Posted: 10:30 PM The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.

Posted: 10:26 PM Vice President Joe Biden says he's interested in technology that would keep a gun from being fired by anyone other than the person who bought it. He says evidence shows such technology may have curtailed what happened last month in Connecticut when 20 youngsters and six teachers were gunned down inside their elementary school.

Posted: 1:02 PM The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its final crop report for 2012, showing heavy losses due to the drought still gripping much of the nation.

Updated: 10:17 AM Health officials say flu is more widespread across the nation, but the number of hard-hit states has declined.

Updated: 9:56 AM WACO, Texas, Friday, January 11, 2013 — Widespread flu activity is being reported across much of the country and the American Red Cross urges people who have not yet gotten a flu vaccine to get vaccinated now.

Updated: 9:06 AM President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are meeting at the White House to discuss the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan and the 66,000 American troops in harm's way.

Updated: 11:35 PM A federal judge is allowing the Bureau of Land Management to resume the roundup of dozens of wild mustangs in northern Nevada.

Updated: 3:41 PM The sheriff of Kern County, California, says a 16-year-old student shot at a high school in rural Taft is in critical but stable condition.

Posted: 3:07 PM President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill granting lifetime Secret Service protection to former presidents and their wives.

Updated: 1:46 PM Vice President Joe Biden says he will deliver recommendations to President Barack Obama on steps to curb violence by Tuesday.

Updated: 11:16 AM Federal appeals court judges seem skeptical of a group's efforts to force the government to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was killed by U.S. commandos.

Posted: 9:32 AM To the surprise of many, including me, President Barack Obama has nominated former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be his next defense secretary. Like many Texans, I am grateful for Hagel's courageous military service, but I fear he is the wrong man to lead the Pentagon.

Updated: 9:45 AM BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - The Civil War saga "Lincoln" leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Posted: 8:38 PM Prosecutors in Colorado have displayed photos that they say James Holmes took of himself and his arsenal in the hours before last July's movie theater attack in suburban Denver.

Posted: 8:24 PM Massachusetts public health officials are reporting 18 flu-related deaths in the state already this season, and Boston has declared a public health emergency.

Posted: 8:21 PM Vice President Joe Biden says even if he can't do everything he wants to combat gun violence, doing something is still better than doing nothing.

Posted: 10:48 AM The Supreme Court is considering whether police must get a warrant before ordering a blood test on an unwilling drunken-driving suspect.

Updated: 2:38 PM A high-speed ferry loaded with hundreds of commuters from New Jersey crashed into a dock in lower Manhattan on Wednesday during the morning rush hour, seriously injuring 11 people, including one who suffered a severe head wound falling down a stairwell.

Posted: 8:13 AM NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Transocean Ltd. is scheduled to make an initial court appearance in New Orleans Wednesday for its plea agreement with the Justice Department over the company's role in the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Updated: 9:13 AM CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - The prosecution's final witness is expected to continue his testimony today at a hearing to determine if the Colorado theater shooting suspect should stand trial.

Posted: 8:47 PM The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will testify on the deadly Sept. 11 assault in Libya on Jan. 22.

Posted: 8:31 PM A detective says the alleged gunman in the Colorado theater shooting acted strangely in an interview soon after the attack.

Posted: 7:34 AM A spokesman for former President George H.W. Bush says Bush's recovery from a bronchitis-related cough and subsequent complications is "continuing" and there's still no timetable for his release from a Houston hospital.

Updated: 9:12 AM Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has one word about gun violence in America: "Enough."

Updated: 5:45 AM DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - There is no doubt that Casey Anthony lied to detectives when she told them her 2-year-old daughter had been kidnapped by a babysitter.