Political News from Yahoo

Bulk of Timbuktu manuscripts survived occupation

DAKAR (Reuters) - The majority of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts appear to be safe and undamaged after the Saharan city's 10-month occupation by Islamist rebel fighters, experts said on Wednesday, rejecting some media reports of their widespread destruction. Denying accounts that told of tens of thousands of priceless papers being burned or stolen by the fleeing rebels, they said the bulk of the Timbuktu texts had been safely hidden well before the city's liberation by French forces on Sunday. ...

Top senator denies sex tourism claim as FBI raids donor's offices

MIAMI (Reuters) - New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat and incoming chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denied on Wednesday allegations that he engaged in sex with prostitutes during free trips to the Dominican Republic provided by a political donor. The denial from Menendez, 59, who was re-elected to a second term last year, came as FBI agents searched the offices of a prominent South Florida eye doctor who is the donor linked to his alleged unpaid trips. The FBI did not explain the motive for the raid on the offices of Dr. ...

U.S. struggles over which gun crimes to prosecute

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dispute erupted at a congressional hearing on Wednesday over which existing gun-control laws were worth enforcing, even as lawmakers debated whether to pass new ones. The flashes of anger underscored the deep divisions in America's gun culture. "You do not support background checks for all buyers of firearms?" Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont asked the head of the National Rifle Association, the largest U.S. gun rights lobby. ...

RIM rebrands as BlackBerry; launches nifty new devices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd on Wednesday unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail, but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 devices will not start until March, sending its share price tumbling 12 percent. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email. ...


Girl who performed at inauguration killed in Chicago shooting

(Reuters) - A 15-year-old Chicago girl who performed at President Barack Obama's inauguration last week was shot to death in a city park in what police think was a case of "mistaken identity" related to a gang turf war. "Mistaken identity -- wrong place at the wrong time," Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said at a press conference on Wednesday, a day after the shooting that killed Hadiya Pendleton and injured another teen. The press conference was broadcast by CLTV. ...

Florida teenager's killer seeks to delay trial

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - George Zimmerman will seek to delay the start of his trial in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin to allow him more time to raise money for his defense, his attorney said on Wednesday. Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's lead defense attorney, said he planned to file a motion to request the trial, which is scheduled to start in June, be delayed by six months, arguing he needs more time and money to investigate the claims against his client. "I think that we still need another $200,000 to $300,000," he told Reuters. ...


Ann Coulter Turns on Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio has been selling a bipartisan plan on immigration, but Ann Coulter isn’t buying it. One day after Rubio entered the conservative lion’s den to talk immigration reform on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, Coulter blasted the GOP senator in a Human Events column. “Some...

Giffords' husband offers senators chilling case for gun control

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. astronaut Mark Kelly pushed for gun-control measures on Wednesday by recalling in chilling detail the massacre that nearly killed his wife, former Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee just after Giffords called on lawmakers to "be courageous" and do more to reduce gun-related violence, Kelly gave a moment-by-moment account of the mass shooting in a supermarket parking lot near Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011, that left six people dead and 13 wounded. ...

China's narrow focus on oil in South Sudan won't work: U.S. envoy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China needs to move beyond a narrow focus on oil issues in South Sudan and help tackle that country's larger political disputes with Sudan, the outgoing U.S. special envoy to the two African states said on Wednesday. Ambassador Princeton Lyman said he had worked closely with Chinese officials more than two years, during which time South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 to become the world's newest nation. ...

Possible to get immigration overhaul done by first half of year: Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he believes it is possible to get an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system certainly by the end of the year if not the first half of 2013. Obama gave an interview to Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish- language television network, to push his proposals for giving 11 million illegal immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship after an influential Senate group offered its own plan. "I´m hopeful that this can get done, and I don´t think that it should take many, many months. ...

CIA nominee had detailed knowledge of "enhanced interrogation techniques"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Brennan, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the CIA, had detailed, contemporaneous knowledge of the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" on captured terrorism suspects during an earlier stint as a top spy agency official, according to multiple sources familiar with official records. Those records, the sources said, show that Brennan was a regular recipient of CIA message traffic about controversial aspects of the agency's counter-terrorism program after September 2001, including the use of "waterboarding. ...

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