Politics

Democrats are taking issue with a New York Times story Sunday asserting that the party's elections arm is planning a "brutal triage" against some of its endangered incumbents in a desperate attempt to retain the House. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was sourced in the Times story as [...]

Craigslist.com founder Craig Newmark -- under fire by government officials and human rights organizations who believe his namesake website's "adult services" section facilitates prostitution and child sex trafficking -- has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and committees, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates. Dave Levinthal http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#levinthal

The rate of deaths in Taser-related incidents is rising as police forces increasingly adapt the conducted energy weapons, a Raw Story analysis finds. A 2008 report (PDF) from Amnesty International found 351 Taser-related deaths in the US between June, 2001 and August, 2008, a rate of just slightly above four deaths per month. A database [...]

BRUSSELS — A top Belgian politician warned the country's citizens on Sunday to "get ready for the break-up of Belgium," as King Albert II seeks to relaunch knife-edge coalition talks. Leading francophone Socialist Laurette Onkelinx, considered a potential successor to party chief Elio Di Rupo, who gave up on negotiations with separatist Flemish leaders on [...]

Ex-New Mexico governor: Decriminalization 'only practical way to weaken drug cartels' Churches representing 1.5 million worshipers throw weight behind Prop 19 The Mexican drug war that has taken the lives of 28,000 people over the past four years could conceivably come to an end if California votes to legalize marijuana, say prominent American and Mexican [...]

Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she has no intention of running for president again, President Barack Obama's former campaign manager wouldn't rule it out Sunday. David Plouffe told NBC's David Gregory that he doesn't anticipate a Democratic challenger in 2012 but deflected questions about a possible Clinton run. "Do you envision [...]

Don't rule out attack on Iran, Blair says Vice-President Dick Cheney's vision of completely redrawing the map of the Middle East following the 9/11 attacks is "not stupid," and is "possible over time," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says. In his new book, A Journey, the former Labour Party leader wrote that Cheney wanted [...]

WASHINGTON — The United States likely will need to keep thousands of troops in Iraq beyond 2011 to keep a lid on sectarian tensions and to bolster Baghdad's fledgling military, experts and former officers say. American officials privately acknowledge that the US military presence in Iraq will almost certainly be extended, even though a security [...]

The GOP's prospects in the mid-term elections are looking good, but for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), being the "party of no" isn't good enough. Appearing on Fox Sunday, McCain explained that the Republican Party has to give voters a reason to support them. "When you look at the approval ratings of Republicans they're just as [...]

WASHINGTON -- The attorney general of the US state of Texas has opened an inquiry into whether Internet giant Google manipulates search results. Google disclosed the antitrust probe in a blog post late Friday following a report by technology website SearchEngineLand.com on the investigation by the Texas authorities. "We recognize that as Google grows, we're [...]

Sarah Palin can take down the fence. Palin's neighbor of three months on Wasilla's Lake Lucille, author Joe McGinniss, is packing his bags and notebooks and leaving Sunday for his home in Massachusetts to write the book he has been researching on the former governor and GOP vice presidential candidate. His arrival in May made [...]

After many moons of financial second-fiddledom, national Democratic political committees find their fortunes waxing during the final weeks before crucial midterm elections in which Republicans hope to recapture numerous congressional seats. Dave Levinthal http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#levinthal

Stiglitz and Bilmes: Recession will be longer because of war The financial crisis that rocked the world in 2008 and still reverberates today was "due at least in part" to the Iraq war, which also made it more difficult for the government to react when economic problems happened, argue two prominent policy makers. In an [...]

PARIS — Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son. In an interview published on the website of the French magazine La Regle du Jeu and the blog Dentelles et Tchador, [...]

WASHINGTON — The US Treasury Department denied media reports Saturday that American taxpayer funds would be put towards bailing out Afghanistan's beleaguered Kabul Bank. The White House said the allegations were not true and pointed to a statement from Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin that said the bank's troubles were "an Afghan issue." "They are [...]

To describe the tale of former Texas drug cop Barry Cooper as "strange" is to make what observers could legitimately call, "an understatement." Yet, thanks to actions by his former colleagues in Texas law enforcement, the wild odyssey of America's top drug war insurgent has just become even more bizarre. Cooper and his wife Candi [...]

WASHINGTON — Online classifieds website Craigslist has blocked US access to its "adult services" listings, replacing the section tab with a "censored" label after criticism it was facilitating prostitution. On Saturday, Craigslist sites for US cities all featured a black and white label reading "censored" where the adult services link was previously. The move did [...]

U.S. communications regulators on Wednesday put off a controversial decision on Internet traffic rules, giving industry and consumer groups a chance to forge a compromise while avoiding a politically sensitive issue ahead of the November elections. The Federal Communications Commission has been prodding phone, cable and Internet companies for months to find consensus on the [...]

Australian tax officials lifted a controversial travel ban on "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan on Friday, leaving him free to return to his home in the United States, his lawyer said. Hogan, 70, who is in dispute over a tax bill reportedly running into millions of dollars, was barred from leaving Australia last month after flying back [...]

Lacking enough of the anesthetic essential to the cocktail of lethal drugs administered during executions, several US states are being forced to postpone the procedure until early next year. At the heart of the drug supply problem is Hospira, the only pharmaceutical company that produces the anesthetic sodium thiopental. "We are working to get it [...]