Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced a final decision to impose a 20-year ban on new mining claims on 1 million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon, an area where uranium mining stakes have spiked 2,000 percent in the last seven years.

In a buzzing Las Vegas showroom, people are controlling computer screens with their eyes. They’re driving radio-controlled cars with their iPhones. And they’re listening to Bob Marley through the speakers of 2012’s equivalent of the ghetto blaster: a light, high-end stereo built into an over-the-shoulder canvas tote dubbed the Bag of Rhythm.

William Daley is stepping down as White House chief of staff and budget director Jack Lew is taking over President Barack Obama’s team as it heads into a tough election year.

The United States has ordered the expulsion of Venezuela’s consul general in Miami after allegations surfaced that she discussed possible cyber-attacks on U.S. soil while she was stationed at her country’s embassy in Mexico.

Fox Broadcasting Co. is betting on cartoons to challenge NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” The network, which already relies on animation shows such as “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” to fill its Sunday night prime-time lineup, is upping its investment in the genre with a new late-night Saturday block of cartoons that will compete with “Saturday Night Live,” the reigning champ of weekend late-night TV.

Picking up where they finished hours before, the Republican presidential hopefuls sparred across two states Sunday as they vied to slow front-runner Mitt Romney ahead of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Gabrielle Giffords waved her left hand. Thousands of people cheered. The Democratic congresswoman’s appearance Sunday, exactly a year after she was shot in the head during a rampage at a meet-and-greet here, provided an emotional crescendo to a day of commemoration.

From his Oscar-nominated performance in “Hotel Rwanda” to his boys-night-out turns in the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise, Don Cheadle has regularly earned praise for his diverse range. But he’s never really gone full monty — until now.

Yahoo Inc. searched for a new chief executive officer for more than three months, but finally landed on an executive who worked just a few miles away — PayPal President Scott Thompson.

In the wake of a bottom-feeder finish in the Iowa GOP caucuses, Michele Bachmann ended a presidential bid Wednesday that once held so much promise in this state.