BAGHDAD — A second day of talks between Iran and world powers began Thursday amid fading hopes that these latest negotiations would help ease tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. Iran rejected a new package of proposals put forward by the six nations, including the United States, on Wednesday, but U.S. officials said the fact that the talks were being extended into Thursday suggested there was still hope the effort could be salvaged. Read full article > >

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Iran nuclear talks continue on second day

Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency are near agreement on a plan that could lift the veil on some of the Islamic Republic’s past nuclear research, U.N. officials said Tuesday in an announcement that raised hopes for a more comprehensive nuclear accord when Iranian officials meet with six world powers later in the week. Read full article > >

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Iran, U.N. reported close to deal to unveil past nuclear research

A recent Oral Roberts University graduate was the only one of five people en route to a Christian youth conference to survive a plane crash in southeastern Kansas, officials said Saturday.

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Youth conference bound plane crashes

SEATTLE — President Obama will announce new figures Friday showing a dramatic spike in the number of Americans taking advantage of federal programs designed to help struggling homeowners and stabilize the lagging housing industry, administration officials said Thursday. Read full article > >

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Obama to tout success of mortgage refinancing

Federal officials said William Barnason, a building superintendent, would try to enter women’s apartments while drunk and demanded sexual favors for rent reductions.

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$2 Million Penalty for Sexually Harassing West Side Tenants

If federal employees are forced to contribute more toward their civil service retirement benefits, many might have to cut back on their investments in the Thrift Savings Plan, employee organization officials said Monday. Read full article > >

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Thrift Savings Plan: Groups ask about retirement benefits changes

Several explosions rocked an industrial city in eastern Ukraine on Friday, officials said, injuring at least 17 people.

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Officials Blame Ukraine Bombs on Terrorists

Authorities in the northern Mexican state of Sonora have arrested eight people accused of killing two boys and one woman as human sacrifices for Santa Muerte — the saint of death — officials said Friday.

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Officials: 3 killed in human sacrifices

Election officials said critics of Gov. Scott Walker had collected enough signatures for a recall election to be held in May.

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Wisconsin Approves Recall Election for Governor Walker

The shooting rampage that is being blamed on U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, two Afghan officials said Sunday.

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Officials: U.S. pays $860,000 to Afghans

A fishing trawler swept away more than a year ago by a tsunami off the east coast of Japan has been spotted floating near British Columbia, Canadian officials said Friday.

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Boat lost in tsunami spotted in Canada

An East Texas man accused of killing his mother, father and brother in what may have been a prelude to a mass shooting — possibly at a school — had a penchant for studying the work of serial killers, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

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Sheriff: Suspect studied mass killers

Postal officials were blunt in December when they stood before 120 residents in Dedham, Iowa, to tell them why their town’s post office has to close. The Internet, officials said, was killing the U.S. Postal Service. Read full article > >

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Post office closings may increase rural isolation, economic disparity

Government officials said the drought is the worst since record-keeping began and has left two million people without access to water and devastated cropland in nearly half of the country.

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Drought and Cold Snap Cause Food Crisis in Northern Mexico

After a two-year freeze in federal workers’ salaries, President Obama will propose a 0.5 percent pay increase for civilian employees as part of his 2013 budget, senior administration officials said Friday. The plan is likely to become part of an election-year confrontation between the White House and Congress over government spending. Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have called for freezing basic pay rates for at least one more year, with some pitching it as a way to pay for extending the payroll tax cut . Read full article > >

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White House calls for modest 0.5% pay raise for federal civilian workers