President Donald Trump gleefully announced that, under his direction, U.S. military troops had swooped down on the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento and kidnapped California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re charging Newscum with fraud.” When a reporter asked for specifics about the fraud charges, Trump pointed to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi, clearly taken by surprise, said, “We’re looking into it and will let you know the details as soon as we’ve created them.”   read more

Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd loves his Vegemite, but enjoying it in the United States has become a challenge.   On Sunday, Rudd had to convince American customs inspectors at a New York City airport not to confiscate his Vegemite, a...   read more

Mary Schapiro, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has hired a lawyer to guide her through an investigation into her agency’s signing a half-billion-dollar office lease it could not afford.   The $557 million lease “grossly ...   read more

This year’s annual International Day of Peace won’t be marred by an American missile launch after all.   Last month, when the U.S. Air Force announced plans to conduct another Minuteman 3 missile test off the coast of California on September 2...   read more

A study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has concluded that sufferers of Gulf War Syndrome have noticeable abnormalities in their brains’ blood flow. The researchers also discovered that for many veterans, the circulatory...   read more

Congress has begun considering the issue of whether the U.S. military has too many high-ranking officers for a shrinking enlisted corps.   There are 964 flag and general officers in the armed services today, compared to 1,017 when the Cold War...   read more

Attorney and lobbyist Mark Brzezinski was nominated on September 6, 2011, by President Barack Obama to be the next U.S. ambassador to Sweden, replacing Matthew Barzun, who was one of Obama’s biggest campaign bundlers during the 2008 presidential c...   read more

United States law demands that the government limit the amount of executive salaries earned by companies with federal contracts. But the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy has not set the limit for fiscal year...   read more

For the second time in 11 years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered television networks to provide audio descriptions of actions on screen to assist blind and visually impaired viewers.   The FCC issued similar rules in 20...   read more

The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has impacted not only the soldiers of today, but those who served nearly 70 years ago.   In 1944, Melvin Dwork was kicked out of the U.S. Navy for being gay (apparently turned in by his boyfriend at the time ...   read more

Career diplomat Lisa J. Kubiske received her first chance to become an ambassador on July 26, 2011, when she was sworn in as ambassador to Honduras.   Born Lisa Shapiro, Kubiske attended college at Brandeis University, where during her junior ...   read more

Daniel Ohene Agyekum, a political insider who is no stranger to controversy, has been the ambassador to the United States from Ghana since October 19, 2009.    Born March 10, 1942, at Juaso in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, which was then a Brit...   read more

Republican lawmakers in Arizona, including Gov. Jan Brewer, went beyond their authority when they diverted more than $50 million meant for public transit projects to other purposes.   In response to a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Center for La...   read more

The Department of the Interior has agreed to a potentially landmark settlement with environmentalists that will impact more than 700 species considered threatened or endangered.   By 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service promises to decide ...   read more

Like many Americans, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a problem with storage—as in too much of it.   An audit of IRS spending found the agency has been allocating $862,000 a year to store old furniture and other equipment in warehouses. ...   read more

Colonel Glenn R. Huber Jr. has served as commandant of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) at Fort Benning, Georgia, since July 29, 2010. He last served with WHINSEC in 2001, when he was a department director and ...   read more

David Mohlomi Rantekoa has served as ambassador of Lesotho to the United States since May 21, 2008. Lesotho, a nation of 2 million people, is completely surrounded by South Africa.   Born May 2, 1953, Rantekoa graduated from the National Unive...   read more