KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO airstrike struck two houses, killing as many as nine Afghan civilians and four insurgents in an eastern province near the Pakistani border, officials said Wednesday.

The attack occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday during a joint NATO-Afghan operation in the Shigal district of Kunar province, a lawmaker from the area said. The U.S.-led military alliance in Kabul said it was looking into the reports.

Wagma Sapay, a member of parliament from Kunar, …

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President Obama mentioned immigration several times during his State of the Union address this evening—perhaps most poignantly when he altered the citizenship narrative that closed his remarks to include a definition “that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status.”

But we didn’t hear anything new in terms of comprehensive immigration reform.

Obama touted his increased border security, but failed to mention the record number of deportations that continue to occur under his watch. The president …

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Consumers are getting their first glimpse at what health insurance will look like in California as the state prepares to implement the federal healthcare law.

On Wednesday, state officials will spell out the details on policies available next year to people buying their own coverage. In January 2014, most Americans will be required to have health insurance or face a penalty.

Federal law established four broad plans of coverage — Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze — whose …

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A parade of media reports this week name Penny Pritzker as Obama’s prime choice for Secretary of Commerce. No longer will criminal bankers have to lobby the administration – because now they’ll have one of their own in the Cabinet.

We never heard of this guy Barack Obama until 2004. Less than three years before taking the presidency, he was in the Illinois state senate, a swamp of scammers, backhanders, and party machine tools – not …

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Another African American cop, this one still on the force, has reached out to disgraced ex-LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner, telling him to call a TV station before he surrenders so that the event is filmed and he is “not harmed.”

Sgt. Wayne K. Guillary posted a “personal appeal” on the website of Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable president Earl Ofari Hutchinson overnight. In it the sergeant says he still has ongoing concerns about racism in the …

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The House cybersecurity bill that allows the National Security Agency (NSA) and the military to collect your private internet records is scheduled for an encore appearance on Wednesday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) will reintroduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which news reports say will be the same bill that passed the House of Representatives last year.

That’s right, the same bill that allows companies …

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On the 10th floor of the University of ­Illinois’ school of public health, Dr Gary ­Slutkin points to a map of Chicago with dots showing where murders have taken place. Lake ­Michigan lies to the east, the north is mostly clear, but some areas of the south and the west, including ­Englewood, are covered in dots.

“It’s the same pattern on a map showing ­incidence of cholera in Bangladesh. It’s an infective process,” he says.

Slutkin, the …

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Following news of a successful North Korean nuclear weapons test on Tuesday, officials from Iran called for the end to all atomic weapons around the world.

Iranian workers in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. (Stringer/Iran/Reuters) “We need to come to the point where no country has any nuclear weapons and at the same time all weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms need to be destroyed,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told state news …

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Anonymous has made a grand claim ahead of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. In a communiqué posted on AnonRelations.net and spread through Anonymous’ social media channels, the hacker collective announced it “will form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet” such that “there will be no State of the Union Address on the web tonight.”

What exactly Anonymous has in store for this evening is not detailed in the communiqué, nor is …

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WASHINGTON — With possibly hours left until the Senate votes to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, conservative groups are ramping up their efforts to pressure Republicans to vote against the bill, making claims the bill’s proponents say are either misleading or completely false.

The bill, which would renew the 1994 law and add in new protections for LGBT and Native American victims of abuse, is on track for a Tuesday vote. It already has 62 …

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