Jun
30
2011
Stephen Colbert’s bid to launch a super PAC is no laughing matter, especially now that the comedian has won approval to raise unlimited campaign cash to influence the 2012 elections.
The Federal Election Commission today voted 5-1 to approve Colbert’s political action committee, giving him a shot at doing what political types such as Bush strategist Karl Rove and former Obama aide Bill Burton are already doing to finance TV ads ahead of next year’s elections.
Colbert …
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Jun
30
2011
LONDON — Hundreds of thousands of teachers and public-sector workers across Britain walked off their jobs on Thursday to protest the government’s proposed changes to their pension plans. Union officials warned that this could be the beginning of a wave of strikes this summer and fall over pensions and public-sector budget cuts.
“Today’s action across the country demonstrates the anger and distress that this government is causing teachers,” Christine Blower, head of the National Union of …
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May
12
2011
As the clock ticked past midnight and the death chamber phone refused to ring, San Quentin State Prison Warden Jeanne Woodford would calmly signal the executioners to inject a lethal dose of chemicals into the condemned man’s veins.
Reared in a Roman Catholic family, she grew up believing that only God had the right to take a life. But four times in her 30-year career in California corrections, the soft-spoken mother of five carried out executions …
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May
12
2011
WASHINGTON — Executives of five of the largest oil companies, under heavy fire over near-record gasoline prices and their high first-quarter profits, pushed back on Thursday against calls for cuts in tax subsidies benefiting the industry.
Rex W. Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil, called the proposed tax changes “misinformed and discriminatory” as well as “counterproductive.” He added: “By undermining U.S. competitiveness, they would discourage future investment in energy projects in the United States and therefore …
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May
01
2011
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, is dead.
US president Barack Obama said bin Laden, the most-wanted fugitive on the US list, has been killed on Sunday in a US operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, about 150km north of Islamabad.
“Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama Bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of …
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Apr
28
2011
In Ramallah’s Manara Square there was not a Palestinian flag to be seen following the news of a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah on Wednesday night – but there were hundreds of Real Madrid and Barcelona flags carried by fans watching the Champions League semi-finals.
In Gaza City around 100 people went to the Square of the Unknown Soldier to celebrate, but were quickly dispersed by Hamas police wielding batons.
Sama, 30, a journalist and activist …
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Apr
26
2011
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing within six months or agree to a life sentence. Abu-Jamal’s first-degree murder conviction nonetheless stands in the fatal shooting of Officer …
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Apr
22
2011
“Great Friday” has been the deadliest day of protests in Syria, with police responding to the tens of thousands of protesters with live bullets and tear gas.
Dozens were killed.
Here is some of the video footage of the demonstrations – and violence – across the country.
Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Dekker reports.
Watch the video:
…
Apr
14
2011
President Obama appointed retired General Stanley McChrystal to co-chair a commission on military families this week, but according to perhaps the most prominent military family of the last decade, McChrystal is unfit for that duty.
Mary Tillman, mother of Pat Tillman, the former professional football player turned Army Ranger who was tragically killed by friendly fire 7 years ago, is angered by McChrystal’s appointment, telling ABC News that he was part of the propaganda effort …
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Apr
06
2011
MADISON, Wis (Reuters) – The closely watched race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court remained too close to call on Wednesday with fewer than 600 of the more than 1.4 million votes cast separating incumbent David Prosser from challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.
The election, the first statewide vote since Republicans passed controversial restrictions on the union rights of public workers, was seen by some political analysts as a referendum on that measure and the scope …
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