A Fort Bragg spokesman said officials feared the book-signing event would spark political grandstanding against President Obama if the media were allowed to cover it. He said Army regulations prohibited military reservations from becoming "political platforms by politicians."
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
St. Bernard Parish is attracting more minorities to the largely white parish. Long-time residents want to bar low-income housing, saying they it will destroy the neighborhood and discourage former residents from returning. Now a federal judge has weighed in.
Certain sounds played while people napped helped them remember information associated with those sounds once they woke up, say researchers at Northwestern University.
The health care overhaul debate in Congress now centers on two bills: the House measure and the Senate Democrats' version unveiled Wednesday. They differ in important ways. Here are commonly asked questions and answers about the bills.
People born and raised in Suffolk County, N.Y., complain about dozens of people living in single-family homes; immigrants complain that they are victimized by locals. An Ecuadorean day laborer was murdered last year, allegedly by teenagers who said they regularly looked for immigrants to bash.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Majority Leader Harry Reid added new taxes and modified major provisions from earlier Senate committee bills. The bill is expected to go to the Senate floor.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the government's $700 billion bailout program will end "as soon as we can," and that part of it will be used to lower the record deficit. He urged Congress to move quickly in overhauling the nation's financial rules, which he says is key to a healthy economy.
The U.S. Postal Service is putting strict limits on a popular national program begun in 1954 in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Replies come with North Pole postmarks.
With the Latino population booming in Suffolk County, N.Y., so is anti-immigrant sentiment. Illegal immigrants see a rise in violence but often won't report it for fear of the police and deportation. Now the Justice Department is probing whether local police are turning a blind eye.
Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships in Berlin, but the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential, the South African sports ministry says.
A forecast of economic activity for the next six months edged up less than expected in October, signaling slow growth next year. The Conference Board says its index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent last month. Economists had expected a larger increase.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
New jobless claims were unchanged last week at 505,000, matching analysts' expectations, but the four-week moving average of claims dropped to its lowest in almost a year, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated in Kabul on Thursday for a new term amid tight security and ceremonial flourishes. But his second term is already beset by severe doubts that he will be any more effective at tackling the country's rampant corruption.
The Republican Governors Association is holding its annual meeting this week in Austin, Texas. Thanks to recent election victories in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are feeling good again. They plan to use those wins to help the party rebound in 2010.
California faces a budget deficit of nearly $21 billion. That's according to a report released Wednesday by a non-partisan budget analyst. The study was released less than four months after legislators patched together a budgetary compromise.
A firestorm erupted this week after an expert panel released recommendations that yearly mammograms aren't necessary for all women under age 50. The criticism isn't surprising, given the emotional valence of breast cancer. But not everyone thinks the panel is wrong.
The uproar over a new mammogram recommendation came at an inconvenient time politically speaking. The Senate is about to take up a health care bill that Democrats don't yet have the votes to pass. Republicans say the study reinforced their nightmare scenario about health care rationing.
Attorney General Eric Holder spent hours testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday. He defended his decision to send the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four other men to New York to face a criminal trial. Senators spent much of the hearing telling Holder why they think he's wrong.
Documents obtained by NPR show that psychiatrists at Walter Reed Army Medical Center put their concerns about the accused Fort Hood shooter in writing. Two years ago, a top official there wrote an evaluation that harshly criticized Maj. Nidal Hasan's incompetence and unprofessional behavior.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for another five-year term Thursday. Watching with a critical eye were foreign dignitaries who are pressing Karzai to make his second term in office far better than his first. Karzai promised to prosecute corrupt officials.