Trump ordered that the term Homo sapiens be changed to Hetero sapiens. In history books and on websites, the airplane from which the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima will no longer be identified as the Enola Gay, but rather the Enola Straight. Trump also ordered billionaire Mark Cuban, who supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, to change his name to Mark American. If he does not do so, he will be charged with terrorism.   read more

Federal Judge Richard Bennett made it clear recently just how out-of-bounds the Obama administration was in going after former National Security Agency (NSA) official Thomas Drake for allegedly leaking classified information to the media.   Du...   read more

The authoritarian regime of Belarus, Europe’s last remaining dictatorship, is determined to eradicate all forms of public protest, even those involving people doing nothing but standing around together.   A new law proposed this week would ban...   read more

This month’s most popular stories dealt with the mysterious suspension of a scientist, the Obama administration’s refusal to punish torturers and questions about Michele Bachmann’s husband. There were also two items from our Unusual News Categor...   read more

Five years ago wildlife biologist Charles Monnett made news with his observation of drowned polar bears in the Arctic sea, which helped fuel the debate over global warming. Today, Monnett has made headlines again, this time for being suspended f...   read more

After coming so close last year to becoming the first team from Africa to play in the Little League World Series, players from Uganda had their hopes dashed again this year. But the obstacle had nothing to do with baseball.   Some of the playe...   read more

Making change for simple transactions has become so difficult for merchants in Zimbabwe that the government has reached out to the United States for help. With insufficient currency available, Zimbabwe has agreed to import coins from the Federal...   read more

A Stanford University professor with no prior diplomatic experience but a great deal of experience studying Russia, Michael Anthony McFaul was nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Russia by President Barack Obama in May 2011. However, the Senate h...   read more

A career diplomat with more than 35 years’ experience, Vassilis Kaskarelis has served as Greece’s ambassador to the United States since June 2009.   Born in Athens on November 26, 1948, Kaskarelis holds an economics and political science degre...   read more

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is suing UBS to recover nearly a billion dollars in losses stemming from the mortgage crisis, claiming the Swiss bank committed fraud.   FHFA says Fannie and Fr...   read more

Once considered a rising star in veterans’ circles, Ray Jefferson has resigned his post as assistant secretary in the Department of Labor following an internal investigation that found he had improperly steered federal contracts to friends and f...   read more

As part of their cost-cutting agenda, House Republicans want to significantly reduce the budget of the Government Printing Office (GPO), which does considerably more than (as its name suggests) print documents.   GPO plays a major role in maki...   read more

Žygimantas Pavilionis is a career diplomat who became ambassador of Lithuania to the United States in August 2010.   Born on August 22, 1971, in Vilnius, Pavilionis grew up with parents who prized higher education; his father, Roland Pavilioni...   read more

A longtime cabinet minister and diplomat, Winston Thompson came out of retirement in April 2009 to serve as Fiji’s ambassador to the United States. His appointment was announced one week before Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo suspended his n...   read more

Recording law enforcement in the act of breaking the law can itself be an unlawful violation, as some states have taken the side of police against citizens filming instances of brutality or misconduct.   At least 12 states have made it illegal...   read more

More than 170 teachers and administrators spent 10 years helping students in the Atlanta school system cheat on a standardized test, according to an investigation launched by Governor Nathan Deal. The multiple-choice exam, known as the Criterion...   read more

The U.S. Navy set a record last year by firing 17 officers, and it is on pace to eclipse that mark in 2011.   So far this year naval leaders have discharged 15 commanders, with three of them coming in the same week this month.   Some observe...   read more