Search results for

The panel's inability to tackle its assigned responsibilities should have come as no surprise, some political observers say. In fact, failure may have been built into the process from the beginning.

The bipartisan supercommittee says it failed to reach a deficit-reduction deal. NPR's Tamara Keith speaks to Robert Siegel with the latest from Capitol Hill.

President Obama Monday put the blame for the supercommittee's failure squarely on congressional Republicans — and their unwillingness to consider higher taxes on the wealthy. Obama also threatened to veto any effort to escape from the automatic spending cuts agreed to in August without a balanced plan to reduce the deficit. Robert Siegel talks to NPR's Scott Horsley for more.

The retailer's prepaid debit card is catching on with people who've been burned by extra charges at big banks. The card costs a flat $3 a month and doesn't allow overdrafts. Banks have lobbied against Wal-Mart's entrance into the financial sector, but "their worst fears came true," one analyst says.

Hugo is the latest film directed by Martin Scorsese. It's based on a children's book, and is decidedly less dark and violent than the films he's most known for.

A South Carolina prison received two Bibles intended for an inmate. But the Bibles had been hollowed out, and contained razor knives, a cell phone, ecstasy pills and cocaine. The prison returned the package to the sender. Police identified the sener who mailed the Bibles from a post office.

The failure to agree on a way to trim budget deficits will give both major parties plenty of ammunition for next year's campaigns.

"If you think you don't want to be students of a university like we had on Friday, I'm just telling you, I don't want to be the chancellor of the university we had on Friday," Linda Katehi told students Monday.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2 percent annual rate, not the 2.5 percent pace first thought. But some economists see better growth this quarter.

Authorities accuse them of tossing Molotov cocktails. American officials are working to get them released.