Eyder Peralta

(This post was last updated at 4 p.m. ET.)

For the third day in a row, hundreds of thousands of West Virginians are unable to drink, cook or wash with the water in their homes.

During a press conference, West Virginia American Water President Jeff McIntyre, who oversees the states ...

Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of Israel, has died, Shlomo Noy, the director of the Sheba Medical Center, where Sharon was being treated, said during a televised press conference.

The AP reports that during earlier statements, Sharon's son Gilad Sharon said, "He has gone. He went when he decided ...

A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in Cley, a town in the east coast of England on Tuesday, killing all four service members onboard.

The AP reports:

"Lt. Keenan Kunst at the Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, Suffolk County, which hosts U.S. Air force units ...

With his department steeped in scandal, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced he would retire at the end of the month.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Baca said he would not seek reelection for a fifth term as sheriff.

"The reasons for doing so are so many. Some ...

The former Miss Venezuela and telenovela star Mónica Spear and her husband were killed after gunman opened fire during what police say was an attempted robbery in Venezuela on Tuesday.

The AP reports:

"It said the couple's 5-year-old daughter was in stable condition after getting medical attention for unspecified ...

Eighty former New York City police officers and firefighters were charged on Tuesday in connection to a fraudulent scheme that prosecutors allege led to undeserved Social Security payments.

Authorities said the public servants falsely claimed that their actions in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, left them ...

After striking a deal with federal prosecutors, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.7 billion to the victims of Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

The bank will be criminally charged with two violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and will admit to the violations. But under the agreement, the bank ...

In case you haven't heard, it's (really, really) cold outside for most of us living in the lower 48.

Chicago, which is already known for its biting cold, hit 16 below zero this morning, setting a new record low for a Jan. 6. (The coldest day in recorded ...

A two-decade era came to an end Monday in Boston.

Thomas Menino, 71, left a job he had held since 1993. And Marty Walsh was sworn in as the city's new mayor.

Walsh and his early appointments, NPR member station WBUR reports, signal the "the emergence of a new ...

As he headed to North Korea for what he calls "basketball diplomacy," former NBA star Dennis Rodman wants you to know that what human rights groups consider one of the most repressive countries in the world is "not that bad."

Rodman gave an interview to The Associated Press ...

This post was last updated at 1:42 p.m. ET.

The United States Supreme Court has put same-sex marriages on hold in the state of Utah.

The order issued by the court on Monday halts same-sex marriages until an appeal is decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel fractured a hip during a cross-country skiing accident in the Swiss Alps, her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said on Monday.

He says the injury will confine the German leader to a bed for about three weeks, so Merkel has cancelled some meetings.

From Berlin, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi ...

The crew and expedition leaders aboard the MV Akademik Shokalskiy are considering an air evacuation of the passengers on board the ship, which is stuck in Antarctic ice.

As we've reported, two different vessels with ice breaking equipment have been dispatched to rescue the ship but both have had ...

Employers paying French citizens more than 1 million euros a year ($1.37 million) will have to pay a 75 percent tax for the next two years, France's top constitutional court ruled on Sunday.

As Bloomberg reports, the millionaire tax was a campaign promise from French President François Hollande. Bloomberg ...

The chair of the House Intelligence Committee is casting doubt on a New York Times report that found the attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya, was not perpetrated by al-Qaida or any other international terrorist group.

"I dispute that, and the intelligence community, to a large volume, ...

The White House released new figures on Sunday that show a surge in the number of Americans who have signed up for health insurance through the federal marketplace.

According to a blog post by Marilynn Tavenner, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator, 1.1 million Americans have signed ...

Putting a dent in a cease-fire that has lasted for seven years, at least one rocket fired from Lebanon landed in Israel on Sunday. The rocket did not cause any damage and the Israeli military responded with artillery fire.

The New York Times reports:

"The Israeli military said ...

At least 15 people were killed on Sunday when a suspected female suicide bomber detonated an explosive device inside a train station in Volgograd, Russia.

Russia Today, a government-funded, English-language news outlet, reports that authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. RT adds:

"'According to preliminary ...

About 1.3 million Americans lost their long-term unemployment benefits today. This means anyone who has been out of work and getting benefits for than six months will stop receiving their weekly check.

As The New York Times frames the story, beyond drastically curtailing a safety-net for jobless workers, allowing ...

President Obama signed an executive order on Monday, giving federal workers and military personnel a 1 percent raise.

As Government Executive reports, the pay raise is the first across-the-board increase the federal workforce has gotten since 2010. The publication reports:

"In August, President Obama affirmed his ...