Daily News Channel
President Barack Obama knows how to avoid a fight — and still do what he thinks is right. The media and conservative activists might be spoiling for a Supreme Court nomination battle, but the choice of Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill a high court vacancy is a classic Obama decision that makes the chances of political smooth sailing a near lock. Obama was clearly inspired by his selection, but he just as obviously kept an eye on the politics of his pick
Dancing in public in not allowed in Iran, but thousands could hardly contain themselves at a recent presidential campaign rally in the capital city, Tehran. On this day, the deafening cheers were not for presidential hopeful Mir Hossein Mousavi, but rather for his wife — a woman some are calling Iran’s Michelle Obama. The comparisons to the first lady of the United States stem from the role Zahra Rahnavard is playing in her husband’s quest for the presidency.
The Iranian government has blocked access to the social networking site Facebook amid political jockeying for the June 12 presidential elections, according to the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency. Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi — a former prime minister considered a threat to current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — created a Facebook page for his campaign that has more than 5,000 supporters on the site. Those attempting to visit Facebook received a message in Farsi saying, “Access to this site is not possible,” according to CNN personnel in Tehran.
South Carolina authorities have located a 555-pound teenager and his mother, who faces a charge of violating a custody order, police said Thursday. Alexander Deundray Draper, 14, of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, and his mother, Jerri Althea Gray, were located at about 4:30 p.m. near a laundromat in Baltimore, Maryland, by the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office, said Matt Armstrong, a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office in Greenville, South Carolina.
A federal judge has postponed the sentencing of a Missouri woman in the case of a teenager who committed suicide after she was criticized on the social networking Web site MySpace.com.
Terrorism groups are using Facebook and other social networking sites to recruit Israeli citizens as spies, the Israeli government warned Monday. Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, issued a statement warning Israelis about the dangers of trading confidential information for money. “The Shin Bet has gotten many reports about cases where terrorist elements are using the Internet to get in touch with Israelis with proposals to enlist in terror activity or to pass classified information in exchange for payment,” the statement said.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched on the streets of Spain’s capital Thursday to demand better protection for workers hit hard by the economic crisis. Dressed in funeral black to mourn the estimated four million jobless in Spain, demonstrators had a simple message for the government: Enough corporate bailouts; it’s time to focus on the workers
To its fans, paintball may seem like a harmless enough sport, a game of skill and tactics in which teams of players shoot colored paint pellets at one another. But under controversial new gun laws and other measures being considered by the German government, games that are deemed to “simulate the killing” of your opponent — which, according to some, could include paintball — may be banned.
As explicit discrimination has receded in the last two decades, culminating in the elevation of an African-American to the Presidency, a woman to the House Speakership and a black woman to the galactic dominance known as being Oprah Winfrey, those who study the effects of racism and sexism have had to cope with a difficult question: If discrimination is less powerful, why do some groups in society continue to fare worse than others? Has bias merely become better hidden, or are there other forces at work
Maybe it was the baby in "Friends." Or perhaps it was a thirst for comforting words that sound like "mama." Whatever the cause, the name “Emma” has climbed to the top of the cultural heap, transplanting the powerhouse “Emily” as the most popular name for baby girls in America. The Social Security Administration released its annual list of most popular baby names Friday, ahead of the Mother’s Day weekend. Topping the boys list for 2008 is the heavyweight “Jacob,” which has been the number one male moniker for 10 years