Wire Politics

Amid mounting tensions with North Korea, the Pentagon has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a senior defense official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Iran and six world powers failed to reach agreement Saturday on how to reduce fears that Tehran might use its nuclear technology to make weapons, extending years of inconclusive talks and adding to concerns the diplomatic window on reaching a deal with Tehran may soon close.

A phrase declaring that life begins "at fertilization" tucked into new abortion legislation in Kansas is creating concern among abortion rights advocates that the wording will inspire new attempts to prevent the procedure.

Operating with few rules and limited oversight, outside groups spent a record $1 billion to influence last year's election.

Bringing their emotional advocacy to the national gun debate, families of those killed in the Connecticut school shooting are appearing with President Barack Obama and walking the halls of Congress to plead for stricter regulations.

This may be the year Congress decides what to do about the millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. And this may be the week when a bipartisan group of senators makes public details of the overhaul plan it has been negotiating for months.

President Barack Obama says his soon-to-be released budget, already criticized by friends and foes, is not his "ideal plan" but offers "tough reforms" for benefit programs and scuttles some tax breaks for the wealthy.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Turkey early Sunday on the first leg of a 10-day trip to Europe and Asia that would also seek to unlock long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Young supporters hold signs outside Hillary Rodham Clinton's speeches urging her to run for president. Audiences listen with rapt attention as she discusses the plight of women and girls in developing countries.

North Korea is widely recognized as being years away from perfecting the technology to back up its bold threats of a pre-emptive strike on America. But some nuclear experts say it might have the know-how to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at South Korea and Japan, which host U.S. military bases.

Kansas legislators gave final passage to a sweeping anti-abortion measure Friday night, sending Gov. Sam Brownback a bill that declares life begins "at fertilization" while blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex.

To the ranks of civil rights and anti-war activists who’ve marched on Washington, get ready to add white-frocked scientists.

When President Barack Obama meets over the next month with leaders from Mideast and other regional nations, he will have a timely opportunity to try to rally the Syrian opposition's main backers around a unified strategy to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs say that they’re pushing hard to speed up the slow and cumbersome disability claims process and that a recent overhaul to the system should start to yield benefits soon.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar voiced optimism Friday that the nation's first offshore wind farm will soon break ground after more than a decade of delays and be followed by more off the Atlantic coast.

A national organization devoted to oversight of charter schools says North Carolina is missing an opportunity by proposing to set up a new charter school commission without insisting that it follow best practices.

The Homeland Security Department has received more applications for high-skilled immigration visas than are available and will use a lottery to select which companies will receive them and then pass them on to prospective employees.

As one of the nation’s top marijuana lobbyists, Allen St. Pierre has come to believe in his product, which is why he tries to smoke high-potency, one-toke weed every night if possible.

President Barack Obama's proposal to change the way the government measures inflation could lead to fewer people qualifying for college grants and anti-poverty programs, reduced benefits for seniors and veterans, and higher taxes for low-income families.

A former navy chief of the small West African nation of Guinea-Bissau who is suspected of being a kingpin in the international cocaine trade was brought to the U.S. for trial on drug charges following his arrest at sea by federal drug agents, authorities said Friday.

A bill to expand Yosemite National Park has won the support of California’s senators, but apparent skepticism from the conservative congressman who now represents the park.

President Barack Obama has apologized to California Attorney General Kamala Harris for causing a stir when he called her "the best-looking attorney general" at a Democratic fundraiser they attended together this week.

The Obama administration is delaying the closing of 149 airport control towers until mid-June in order to deal with legal challenges.

President Barack Obama's budget proposal will include nearly a 14 percent spending increase for the section of the Department of Veterans Affairs responsible for attacking a growing backlog of disability claims - a problem that officials warned is likely to worsen in coming months.

A federal investigation into a California legal aid group has now become a test case in how far law enforcement officers can go.

Federal employees who have been victims of sexual assault will no longer have to disclose that they sought mental health support following an attack when they fill out security clearance applications.

Vice President Joe Biden says the U.S. still needs an ambitious agenda to make American products competitive overseas.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee accused their GOP colleagues working on a bipartisan immigration bill of operating in secret, saying in a letter Friday that "the time for transparency has come" and pushing for briefings and full hearings before any votes.

Mayor Anthony Foxx, considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, said Friday he would not run for re-election, but he didn't indicate what he planned to do next.