National & International

The College Board said Tuesday it will eliminate the optional essay from the SAT and do away with subject tests amid a changing college admissions landscape.

As President Donald Trump entered the final year of his term last January, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19.

A U.S. Army soldier was arrested Tuesday in Georgia on terrorism charges after he spoke online about plots to blow up New York City's 9/11 Memorial and other landmarks and attack U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, authorities said Tuesday.

Nearly 100 cats have survived a house fire in a town outside Rochester, New York, according to an animal protection group.

Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder, has died. He was 81.

A Russian judge on Monday ordered opposition leader Alexei Navalny jailed for 30 days, after the leading Kremlin critic returned to Russia from Germany where he was recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on President Vladimir Putin's government.

Speakers at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebration in Atlanta called Monday for a renewed dedication to nonviolence following a turbulent year in which a deadly pandemic, protests over systemic racism and a divisive election capped by an attack on the U.S. Capitol strained Americans' capacity for civility.

Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold.

Dorothy Schmidt Cole, recognized last year as the oldest living U.S. Marine, has died at age 107.

Getting 100 million shots in Americans' arms in his first 100 days is only the beginning of his coronavirus plan, President-elect Joe Biden declared Friday.

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Friday, posting their first weekly loss after two weeks of solid gains.

Joanne Rogers, an an accomplished concert pianist who celebrated and protected the legacy of her husband, the beloved children’s TV host Mister Rogers, has died in Pittsburgh. She was 92.

Federal prosecutors said there was "strong evidence" the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week aimed to "capture and assassinate elected officials," but the head of the investigation cautioned Friday that the probe is still in its early stages and there was no "direct evidence" of such intentions.

Siegfried Fischbacher, namesake partner in the iconic entertainment duo Siegfried & Roy, has died in Las Vegas at age 81.

Two former Michigan health officials were charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of nine people who got Legionnaires' disease during the Flint water crisis, as prosecutors revisiting how the city's water system was contaminated with lead and bacteria also hammered a key adviser to ex-Gov. Rick Snyder with extortion and perjury crimes.

President Donald Trump's impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an ever-more-extraordinary end to the defeated president's tenure in the White House.

The rapid expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations to senior citizens across the U.S. has led to bottlenecks, system crashes and hard feelings in many states because of overwhelming demand for the shots.

Sheldon Adelson, who rose from a modest start as the son of an immigrant taxi driver to become a billionaire Republican powerbroker with a casino empire and influence on international politics, has died. He was 87.

Pope Francis changed church law Monday, Jan. 11, to explicitly allow women to do more things during Mass, granting them access to the most sacred place on the altar, while continuing to affirm that they cannot be priests.

President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a historic second time Wednesday, charged with "incitement of insurrection" over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.

More Americans are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine but they may still face a wait for their first shot even as supplies increase.

The U.S. government's deficit in the first three months of the budget year was a record-breaking $572.9 billion, 60.7% higher than the same period a year ago, as spending to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic surged while revenue declined.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday rejected a Democratic attempt to swiftly call the Senate into emergency session to hold an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, all but assuring that those proceedings won't occur until after Trump leaves office.

Within a span of about 24 hours, three House Democrats announced they tested positive for COVID-19, prompting concern that last week’s insurrection at the Capitol has also turned into a super-spreader event threatening the health of lawmakers and their staffs.

The U.S. House pressed swiftly forward Tuesday toward impeachment or other steps to forcibly remove President Donald Trump from office, even as Trump blamed Democratic foes and not himself for last week's deadly attack on the Capitol.