WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA's top lawyer never approved sending a veteran agency officer to New York, where he helped set up police spying programs, The Associated Press has learned. Such approval would have been required under the presidential order that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said authorized the unusual assignment.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It took Iowa Republicans 16 days to decide they couldn't tell for sure who won the Iowa caucuses, despite their earlier announcement that Mitt Romney had narrowly won. The non-conclusion highlights the potential pitfalls with party-run presidential nominating events.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Mitt Romney entered the final full day of campaigning in South Carolina's GOP primary contest Friday scrambling to fend off challenges from more conservative rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and insisting he's the one that Republicans can trust to "post up well" against President Barack Obama in the fall.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A 65-year-old lawyer was arrested Wednesday for carrying a loaded handgun aboard an American Airlines jet at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Under duress two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney acknowledges he has part of his millions invested in the Cayman Islands, although his aides say he never used the location as a tax haven.

With television lights glaring, 20 lawmakers will gather next week to revisit the fight that consumed Congress before Christmas over renewing a Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.

Security screeners at Kennedy Airport violated procedures this fall when they asked two elderly women to show them medical devices concealed beneath their clothing, senior Homeland Security officials acknowledged in correspondence made public this week.

Wikipedia started a 24-hour blackout of its English-language articles, joining Google, Boing Boing, Reddit and other sites to protest pending U.S. legislation aimed at shutting down sites that share pirated movies and other content.

Wikipedia will black out the English language version of its website Wednesday to protest anti-piracy legislation under consideration in Congress, the foundation behind the popular community-based online encyclopedia said in a statement Monday night.