Facebook isn't just for goofy pictures and silly chatter. Shoppers' actions online help dictate what's in stores this holiday season.

Authorities say two men being held on bank robbery charges have escaped from a downtown Chicago federal prison.

Authorities say a pair of crooked Pennsylvania dental office employees ran an after-hours, word-of-mouth operation where they performed root canals, pulled teeth and installed braces without proper training.

A sporting goods chain says it's suspending sales of modern rifles nationwide because of the school shooting in Connecticut.

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service that Facebook bought this year, is the target of a storm of outrage on Twitter and other sites after a change in its user agreement hinted that it might use shared photos in ads.

The Justice Department is dropping its investigation into whether David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, stalked a romantic rival online.

A judge in Bolivia has released a New York businessman who has been jailed for 18 months without charge and who helped uncover a shakedown ring led by prosecutors. Jacob Ostreicher will now be under house arrest while the authorities finish investigating his money laundering case.

The White House is rejecting House Speaker John Boehner's plan to push a backup tax bill as a way to deal with the "fiscal cliff."

The Justice Department is dropping its investigation into whether David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, stalked a romantic rival online.

The U.S. government has slapped Toyota Motor Corp. with a record $17.4 million fine for failing once again to quickly report problems to federal regulators and for delaying a safety recall.

Developers of smartphone software are bracing for regulations that they say will stifle creativity and saddle small businesses with legal and technical costs.

While the White House and Congress struggle to avert the economic "fiscal cliff," dairy farmers are worried that the outcome of the effort could affect the farm bill and milk prices.

The National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun-rights group, has gone eerily silent after the deadly shooting of 26 people, including 20 children, at a Connecticut elementary school.

Familiar routines are expected to resume for some in the Connecticut town that has just begun burying children killed in a schoolhouse massacre last week.

President Barack Obama has proposed a deficit-reduction package to House Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) that would increase the top tax rates on taxpayers earning more than $400,000, cut more spending from health care programs and add $200 billion more in spending cuts over 10 years to his earlier offer.

The office of Sen. Daniel Inouye (ih-NOH'-way) says the Medal of Honor recipient and 50-year veteran of the Senate has died of respiratory complications at a Washington-area hospital.

A man who lives near Sandy Hook Elementary School is describing how he took in six young students who survived the shooting and ended up huddled at the end of his driveway.

An independent investigation into the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya is complete. Congress will be briefed on the panel's report this week.

Authorities have identified the gunman who killed two Topeka police officers as a 22-year-old man who records show had a criminal record.

A mediator who worked with Adam Lanza's parents during their divorce in 2009 says his mother said she didn't like to leave him alone and that his parents went out of their way to accommodate him.

The first two funerals for victims of last week's school shooting are under way in Connecticut.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and dozens of shooting survivors and victims' relatives are calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to tighten gun laws and enforcement.

The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on a New Jersey train derailment that released 180,000 pounds of a hazardous material doesn't say what caused the accident.

A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a watchdog group accused of violating federal law when it shared a whistleblower settlement with a government economist 14 years ago.

A federal appeals court has ordered a new trial for a former New Orleans police officer who was convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a man whose burned body turned up after Hurricane Katrina.