| Hillary Clinton agrees to testify on Benghazi Posted: 28 Jan 2015 06:37 AM PST  The former secretary of state will appear before a House select committee.
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| Russia says Kiev's actions will escalate Ukraine fighting Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:39 AM PST  By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday military action by the Ukrainian government would prompt an "inevitable further escalation of the conflict" with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and undermine any peacemaking. Russia has stepped up criticism of Kiev since violence has intensified in the conflict, where a ceasefire collapsed after rebels drove Ukrainian government forces out of Donetsk airport. The separatists say they want to drive back government forces and their artillery out of range of the cities they hold and improve their grip on strongholds. "The latest military actions provoked by Kiev will lead to the inevitable further escalation of the conflict (and) undermine efforts taken by the international community to end the bloodshed," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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| Arkansas panel rejects removing Lee from King holiday Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:51 AM PST  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A bid to end Arkansas' practice of commemorating Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. on the same day has failed before a state House panel.
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| Jordan ready to swap inmate for pilot held by Islamic State Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:43 AM PST  Jordan says it is ready to trade an Iraqi woman militant for a pilot held by IS extremists.
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| Dozen killed in suicide attack against Mali rebels Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:33 AM PST  An attack overnight in northern Mali by a pro-government armed group including suicide bombers killed a dozen people, security sources said Wednesday. "GATIA fighters, accompanied by suicide bombers, attacked a rebel Tuareg and anti-government Arab position in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday near the town of Tabankort. A security source in MINUSMA -- the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali -- confirmed the deaths, adding that two fighters blew themselves up while a third was killed before he was able to detonate his explosives. GATIA is the commonly-used name for the pro-government Imghad and Allies Tuareg Self-Defence Group.
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| Bucking Obama, senior Democrat seeks limits on war against IS Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:03 AM PST  Rep. Adam Schiff's resolution forbids using ground forces in combat against IS militants.
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| Hezbollah carried out deadly attack on Israeli convoy Posted: 28 Jan 2015 05:14 AM PST  Lebanese Hezbollah militants killed and wounded a number of Israeli soldiers in a "big operation" on Wednesday targeting an Israeli military convoy in a frontier area, a Lebanese political source said. The attack in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms area was in response to an Israeli rocket attack in Syria, the source, who is familiar with details of the operation, said.
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| Obama's pick for attorney general aims to smooth ties with Congress Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:45 AM PST  By Aruna Viswanatha and Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, on Wednesday sought to make a clean break from the testy relationship her predecessor had with Congress, while supporting the legality of Obama's controversial actions on immigration. Lynch, a career prosecutor known for her diplomatic skills, struck a delicate balance during her confirmation hearing, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee, "I look forward to fostering a new and improved relationship." Her willingness to listen to Republican concerns was generally well received by the senators and marked a departure in style from the current attorney general, Eric Holder, an unapologetic liberal voice and one of Obama's closest allies. Still, she defended the administration's legal justification for Obama's November immigration order, which eased the threat of deportation for some five million undocumented immigrants.
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| After blizzard, oceanfront Massachusetts cleans up from flooding Posted: 28 Jan 2015 10:46 AM PST  By Scott Malone MARSHFIELD, Mass. (Reuters) - Ocean Street in the waterfront Massachusetts town of Marshfield was littered with lobster traps, downed wires and chunks of houses on Wednesday, after a massive blizzard hammered New England. Notably absent was much of the 2 feet (30 cm) of snow that blanketed much of the Boston area, since for much of the storm, Ocean Street was under water because of flooding from a breached sea wall. "This area sees flooding regularly, but we haven't seen damage like this since the blizzard of '78," town planner Greg Guimond said as he surveyed the wreckage. Further up the coast, Governor Charlie Baker met with officials in Scituate, which also reported flood damage and where roads were blocked by a mix of snow and water-borne debris that had blocked access to some homes without power.
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| North Dakota: oil producers aim to cut radioactive waste bills Posted: 28 Jan 2015 08:29 AM PST  By Ernest Scheyder WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - North Dakota's oil industry is pushing to change the state's radioactive waste disposal laws as part of a broad effort to conserve cash as oil prices tumble. The waste, which becomes slightly radioactive as part of the hydraulic fracturing process that churns up isotopes locked underground, must be trucked out of state. The most common form of radioactive waste is a filter sock, a mesh tube resembling a sandbag through which fracking water is pumped before it's injected back into the earth.
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| One in five U.S. children now rely on food stamps: Census data Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:29 AM PST By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of children in the United States relying on food stamps for a meal spiked to 16 million last year, according federal data, signaling a lopsided economic recovery in which lower income families are still lagging behind. The roughly one in five children who received food stamps in 2014 surpassed pre-recession levels, when one in eight or 9 million children were on food stamps, according to the U.S. Census survey of American families released on Wednesday Republicans in Congress have sought to cut back on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or food stamp program as part of a larger plan to balance the budget. Other findings of the survey show a rapidly changing America in which more children are being raised in single-parent homes and more young people are delaying marriage. Of the 73.7 million children under 18 in the United States, 27 percent were living in single parent homes last year, tripling the 9 percent in 1960. |
