NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- First-time claims for unemployment benefits suddenly jumped last week, marking the biggest one-week rise since Superstorm Sandy left thousands of people temporarily out of work.

(CNN) -- The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will begin calling more of its furloughed employees back into the office this week despite the ongoing partial government shutdown.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Obamacare is designed to make health care affordable for everyone, but several million families could get caught in a loophole in the law that leaves them out in the cold.

A new report by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights finds that prisoners on California and Louisiana's death row are being held in degrading and inhumane conditions that amount to torture under international law.

An Ohio man who has been legally dead since 1994 will remain so in the eyes of the law after losing his complaint to overturn his death filing, according to authorities.

The government shutdown has stopped critical services for countless Americans.  But fortunately for members of the House of Representatives - the men and women who helped cause the shutdown - access continues to their taxpayer-subsidized Capitol Hill gym.

There is something magical about animal migrations. Perhaps it's the fact that as more of us move to cities, the sight of congregating herds, schools of fish, or flocks of birds is increasingly rare.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- If the week-long government shutdown stretches to a month, it would mean a $50 billion blow to the U.S. economy.

(CNN) -- The Daily Show took a more serious turn Monday night when host Jon Stewart introduced his guest for the evening, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It was unusually positive language for a top U.S. official speaking about the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but there was Secretary of State John Kerry giving the Syrian leader a pat on the back.