Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

To better understand the psychological effects of sending men on a mission to Mars, six astronauts are embarking this week on a 520-day “voyage” that involves locking them in a simulated spacecraft located in a warehouse outside Moscow.   The Eu...   read more

Small business owners are facing the prospect of spending considerably more time on tax-related paperwork come 2012, thanks to a new regulation adopted by the IRS.   Currently, small businesses have to complete the IRS Form 1099 only if they pay...   read more

The mysterious death of Henry Glover of New Orleans is gradually becoming less mysterious. Glover, who was found bleeding from a gunshot wound during the post-Katrina chaos and driven by a local resident to a temporary police compound, may have be...   read more

Tensions between the United States and Pakistan are growing over demands from Washington for Pakistani officials to turn over flight travel information to American counterterrorism operations.   Pakistan already provides the names of those flyin...   read more

California’s state Senate wants no part of Texas’ new standards for history textbooks. Responding to changes adopted by Texas State Board of Education, the California Senate adopted legislation intended to prevent conservative revisions to America...   read more

Joining a complaint by one of its own police officers, the city of Tucson has legally filed its opposition to Arizona’s new immigration law. Tucson officials contend that they lack the funding and police resources to enforce the state law, which r...   read more

Running on a platform described as “anarcho-surrealism,” Iceland’s Best Party (Besti Flokkurinn) is no longer just a big joke. The six-month-old party led by one of the nation’s best-known comedians, Jón Gnarr, won a stunning victory in the capita...   read more

Russia and China, still considered major military powers, have nothing on the United States when it comes to comparing these nations’ defense expenditures to that of the entire world. Russian and Chinese appropriations for warfare each represent a...   read more

A California union made up largely of grocery store and retail clerks has reached out to employees of local marijuana clubs, looking to the day when legal recreational use of cannabis could mean thousands of new workers to organize.   About 100 ...   read more

The year 1947 was momentous for a lot of reasons: India gained its independence, the CIA was first established, and the transistor was invented. But 1947 was not so great for those Americans born that year, not when it comes to collecting their So...   read more

Conducting what’s been described as “relentless legal campaigns,” the Catholic Church of Canada has countersued numerous victims of abuse by priests. One example cited by the Toronto Star focused on former altar boy John Caruso, whose abuser, Reve...   read more

Nawa province in Afghanistan is being used to demonstrate the carrot is mightier than the stick. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is in the process of spending $30 million over nine months in this impoverished territory to und...   read more

The United States Coast Guard (USCG), gained a new leader on May 25, 2010, when Commandant of the Coast Guard Thad Allen finished his four-year tour in the post. President Obama chose Coast Guard Vice Admiral Robert A. Papp to be next Commandant. ...   read more

Harry K. Thomas, Jr., President Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who presented his credentials April 27, 2010.   Born June 3, 1956, in New York City’s Harlem neighborh...   read more

As with some of his other environmental appointments, President Barack Obama went with a career federal employee to lead the National Park Service. Jonathan B. Jarvis, a trained biologist, has spent the past 30 years working for the agency in a va...   read more

Despite lobbying from the Portuguese-American community to choose someone else, President Barack Obama went with a key campaign fundraiser and organizer for the post of U.S. ambassador to Portugal. Allan J. Katz, a lawyer and lobbyist who helped r...   read more