Daily News Channel
A European parliament envoy who was to serve as observer during the upcoming referendum on President Hugo Chavez’s term limits was expelled from Venezuela on Friday after calling Chavez a "dictator". In a statement, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said it had “invited” Luis Herrero, a European Union parliamentarian from Spain, to leave the country in order to preserve a “peaceful climate” before the February 15 referendum
A Pentagon review looking at allowing media coverage of the flag-draped coffins of fallen troops returning to the United States could be ready for the secretary of defense to look over within days, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. The review was ordered by Secretary Robert Gates after President Obama asked for more information on the Pentagon’s longstanding policy of barring media from viewing the coffins as they come into Dover Air Force base in Delaware
Bucking tradition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will bypass Europe and travel to Asia on her maiden voyage overseas, diplomats familiar with the planning said Tuesday. Clinton is expected to visit China, Japan and South Korea on her first trip overseas.
President Obama says he’ll talk to Iran if Tehran “unclenches its fist”; President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is open to negotiations but only on a basis of “fairness and mutual respect.” Both men’s coded conditionals are a reminder that after three decades of mutual hostility, talking won’t be easy. TIME tapped a number of Iran experts for perspective on some of the key questions facing U.S.-Iran diplomacy
President Obama is vowing the loss of a Republican in his Cabinet will not stop his efforts to bridge the partisan divide. Sen. Judd Gregg said Thursday he was withdrawing his nomination as commerce secretary, citing “irresolvable conflicts” over the administration’s stimulus bill and the upcoming 2010 census
Here is a breakdown of who gained, who lost and who survived in the final economic stimulus bill that the House and Senate are expected to vote on Friday: Winners High-speed and inner-city rail: Went from $300 million in House bill to $2.25 billion in Senate to $8 billion in final version. There also is a $6.9 billion provision for public transit.
The stimulus bill likely has picked up the vote of one House Republican, with Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana saying he’s "leaning yes" on the $787 billion economic package
Taking no chances, President Obama is exerting last-minute pressure on Congress to approve his stimulus plan by highlighting stories of people affected by the economic downturn. The Democratic National Committee and Obama’s Organizing for America are using Obama’s vast e-mail list Friday to contact the president’s political supporters and point them to a new Web page, where several of these stories can be viewed
Friends, relatives and acquaintances were shocked to hear news reports that Beverly Eckert, the widow of a September 11 victim, was aboard the Continental flight to Buffalo, New York, that crashed Thursday night. “I am horribly saddened by this news,” said Valerie Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Lucznikowska said she, Eckert and another woman traveled to Washington last Friday for a meeting between 9/11 family members and President Barack Obama
Senator Judd Gregg ended his courtship with President Obama by resorting to one of the oldest lines in the book. “It’s not about them,” the New Hampshire fiscal conservative announced Thursday, describing the White House team