WHITE HOUSE

Shares of major gold mining companies fell Friday in midday trading, after the head of the U.S. central bank used a closely-watched speech to indicate that the Federal Reserve had no immediate plans to stimulate the lagging economy with another round of bond buying.

Stocks rose Friday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke used a closely-followed speech to express optimism about the U.S. economic recovery but offer no hint that the central bank would intervene, as it did after his last such talk.

While they have shouldered enormous responsibilities and acted as source of inspiration for millions, the Presidents of the United States have played equally important roles as husbands and fathers.

A state of emergency has been declared in six states toward the U.S. East Coast after Hurricane Irene caused havoc in the Bahamas.

ater that year, Israeli warplane bombed the site in the Syrian desert.

The 5.8 earthquake that rumbled through Washington D.C. on Tuesday didn't leave the city unscathed. Instead, it went straight for some of its most-loved treasures: the Washington Monument and National Cathedral.

President Barack Obama is finalizing a jobs package that could include a program to refurbish school buildings nationwide and tax breaks to encourage firms to hire workers.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in danger of losing his 2012 Republican primary front-runner status, on Wednesday he would not place restrictions on carbon emissions if elected.

President Barack Obama is finalizing a jobs package that could include a program to refurbish school buildings nationwide and tax breaks to encourage firms to hire workers.

The Washington Monument will be closed indefinitely to the public as engineers have found additional cracks in the stones at the top of the structure.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan is fine despite stumbling at an event in southern California where she was caught by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan is fine despite stumbling at an event in southern California where she was caught by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The historic earthquake caused a historic damage as it shook the nation's capital.While the mess around Washington, D.C. is being cleaned up on Wednesday, the Washington Monument in the heart of the city remained encircled within a black fence - due to a crack caused by Tuesday's 5.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia.

Virtually the entire U.S. East Coast is on alert late Wednesday for a possible impact from Hurricane Irene, threatening to blaze a trail from eastern North Carolina northward to New England by Monday. By the time the storm departs the East Coast late Monday, it will likely have lashed with significant impacts from the Bahamas, where it is currently located, to eastern North Carolina, and up through the northeast U.S. -- possibly making a direct hit on Long Island, New York late Sunday.

Hurricane Irene continues to strengthen and make cut a path toward the eastern United States, with good odds of striking the New York area, and possibly making a direct hit on Long Island late Sunday. Irene is the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season and threatening to be the first to strike the U.S. since Ike in 2008.

You can be rest assured that the earthquake-hit Washington Monument is not tilting. However, a closer look at the world's tallest obelisk brought National Park Service officials to discover some cracks near the top of the 555-foot monument.

A strong earthquake rattled the East Coast on Tuesday, sending tremors as far as Canada, damaging well-known buildings in the nation's capital and sending scared office workers into the streets.

Google Doodle honors Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, a Virginia earthquake rocks the entire East Coast, Hurricane Irene is upgraded to a Category 3 storm as it approached the United States, and more in today's Daily Scoop

U.S. East Coast was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 on Tuesday that some in New York and Washington briefly mistook for a terrorist attack.

The Washington Monument will be closed indefinitely to the public after engineers found cracks in the stones at the top of the structure.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has confirmed that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia at 1:51 pm EDT. It is the strongest quake to hit the Virginia area since 1897.