The White House said that the newly-reached Iran nuclear fuel swap deal would be a positive step, but the U.S. continues to have serious concerns over its nuclear program.

The Louisiana Coast Guard places reinforcements near Elmers Island — hoping to stem the damage as a blown well continues to spew crude. © 2010 Reuters

WASHINGTON–President Obama Friday declared a major disaster exists in the State of California and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by an earthquake beginning on April 4 and continuing. Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis [...]

With a massive oil spill along the U.S. Gulf Coast threatening an economic and ecological disaster, the Coast Guard is continuing its mission to limit the damage.

Professor Hans Graber at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science says a new image of the oil slick shows sizable patches have broken away and are moving to the north and towards the East Coast of Florida.

WASHINGTON–Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Interior (DOI) Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson and Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu today met with BP CEO Tony Hayward and BP American Chairman and President Lamar McKay to discuss ongoing, coordinated response efforts and receive an update on [...]

WASHINGTON–Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs Bob Newberry concluded a week-long visit to China today after meeting with Chinese officials to discuss several U.S. MIA cases. China’s past cooperation has led to the recovery of U.S. MIA remains from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. [...]

At least five people are dead and hundreds more have been evacuated as heavy rains brought flash flooding to Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.–A man was convicted by a federal jury in Knoxville, Tenn., Friday for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and obstruction of justice. After a week-long trial, a jury found David C. Kernell, 22, guilty of one count of misdemeanor unauthorized access to obtain information from a [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Attorney General Eric Holder announced Friday that he is dispatching a team of attorneys from multiple divisions within the Justice Department to New Orleans to meet with the U.S. Attorney and response teams and to monitor the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “The British Petroleum oil spill has already cost lives and [...]