WASHINGTON – The House has passed a massive year-end spending bill awarding generous funding boosts to domestic programs despite massive budget deficits.The wrapup measure totals $1.1 trillion, combining six spending bills for 10 Cabinet departments into a 1,088-page bundle packed with more than 5,000 back-home projects sought by lawmakers.The 221-202 vote sends the House-Senate compromise
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Defense Department in contempt of court for failing to videotape the testimony of a Guantanamo Bay detainee so that the public and the news media could see it.U.S District Judge Gladys Kessler is demanding a detailed explanation of why the Pentagon failed to follow her directions and tape the testimony of Mohammed Al-Adahi of Yemen.He test
Congress was moving a big a step closer Thursday toward completion of its fiscal 2010 appropriations bills, as the House prepared to vote on a package combining six spending bills that fund a host of domestic and State Department programs. The conference report on the omnibus measure provides $446.8 billion to programs and agencies across the government.Once the Senate joins the House in approvin
Scotland's councils have been offered a deal by the government to speed up its pledge to cut class sizes.The SNP has been under opposition fire over delivering its manifesto pledge to cap pupil numbers at 18 in the first three years of primary education.Ministers will allow councils to scale back delivery of free school meals and use the cash to reduce class sizes.They said the deal, if agreed, w
The prestigious Nobel Prizes are awarded annually on Dec.10 in twin ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo.Here is a look at this year's winners and their work: • Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine: Americans Elizabeth H.Blackburn, Carol W.Greider and Jack W.Szostak for discovering how chromosomes protect themselves as cells divide, work that has inspired experimental cancer therapies and may
The Scottish government is set to introduce legislation that could see Angus Sinclair stand trial over the World's End murders for a second time.The proposals to end the double jeopardy rule were disclosed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in an exclusive interview with BBC Scotland.Sinclair was cleared in 2007 of killing Helen Scott and Christine Eadie.Mr MacAskill said the Crown would have t
I hope the Dignity in Schools Campaign overflows its banks, spilling awareness into every corner of the country. Millions of children and youth are denied educational opportunities in the United States, begins the National Resolution for Ending School Pushout, which some 200 organizations in 43 states have so far signed. This injustice results from systemic inequality and a lack of public comm
When I had the privilege of serving 14 months at the White House between 1996 and 1998, I got to know most of the Secret Service agents who worked there.I used to enjoy some time with them early each morning, when I regularly entered the White House complex through the northwest gate guardhouse, where I would spend a few minutes chatting with agents while sipping a cup of coffee. At one point, I