| Most Americans oppose defunding Planned Parenthood Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:01 PM PDT  While anti-abortion activists are urging Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, a majority of Americans favor federal funding.
|
| John Kerry: Putin’s Syria involvement could be opportunity for U.S. Posted: 30 Sep 2015 10:52 AM PDT  The U.S. secretary of state doesn't think Russia's presence in Syria will box the Washington into a corner.
|
| House Republicans to hold leadership elections Oct. 8 Posted: 30 Sep 2015 08:54 AM PDT  Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will hold leadership elections on Oct. 8, House Speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday. "After consulting with our conference, a large majority of our members have made clear they want these elections held next week. With their considerations in mind, the House leadership elections will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8," Boehner said in an emailed statement. Boehner announced last Friday that he will step down as Speaker effective Oct. 30.
|
| VW revs up recall plan, hunts for culprits in pollution scam Posted: 30 Sep 2015 08:04 AM PDT  German auto giant Volkswagen shifted up a gear Wednesday in its plans to recall millions of cars fitted with pollution-cheating software as it boosted efforts to find the masterminds behind the scam. Following the departures of chief executive Martin Winterkorn and sales chief Christian Klingler in VW's deepest-ever crisis that broke 12 days ago, more heads look set to roll after the new CEO Matthias Mueller vowed to be "ruthless" in getting to the bottom of the affair. The steering committee of the carmaker's supervisory board was to meet later on Wednesday to discuss the preliminary findings of the internal investigation into a scam that has rocked the automobile sector and wiped 29 billion euros ($32.5 billion) off VW's market capitalisation.
|
| Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown, sends to House Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:47 AM PDT The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to keep the federal government operating just hours before agency funding runs out with the start of a new fiscal year on Thursday. The measure, passed by a wide margin, next goes to the U.S. House of Representatives, which is expected to take it up promptly so that President Barack Obama can sign it into law before a midnight deadline. Under the bill, a range of government activities would be funded at current levels until Dec. 11, giving congressional negotiators and Obama more time to work out a budget deal at least for the rest of the 2016 fiscal year ending next Sept. 30. |
| Russia carries out first air strikes in Syria: US Posted: 30 Sep 2015 06:24 AM PDT  Russia launched its first air strikes in Syria on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin won parliamentary permission to use force abroad, the United States said. A US official said the strike was near the city of Homs in what is Moscow's first engagement in a distant theatre of war since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Russia's deepening engagement in Syria comes as Putin and US President Barack Obama push rival plans on ways to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria and on the future role of the country's embattled leader Bashar al-Assad.
|
| State Dept. due to release latest batch of Clinton emails Posted: 30 Sep 2015 04:27 AM PDT  The latest batch of emails from the private server Hillary Clinton used as U.S. secretary of state is due to be released on Wednesday, days after she lamented that months of unflattering headlines about the setup were largely out of her control. A federal judge has ordered the State Department to release all of Clinton's work emails in monthly batches through to January 2016 after a Vice News reporter sued the department under freedom of information laws. Criticism about Clinton's decision to set up an email account connected to a server in her New York home for her work as the nation's top diplomat have dogged her for more than six months, sometimes overshadowing her campaign to become the Democratic nominee for the November 2016 presidential election.
|
| Russian lawmakers give Putin OK to use troops in Syria Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:38 AM PDT  MOSCOW (AP) — The upper chamber of the Russian parliament has voted unanimously to let President Vladimir Putin send Russian troops to Syria.
|
| Pope secretly met Kentucky clerk who refused to give gay marriage licenses:lawyer Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:22 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Pope Francis secretly met a Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and gave her words of encouragement, her attorney told CBS News. Mat Staver, attorney and founder of the Liberty Counsel, told CBS News the pope met Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her husband at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, last Thursday, during his visit to the United States. The Vatican's chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said he would neither confirm nor deny the report.
|
| Georgia executes a woman for the first time in 70 years: TV Posted: 29 Sep 2015 10:20 PM PDT  ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia executed the only woman on the state's death row on Wednesday, marking the first time in 70 years the state has carried out a death sentence on a woman, a television station reported.
|
| Georgia's only woman on death row is executed Posted: 29 Sep 2015 10:04 PM PDT  Despite numerous clemency pleas, Kelly Gissendaner is put to death by lethal injection.
|
| Trump gives Putin an 'A' on leadership Posted: 29 Sep 2015 06:47 PM PDT  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — One day after President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin made little headway in their standoff over Syria at their first formal meeting in more than two years, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump is agreeing with Putin on his backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
|
| Fact-checking Planned Parenthood chief’s heated House hearing Posted: 29 Sep 2015 05:43 PM PDT |
| Baltimore judge schedules police trials in black man's death Posted: 29 Sep 2015 04:16 PM PDT  A Baltimore judge on Tuesday set trial dates, the first beginning in November, for six police officers charged in the death of a black man from an injury suffered in police custody, an event that triggered protests, arson and rioting. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams scheduled individual trials with start dates ranging from Nov. 30 to March 9 for the officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray in April. Gray, 25, died from a spinal injury suffered in the back of a police van following an arrest, leading to protests and a day of rioting in the largely black city.
|
| GOP and Planned Parenthood square off in Congress Posted: 29 Sep 2015 01:47 PM PDT  By Megan Cassella WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans on Tuesday challenged Planned Parenthood's U.S. taxpayer support, while the health organization's president said defunding it would disproportionately hurt low-income women. Allegations that Planned Parenthood improperly sells fetal tissue to researchers for profit have reignited anti-abortion voter fervor during a turbulent Republican presidential primary campaign. At a U.S. House of Representatives committee hearing, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards appeared alone to respond to hostile questioning from Republicans, some of whom have vowed to shut down the U.S. government if federal support for the group is not cut off.
|
