Daily News Channel
The lopsided statistic startled Russia. At the end of 2008, news reports said that 28% of all pending claims to the European Court of Human Rights had been brought by Russian citizens against the Russian Federation
As President Barack Obama prepares to convene a health-care summit at the White House later this week, Administration officials are signaling that he intends to pursue a very different strategy for getting reform passed from the one used by his Democratic predecessor in office. Unlike the failed effort of 1994, when Bill and Hillary Clinton presented Congress with a detailed blueprint for reform — and never saw a bill reach the floor of either the House or Senate — Obama is outlining broad principles, with a bottom line of universal coverage, and leaving it up to lawmakers to fashion a plan for meeting them.
A day after a wholesale shake-up in the Cabinet of President Raul Castro, brother Fidel said Tuesday that two of the leaders were ousted after they became seduced by the "honey of power," which led them to an "unworthy role." The elder Castro said in a posting on a state-run Web site that he was consulted about the appointments, though that had not been necessary “since I gave up the prerogatives of power quite a while ago.” In an article headlined “Reflections of comrade Fidel, healthy changes in the Cabinet,” Castro said he did not propose most of the replacements. “Almost without exception, they arrived at their jobs proposed by other colleagues from the address of the party or the state,” he wrote. “I never dedicated myself to that job.” The ailing former Cuban president, who handed power to his brother a year ago, referred to two of the ousted leaders cited in news reports.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the country already is "seeing shovels hit the ground" on the first infrastructure repair project funded through the Transportation Department’s share of the $787 billion stimulus bill. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, “The work begins today in Montgomery County, Maryland, where a work crew is starting on a project to resurface Maryland State Highway 650 — a very busy road that has not been fully repaired in 17 years.” The resurfacing contract is going to a Pennsylvania-based family-owned company, America Infrastructure, LaHood said.
President Obama has told Russia that the United States might not proceed with a missile defense system in eastern Europe if Iran drops plans for producing nuclear weapons, senior administration officials said Tuesday. Obama raised the possibility in a letter to Russia seeking help in trying to end Iran’s nuclear program, a senior administration official said. Contrary to news reports, it was not a secret letter, the official said
The U.S. government will dispatch two officials to the Syrian capital to explore Washington’s relationship with Damascus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday. “There are a number of issues that we have between Syria and the United States, as well as the larger regional issues that Syria obviously poses,” she said.
Is Bobby Jindal following the model of a young Bill Clinton? In 1988, the then-Arkansas governor was one of the hot names as a possible presidential candidate for his party. That was before “the speech.” Awarded a high-profile speaking role at the Democratic Convention, Clinton nearly derailed his national political future with a disastrous performance
Meeting in Brussels for a long Sunday lunch, European Union leaders were supposed to clear the air after weeks of jibes, sneers and slurs over who is to blame for the economic crisis. But after a three-hour meal of goat cheese, beef stew and apple crumble, they emerged as ratty as ever, barely concealing their long-standing gripes and graphically revealing how far the E.U. is from any coordinated response to the downturn
Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh’s rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP. But that was two days ago
Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez fired 700 police officers Sunday and forced the retirement of 31 military and police generals, two days after he promised in a state-of-the-nation speech to cleanse the government of corruption. Some analysts said the changes appear to be an attempt by Raul Castro to replace long-time Fidel Castro loyalists with his own supporters