MEXICO CITY -- At least 21 people were killed and 71 others were injured Friday in an explosion at a ruptured fuel pipeline in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, state governor Omar Fayad tweeted.

Local media reported that hundreds of people hoping to gather the leaking fuel in buckets had gathered at the pipeline near Tlahuelilpan, ...Read more

ATLANTA -- House Speaker David Ralston Friday named as one of his committee chairs a state representative who opposed the erection of a statue to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the grounds of the State Capitol and said the Ku Klux Klan made "people straighten up."

GOP state Rep. Tommy Benton will chair the House Retirement Committee, which ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump tweeted he will make a "major announcement" on Saturday about border security and what will be by then the 29-day partial government shutdown.

Three minutes after the White House call a "lid" Friday night and reporters headed for the gate, the president fired off a post saying the remarks would focus on "the...Read more

Sen. Jeff Merkley requests FBI perjury investigation into Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jeff Merkley is requesting that the FBI open a perjury investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, based on testimony she gave to Congress in December on family separations at the southern border.

Testifying before the ...Read more

BEIRUT -- At least 23 people, including civilians, were killed on Friday when a U.S.-led air alliance fighting Islamic State in Syria carried out airstrikes on the last pockets occupied by the militant group in the eastern part of the country, a war monitor reported.

Six civilians were among the fatalities, while the rest were militant fighters...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Missouri Rep. Jason Smith said Friday he regretted yelling "go back to Puerto Rico" to Democrats on the House floor on Thursday, and he has made amends with a California congressman who initially took it as a racial slur.

Smith, a member of the House Republican leadership, said he meant to refer to a group of Democrats who went on...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump agreed to a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February, despite the lack of significant progress so far toward the elusive goal of dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.

Trump accepted the date Friday afternoon after meeting Kim's right-hand man and top spy chief, Kim Yong Chol, in...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- In 2010, then-California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was holding a political rally at a Hollywood hotel when from the front row a man started heckling her.

"What are you hiding?" the man shouted at the Republican candidate. "You're looking like Arnold in a dress!" he said, referring to outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger....Read more

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Angus King is undergoing radiation treatments for residual prostate cancer, the Maine independent announced Friday.

This is King's second bout with prostate cancer and his third diagnosis overall. He had skin cancer decades ago.

"What it means for my work in the Senate? Absolutely nothing," King said in a statement. "I have ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court took no action Friday on President Donald Trump's bid to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants, suggesting the program may stay in place at least until the end of this year.

Under the court's usual practices, Friday was the last day to accept an appeal and ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- If President Donald Trump still wants to give a State of the Union speech, Michigan's offering him a room in which to do it.

On Friday, Michigan's new House speaker, Rep. Lee Chatfield, offered up the House chamber in Michigan's state capitol to the president after Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Minutes after a judge granted a gag order that bans attorneys and defendants of the Ghost Ship case from speaking publicly, outspoken attorney Tony Serra emerged from the courtroom with his hand over his mouth.

Defendants Derick Almena and Max Harris, their attorneys, the prosecution and a list of potential 200 witnesses are ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Columbia public safety officials ordered an evacuation of Allen Benedict Court public housing units on Harden Street following a gas leak that claimed the lives of two people, according to Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin.

Though the cause of death for the pair has not been officially determined, Benjamin said during a news ...Read more