DENVER – Colorado will become the first state to reduce its minimum wage because of a falling cost of living. The state Department of Labor and Employment ordered the wage down to $7.24 from $7.28. That's lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, so most minimum wage workers would lose only 3...
AFP - Rwandan President Paul Kagame Sunday defended China's programme of investment in developing African countries, while slamming Western nations and firms for polluting the continent.
Holy Cow! Marge Simpson is baring it all in Playboy's November issue. It will be the first time that the magazine has offered a newsstand cover and centerfold of a cartoon character The Chicago Sun-Times reports. The paper quotes Playboy's new CEO, Scott Flanders, as saying the move is an attempt to appeal to readers in their 20s, a highly prized demographic. The average Playboy reader is 35, Flanders says. The Marge Simpson centerfold is...
There is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Gallery's version of the Barack Obama "Hope" poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obama's Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyists' Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration. But our anger diminished while K Street kept on going. Now the Washington Post, that great barometer of the capital's consensus, has taken on what can only be described as a worshipful attitude toward the lobbyist set. And as its journalistic leader ushers in a new
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Monday that the U.S. would make a "disastrous" mistake if it withdrew from Afghanistan and warned that a delay in sending more troops would be seen as a sign of weakness. Mr. Musharraf also denied that Pakistan's elite Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was giving secret support to the Taliban, which the ISI helped build in the 1990s. Asked by reporters and editors at The Washington Times whether the U.S. and its allies might be seen as weak because of the prolonged debate over whether to send more forces to Afghanistan, Mr. Musharraf said, "Yes,
WASHINGTON – Regulators on Friday shut down Atlanta-based Georgian Bank, the 95th U.S. bank to fail this year as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.
AP - Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan in a new audiotape Friday, warning of "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.
Sarah Palin spoke about federal bailouts and U.S. government deficits, in what was billed as her first speech abroad.
AP - A German teenager who wounded nine students and a teacher in a terrifying ax and arson attack on his school was motivated by a "hatred for humanity" and had been planning the rampage since April, officials said Monday.
Within the last day or two, a Costa Rican man has told authorities there that he's twice seen a dirty, bearded David Gimelfarb. Gimelfarb is the Chicago doctoral student who went missing in the Costa Rican jungle almost a month and a half ago. The man lives outside the Rincon de Vieja National Park, Gimelfarb's friend Christine Shaw told NBC Chicago, and says that on both occasions, Gimelfarb appeared frightened and ran away. That park is where Gimelfarb set off on a solo trip last month. If the man who was seen is Gimelfarb, his strange behavior could be "due to head trauma, infection or
Reuters - President Barack Obama on Thursday dumped a Bush-era missile defense plan for Europe that Russia had bitterly opposed and offered what he said would be faster, more flexible defense systems to protect against Iran.
AP - A towering Turk was officially crowned the world's tallest man Thursday after his Ukrainian rival dropped out of the running by refusing to be measured.
AP - Look out, Madonna and Angelina Jolie — pop star Elton John has decided he wants to join the ranks of A-list celebrities with adopted children.
AP - Three British Muslims were convicted Monday of plotting to murder thousands by downing at least seven airliners bound for the U.S. and Canada in what was intended as the largest terrorist attack since Sept. 11.
AP - The interrogator politely apologized for grilling the prisoner about her role in the mass protests over Iran's disputed presidential election.
Arthur Ashe Stadium will feature the day’s top match on Day Four of the Open. Diminutive Melanie Oudin, a surprise quarterfinalist and media darling will face the best player in the Women’s Draw, Elena Dementieva, in a match between two great players with very different styles.
An undercover video shot by an animal rights group at an Iowa egg hatchery shows workers discarding unwanted chicks by sending them alive into a grinder, and other chicks falling through a sorting machine to die on the factory floor.
AP - British police said Monday they will review the death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, whose 1969 drowning was ruled an accident but sparked decades of speculation that he was murdered.
After watching the Australian Open , the French Open and Wimbledon , tennis enthusiasts must be asking how can it be! Dinara Safina seeded atop the U.S. Open? Remarkable! Tournament directors, wake up! Dinara just does not cut it as a number one seed.
AP - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said claims that opposition leaders had links to Western powers have not been proven despite widespread allegations of foreign meddling by hard-liners.
Oprah Winfrey could shut one of New York's busiest roads to throw a huge street party.
The chat show host reportedly wants to close Manhattan's West Side Highway for a party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her Oprah Magazine next May.
Officials at New York City Hall have told the New York Post that Oprah has already begun making permit enquiries for the party.
"While it is too soon to discuss specifics, we are looking forward to celebrating in a big way," an Oprah representative said.
Despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's upbeat comments Friday that the U.S. economy is on the cusp of recovery, economists Paul Krugman and Robert Reich remain unconvinced that the outlook has gotten that much better. Krugman acknowledged that we have seen some better economic numbers recently, but lamented our tendency to view the economy in black and white terms when the reality is more nuanced: We've got a problem with terminology because we usually say either the economy is in recession or the economy is recovering. Either you're in hell or you're in heaven. And the trouble is
New York Knicks player Nate Robinson was arrested Tuesday for driving without a license. Police said Robinson was arrested after officers pulled him over in the Bronx at about 5:30 p.m. and discovered he had a suspended license. The Knicks guard was taken to the 52nd Precinct and charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and issued a summons to return to court at a later date,...
Scientists have found traces of cocaine in 95% of banknotes collected in Washington, the American Chemical Society reports, and 90% from large cities such as Baltimore, Boston and Detroit. The lowest average was found on bills collected from Salt Lake City. The findings were presented at the 238th National Meeting of the ACS, which says the study suggests "cocaine abuse is still widespread and may be on the rise in some areas." The scientists, led...
AP - The crews of two Egyptian fishing vessels that overpowered pirates off the Somali coast have sailed into Red Sea waters on their way home along with eight of their former captors, an Egyptian official said Saturday.
