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Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a book due out later this month, describes President Obama as “a man of personal integrity” who nonetheless was skeptical of his administration’s “surge” strategy in Afghanistan and openly distrustful of the military leadership, The Washington Post and The New York Times report Tuesday.

The Senate has voted to approve the nomination of Janet Yellen as the next leader of the U.S. Federal Reserve. With Monday’s vote, Yellen, 67, will become the first woman to serve as America’s banking chief, heading an institution that was established in 1913.

As a steady snow blanketed Newtown, Saturday morning, the bells at St. Rose of Lima church tolled 26 times.

Unless Congress acts very quickly, some 1.3 million workers will lose their extended jobless benefits on Dec. 28.

President Obama says the U.S. government “must lead by example” when it comes to safeguarding the environment, so he’s ordering federal agencies to use more clean energy.

President Obama on Tuesday said the troubled HealthCare.gov website “is working well for the vast majority of users” and his Affordable Care Act “is working and will work into the future.”

Kicking off a weeklong trip to East Asia, Vice President Joe Biden urged China and Japan to put in place new mechanisms to reduce the chance of an escalation in tensions.

A turkey caught a break in Washington today. President Obama bestowed the traditional presidential pardon to a turkey named Popcorn, who now becomes the 2013 National Thanksgiving Turkey.

On Day 11 of the disaster caused in the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan, “I am not so sure that we’ve reached every single portion of the territory where people are in need of aid,” Bernard Kerblat, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees representative for the Philippines, said Monday.

In addition to his apology, the president pledged to help those who have complained that the new law is forcing them to sign up for a more expensive plan.