET.

The ...

Big news today from Springfield: The voice of Mr. Burns is returning. Harry Shearer isn't leaving the cast of The Simpsons after all.

Fox, which has aired the show since 1989, said today that it is "proud to confirm that each and every member of the iconic series' voice cast ...

The Obama administration hopes to make solar power more accessible for low- and middle-income Americans. It's announcing a series of moves, including installing more solar energy units in federally subsidized housing, low cost loans for homeowners and a program to help renters.

The White House recently pledged that the U.S. ...

The federal government Thursday granted recognition to the Pamunkey Indian tribe of Virginia. The tribe, whose members encountered the first permanent English settlers some 400 years ago, had long sought the recognition.

The Pamunkey tribe has just over 200 members, about a quarter of whom live on a reservation near ...

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has granted federal recognition to the Virginia tribe, whose members encountered the first permanent English settlers some 400 years ago.

BP on Thursday announced an $18.7 billion settlement with the U.S. government, five Gulf Coast states and more than 400 local governments. The agreement comes five years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Eleven workers were killed in ...

The Justice Department says it is investigating "possible unlawful coordination" by several major airline carriers. American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines have all confirmed receiving letters from the Justice Department.

In a statement, American said the department "seeks documents and information from the last two years that are related to ...

Militants launched a number of deadly attacks on checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula early Wednesday. A group linked to the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Merrit Kennedy filed this report from Cairo for Newscast:

"In Egypt, militants launched a coordinated series of assaults in the restive north Sinai peninsula. ...

The FBI is investigating a string of recent physical attacks on Internet cables in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The most recent occurred early Tuesday morning, reports The Wall Street Journal, hitting "several cables in Livermore, Calif., shortly before 4:30 a.m. Pacific time and hadn't been repaired as ...

President Obama on Wednesday announced the formal resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba after more than half a century of hostilities. The two countries have agreed to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana.

Standing in the White House Rose Garden, Obama called it "a historic step forward ...

Twelve officials at an upstate New York prison have been placed on leave, as authorities investigate how two convicted killers managed to escape from the facility on June 6.

Among those placed on leave are Superintendent Steven Racette, of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, and Deputy Superintendent Stephen Brown, ...

The Iran nuclear talks, which had been scheduled to wrap up Tuesday, have been extended. The U.S. and the five other nations negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program announced they'll meet for another week, as it became clear that they weren't likely to reach a deal by today's deadline.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose political career has taken almost as many turns as a roulette wheel at an Atlantic City casino, is running for president.

He made the announcement Tuesday at Livingston High School, which he attended and where he was class president. Declaring "America is tired of ...

Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET

The Supreme court has ruled against an Obama administration effort to limit toxic mercury emissions from power plants, saying the costs of compliance should be taken into account at the very earliest stages of the regulatory process.

In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with ...

The spat between Donald Trump and Univision has taken another twist. Trump has told the cable channel to stop work on a gate between a golf resort he owns in Miami and adjacent Univision property, and in so many words, to "get off his lawn."

Although it's not clear that ...