Prosecutors asked an Italian court to hand down life sentences to an American student and her former boyfriend for their alleged roles in a fatal stabbing.

The Senate voted 60 to 39 on Saturday night to begin full debate on major health care legislation, propelling the bill over a crucial, preliminary hurdle.

Which is safer: technology that disables a cellphone in a moving car, or that makes the conversation completely hands-free?

Several Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for patients say their client base includes teenagers with psychiatric conditions including A.D.H.D.

Even popular bills and generally acceptable nominees have had to traverse a procedural thicket.

The conservative firebrand Glenn Beck is planning voter registration drives and rallies, but he is cautious about how he might directly support particular candidates.

A defendant plans to admit his role in planning the terrorist attacks, and use his trial to voice his beliefs, his lawyer says.

Mr. Graff, a leading environmentalist, championed the idea of offering financial incentives for environmentally friendly behavior.

Jennifer Hero’s life will always be divided — before the flood and after — even after her relocation to Park Slope, Brooklyn.

One in five Americans needed help paying for basic needs, according to a 2005 census survey.

An August riot at a central Kentucky prison was caused by inmates reacting to a partial lockdown and to planned restrictions on their movement, investigators said Friday.

The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at the Fort Hood army base earlier this month will not be moved immediately to a military prison for pretrial detention.

After years of development, the city has come to exemplify a deep, national ambivalence about the building boom’s lasting impact.

Companies that were once content to fight in store aisles and on commercials are choosing a different route — formal grievances challenging their competitors’ claims.

The profile that has emerged of David Headley, a U.S. citizen accused of plotting revenge against a Danish newspaper, suggests a man pulled between two cultures.

A fight of galactic proportions over health care looms. Here’s a playbook for aficionados of legislative war games.

Sarah Palin brings a big question into focus for Republican leaders: Should they hitch themselves to the powerful but volatile strain of populism she embodies?

Bensenville, the suburban enclave near O’Hare International Airport, has made peace with airport expansion; cabbies, however, haven’t embraced credit cards.

A year after the Chicago Police Department cracked down on gangs, its efforts crashed into reality when a 17-year-old was shot and killed in front of a memorial for a slain friend.

The senior adviser to President Obama maintains a rumpled modesty and his Chicago roots, despite doing the world’s business.