Lieberman Introduces Legislation in U.S. Senate to Repeal "Donīt Ask, Donīt Tell"
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Washington The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nationīs largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, this week lauded the introduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 in the U.S. Senate. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I...
U.S. President Barack Obama said $100 million would be available immediately to provide equipment, food, water and medicine to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. "This investment will grow over the coming year as we embark on the long-term recovery from this unimaginable tragedy," Obama said.
The first w...
"Candle of Hope" legislation passed early morning Christmas Eve.
Democrats in the United States Senate have passed the first major health care reform bill since the 1960s. The bill would extend health care coverage to an additional 31 million Americans who are currently without coverage. Not a ...
New York: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging countries to seize the opportunity presented by next monthīs climate change conference in Copenhagen to clinch a political agreement that will help chart the way forward on a new legally binding pact to combat global warming.
"Opportunity is knock...
At 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the historic passage of a health care bill revamping the health care system and bringing about the reforms promised by President Obama during the November 2008 election.
The vote was 220 to 215 with one Republican, Representative C...
$1 billion minimum required annually to reach children still at risk.
WASHINGTON, DC | GENEVA -- Reversing a downward trend, immunization rates are now at their highest ever and vaccine development worldwide is booming, according to a new assessment released today by the World Health Organizati...
Barely nine months into office, President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize, substantially boosting his prestige and standing in the United States and internationally.
The Nobel Committee said the President won the award for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diploma...
More than 400 of the nation's most respected health care leaders issued a joint Open Letter to Congress declaring that the health care system is in crisis and is unsustainable and calling on Congress to act now on meaningful reforms. They state that Congress has a moral and ethical obligation to imp...
Speaking to a joint session of Congress last night, President Obama gave a clear, inspiring and unusually detailed explanation of our nationīs health care crisis and his plan to address it.
The President outlined the two key goals of health care reform: safety and security for those already insu...
Stay in school and take personal responsibility are two messages President Barack Obama delivered to U.S. school children.
Obama's speech to the nation's school children Tuesday encouraged them to do the best they can.
"(At) the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most...
The number of people hit by deadly floods across West Africa has now topped 600,000, and the heavy rains have also destroyed crops and infrastructure in a region already hard hit by poverty, the United Nations humanitarian arm reported today.
The rains that began in June have claimed nearly 160 l...
GENEVA -- Monitoring of outbreaks from different parts of the world provides sufficient information to make some tentative conclusions about how the influenza pandemic might evolve in the coming months.
WHO is advising countries in the northern hemisphere to prepare for a second wave of pandemic ...
A strong earthquake struck Indonesia Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, injuring 18 others and damaging several older buildings, witnesses said.
The earthquake, centered about 150 miles from Jakarta, initially was categorized at 7.4 magnitude before being downgraded to 7 by geological official...
By William M. Welch
LOS ANGELES -- Two firefighters died in a wildfire Sunday in the San Gabriel Mountains that threatened more than 10,000 homes and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory.
Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant said the two firefighters died in the Angeles Nationa...
Praise for the long political career of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., began coming in early Wednesday as word of his death was reported.
The Kennedy family released a brief statement announcing the death and thanking those who cared for the senator in his last months.
"He loved this count...
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told assembled bankers and policymakers in Wyoming Friday to expect the U.S. economy to grow soon.
"Fears of financial collapse have receded substantially," Bernanke said at the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole.
"After contracting sharply over the...
A tropical storm warning was issued Sunday for Florida and Alabama as a tropical depression organized off the Gulf Coast, meteorologists said.
The depression, on the brink of becoming Tropical Storm Claudette, was located about 125 miles south-southeast of Apalachicola and moving toward the Florid...
By Karen Jeffrey, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
HYANNIS -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, an internationally acclaimed advocate for people with physical and development disabilities, died early this morning at Cape Cod Hospital, according to a statement from the family.
Born into the privilege...
Former Democratic President achieves diplomatic coup.
By Matt Williams
Two American reporters were freed from North Korea's notorious labour camps after former President Bill Clinton flew in for talks. Clinton met Kim Jong-il yesterday during a surprise visit to the secretive Asian state.
...
Inspectors General fault Bush-Era surveillance tactics for questionable effectiveness and circumvention of legal safeguards.
Top federal investigators from the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, CIA, Directorate of National Intelligence, and the National Security Agency issued a detai...
AVE MARIAH FOR MICHAEL; STARS FLOCK TO MEMORIAL AS 17,000 FANS FIND OUT OF THEY'VE GOT A TICKET
By Keith McLeod
Mariah Carey will sing the Jackson Five's classic I'll Be There as Tinseltown pays tribute to the King of Pop today.
Maria, who had a hit with the haunting ballad in 1992, is o...
Protesters hit the streets of Tehran again Tuesday to express anger over election results they say were manipulated to keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
The government has begun cracking down harder on the demonstrations that have turned deadly, while reaction from world leaders remains subdued, ...
By Marie McCullough, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The tobacco-control movement celebrated another milestone yesterday as the U.S. Senate easily passed a bill giving the government unprecedented power over the making and marketing of tobacco products.
Supporters say the law will enable the Food ...
By PAUL KANE; JOBY WARRICK
FORMER US vice-president Dick Cheney personally oversaw at least four briefings with senior members of Congress about controversial interrogation programmes, part of a secretive and forceful defence he mounted throughout 2005 in an effort to maintain support for the hars...
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of New York for the U.S. Supreme Court positioning the longtime federal jurist to become the first Hispanic member of the nation's high court.
Sotomayor, a former federal prosecutor who first was appointed to the fed...
North Korea claimed Monday it had "successfully" conducted a nuclear test, its second since October 2006, to "bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the testing comes in the wake of the Communist country's warning last month about its nuclear pla...
Poor weather conditions prevented the the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis from landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said Friday.
The landing was rescheduled for Saturday.
Two landings were waved off at the center because weather conditions wouldn't permit a safe landing, the space agen...
Los Angeles - Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, sank six free throws in the final 30.5 seconds and came up with the game-sealing rebound in the final seconds, as the Lakers rallied to beat Denver, 105-103, in the opener of the Western Conference finals.
Bryant had 18 of his points in the fourth quarte...
By Tom Troy, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame University gave a thunderous welcome during Sunday's graduation ceremony to President Obama and cheered him throughout the program despite stark differences on abortion that prompted protests on the Catholic campus.
Mr. Obama w...
Pope Benedict XVI, in Israel on his Middle East tour, called for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would lead to a homeland for both sides.
The pontiff said, "I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstandin...
By Bangor Daily News, Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. John Baldacci on Wednesday signed a gay marriage bill passed just hours before by the Maine Legislature.
Baldacci made his announcement within an hour of the Maine Senate giving its final approval to LD 1020. The Senate voted 21-13 in favor o...
Washington During a debate on hate crimes legislation taking place last week in the well of the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) claimed that Matthew Shepard's murder and torture were "a hoax."
While Matthew's mother, Judy Shepard looked on from above in the H...
By DENIS STAUNTON
US SUPREME court justice David Souter is set to retire this summer, offering President Barack Obama his first opportunity to shape the court after almost a decade of conservative government.
Mr Obama yesterday declined to comment on Mr Souter's decision, which had yet to be m...
By ADAM THOMSON
Governments and health authorities worldwide went on the alert over the weekend for a possible influenza pandemic as the death toll from a new strain of swine flu in Mexico reached 81.
Janet Napolitano, US homeland security secretary, yesterday declared a "public health emergen...
By Sandy Bauers and John Shiffman, The Philadelphia Inquirer
WASHINGTON -- In a landmark move that countered eight years of inaction by the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency determined yesterday that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare because they contribu...
By Rachel Stassen-Berger, Pioneer Press
Democrat Al Franken won last year's U.S. Senate race, three judges decided Monday.
The decision comes after a tough and testy two-year campaign, a two-month statewide hand recount and a detailed seven-week trial.
In the cool spring evening Monday, F...
Pope Benedict XVI began the Easter Vigil late Saturday at St. Peter's in Rome, celebrating the mass that opens the holiest day of the Christian calendar.
The service began in darkness, the BBC reported. After Benedict lit a candle to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he was joined by thousand...
Vote to override Governor's veto makes Vermont first state to recognize marriage for lesbian and gay couples through legislative process. Vermont becomes the fourth state to recognize gay marriage.
Momentum in favor of same-sex marriages increases following similar victory for marriage equality ...
By Rod Boshart, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
In a precedent-setting ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court Friday upheld a lower court decision legalizing same-sex marriages in Iowa.
The unanimous landmark decision is expected to carry national implications as Iowa becomes the first Midwest state...
By Erica Werner, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The House is poised to thrust tobacco companies under government control after years of attempts in legislatures and the courts to tame one of the country's signature industries.
"We cannot and we must not wait a moment longer to protect our...
Top Headlines
A suicide bomber in a motorized rickshaw Saturday killed at least 13 people and wounded 37 in Mingora, Pakistan, police said.
TWO suicide bombers targeting army vehicles detonated explosives within seconds of each other in the Pakistani city of Lahore yesterday, killing at least 43.
New York, NY (Sports Network) - Da'Sean Butler scored 24 points and hauled in seven rebounds, and the seventh-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers survived yet again with a 53-51 win over Notre Dame to advance to the Big East Tournament title game.
THE PRESIDENT of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch, yesterday said the German bishops had looked closely at the Irish experience of clerical child abuse as they try to come to terms with the burgeoning German clerical sex abuse crisis.
ISLAMABAD _ Twin suicide bombings rocked Lahore at the time of the Friday midday prayers, killing at least 39 people in the high-security military cantonment district.
WOMEN who have taken the pill can expect longer lives than those who have never been prescribed the oral contraceptive, research suggests.
Retail sales rose 0.3 percent in February compared to January, beating a consensus forecast by 0.4 percentage points, the U.S. Commerce Department said.
Tiger Woods has decided to return to competitive golf at the first major championship of the year -- the Masters -- a source told FOXSports.com.
Mar. 12--I N 2007, a West Philadelphia imam warned Sharif Mobley not to go to Yemen to study Arabic, but the South Jersey native and his wife, Zinga Bey, traveled there anyway.
JACKSON, Miss. -- A Mississippi school board's decision to cancel the high school prom rather than change its policy on same-sex dates attracted national attention and prompted legal action Thursday.
BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in a tight race to maintain his leadership over the Iraqi government, partial election results indicated Thursday.
Mar. 12--They made it look as if she were about to go home, and she cried throughout the results show seeing four other singers go.
ERIC MASSA, the Democratic representative who resigned at the beginning of the week rather than face investigation for alleged sexual harassment of male staffers, continues to embarrass his party.
IT IS not often that a routine visit to Rome by the president of the German Bishops' Conference attracts international media interest but that will be the case this morning when the Archbishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, has a Vatican audience with Pope Benedict XVI.
PHILADELPHIA _ The American arrested in a sweep of al-Qaida members worked as a laborer at five nuclear plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, federal officials said Friday.
Business
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) announced today that its subsidiary, RenRe North America Holdings Inc., has agreed to sell in an underwritten public offering $250 million aggregate principal amount of 5.750% Senior Notes due 2020.
KATHMANDU, March 11 -- The deck has been cleared for the government to increase import duty and taxes on luxury items including gold after President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav promulgated the Financial Ordinance (First Amendment) 2066 on Thursday.
WOSSY shows Olympics star Amy Williams he's a bit of a rocket.
TORONTO, March 12 /CNW/ - The common shares of Beatrix Ventures Inc. have been approved for listing on CNSX. Beatrix will be posted for trading upon completion of their previously announced plan of arrangement, which is expected to be effective March 15, 2010.
Mar. 12--The March 12 legislative schedule is at the end of this story.
UC Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: UC) -
engaged in business conduct or practice that was unbecoming or
MIAMI, March 12, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The securities law firm of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. (http://www.dkrpa.com or http://www.investmentfraud-lawyer.com) files additional FINRA arbitration claims to recover Medical Capital investment losses.
/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES/
SAO PAULO, 3/12/10 - China's latest economic date prompted caution among global investors, as the indicators reinforced the perception that the Chinese Central Bank might raise the benchmark rate.
Mar. 11--The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly declined in January as both exports and imports fell, while the volume of imported crude oil dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.
Mar. 11--Portland venture capital firm Pivotal Investments is recruiting Washington business leaders for a new network aimed at building the Pacific Northwest's nascent clean-tech industry.
Nepal, March 11 -- The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in January, reflecting a big drop in imports of oil and foreign cars.
Mar. 12--WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Thursday laid out plans to help U.S. businesses double their export sales and add what he said would be 2 million more jobs at home during the next 5 years.
PITTSBURGH, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Turnkey IRA solutions provider Inspira announced Friday that its offerings can be a solution to the compliance changes associated with the Securities and Exchange Commission's revision to rule 206(4)-2, also known as the "Custody Rule", which went into effect today.
Sri lanka, March 11 -- The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval to Demak Manufacturing Lanka Limited.
Mar. 10--American businesses in Thailand have expressed serious concerns over the political turbulence in Thailand, saying the instability has dimmed the country's prospects in terms of economic growth and investment attractiveness.
Sports
Mar. 11--YAKIMA, Wash. -- Prosser guard Kelli Wilson averages fewer than four points a game, so she's never likely to figure as a big scoring presence in the box score.
Mar. 11--YAKIMA, Wash. -- It didn't take long to get the Class 2A state girls tournament buzzing.
Mar. 13--CARLSBAD -- For the second consecutive week, the Cavemen will play in the championship game of a three-day tournament.
Mar. 12--CARLSBAD -- The Cavemen had a long, hard day Thursday -- and that was before they even stepped foot on a baseball field.
Mar. 13--Balance has been the mantra that Dunmore's girls have lived by this season, and the watchword that will have them living a little longer in the PIAA Class AA playoffs.
Mar. 11--CARRIERE -- Wayne County came into the Region 6-5A race as what many observers felt as the favorite to take the title.
Mar. 11--BRIDGE CITY -- BRIDGE CITY --The Bridge City Cardinals made Day 1 of the Cardinals' Athletic Booster Club Baseball Tournament a short one Thursday.
Mar. 13--YAKIMA, Wash. -- This may well be Class 2A's week to be in the headlines, but there's some big news brewing over in Class 1A and the South Central Athletic Conference.
Mar. 11--Despite a season's worth of evidence to the contrary, Reggie Jackson firmly believes Boston College can win the ACC tournament.
NEW YORK - Now that West Virginia is in the Big East tournament final, coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers have a large problem on their hands.
Mar. 11--CHARLESTON -- The odds are tough.
Mar. 12--The softball teams from Corning and Orland high schools squared off on the diamond Tuesday in Orland, with the Lady Cardinals breaking open a 4-4 contest with three runs in the 7th, and holding off the Trojans by the score of 7-4.
Mar. 12--FORT MYERS -- Tim Wakefield has seen a lot of baseball in the 16 years and six days he's spent in the big leagues, but even he can find himself baffled at times by the things that go on.
Mar. 11--Ned Hirsch gives new meaning to the words "basketball junkie."
Mar. 12--ADA -- ADA -- Ada sophomore pitcher Jordan Boone looked like he may have induced a ground ball that would turn into a game-ending double play with one out in the top of the seventh Monday night against the Duncan Demons at Cougar Field.
Mar. 12--Not surprisingly, the disappointment of Wichita State's basketball loss in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament lingers.
Mar. 12--They're a pretty tall team," said Linesville head coach Steve Mickle.