Political News from Yahoo

U.S. Army says it faces "dire" financial situation as cuts loom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior military budget officer said on Wednesday that converging financial pressures could leave the U.S. Army with just $2 billion to spend on operations, maintenance and training this year after it has funded the war in Afghanistan and other security needs. That is a fraction of what the Army usually spends to train soldiers, maintain bases, refurbish equipment and carry out overseas operations during a seven-month period and has created a "dire" and "unprecedented" outlook, said Major General Karen Dyson, director of the Army Budget Office. ...


Biden Tells Hunters No Need for Semi-Automatic Rifles

Vice President Joe Biden told hunters Wednesday there’s no bear too big, no varmint too small that requires the use of a semiautomatic rifle when hunting. “If you have to go up into the Poconos and go bear hunting or deer hunting with that weapon,...

Excerpts from Pope Benedict's final address

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict bid an emotional farewell at his last general audience on Wednesday, acknowledging the "rough seas" that marked his papacy "when it seemed that the Lord was sleeping". Here are excerpts from his last address as pope to more than 150,000 people in St Peter's Square translated by Reuters from Italian: "I feel I am carrying all of you with me in prayer ... gathering together every meeting, every trip, every pastoral visit. ...

Syrians fleeing war likely to pass million soon: U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More than 40,000 people a week are fleeing war-torn Syria and the total number of refugees will likely pass 1 million in less than a month, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said the U.N. agency as of Tuesday had registered 936,000 Syrians across the Middle East and North Africa, nearly 30 times as many people as April last year. "We expected to have 1.1 million Syrian refugees by June. If things continue to accelerate like this, it will take less than a month to reach that number. ...

Civil Rights Leaders Swarm Court For Section 5 of Voting Rights Act

Just hours before the unveiling of a new Rosa Parks statue at the U.S. Capitol , civil rights pioneers young and old convened on the steps of the Supreme Court to demonstrate for the importance of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965....

Senate panel delays CIA nominee Brennan's confirmation vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday postponed until next week a vote on the confirmation of White House aide John Brennan to be CIA director, dashing hopes of Democratic leaders who had hoped to have a vote on Thursday. The committee's Republican vice chairman, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, said the panel expects to hold the vote on Tuesday. No explanation for the delay was immediately available. ...


Pentagon F-35 program chief lashes Lockheed, Pratt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon program chief for the F-35 warplane slammed the main contractors on the program, Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the U.S. government and failing to see the long-term benefits of the project. U.S. Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan made the comments during a visit to Australia, where he has sought to convince lawmakers and generals to stick to a plan to buy 100 of the jets, an exercise complicated by the second grounding of the plane this year and looming U.S. defense cuts. ...


Syrians fleeing war likely to soon pass million soon: U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More than 40,000 people a week are fleeing war-torn Syria and the total number of refugees will likely pass 1 million in less than a month, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said the U.N. agency as of Tuesday had registered 936,000 Syrians across the Middle East and North Africa, nearly 30 times as many people as April last year. "We expected to have 1.1 million Syrian refugees by June. If things continue to accelerate like this, it will take less than a month to reach that number. ...

Jack Lew Confirmed as Treasury Secretary by Senate

The Senate confirmed former White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as Secretary of the Treasury Wednesday by a vote of 71-26. President Obama nominated Lew to replace former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last month.  Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin served as acting secretary after...


Senate panel delays CIA nominee Brennan's confirmation vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday postponed until next week a vote on the confirmation of White House aide John Brennan to be CIA director, dashing hopes of Democratic leaders who had hoped to hold a vote on Thursday. The committee's Republican vice chairman, Senator Saxby Chambliss, said the panel expects to hold the vote on Tuesday. No immediate explanation was available for why the vote was delayed. ...


U.S. plans medical, food aid for Syria fighters: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is expected to provide medical supplies and food aid to Syrian fighters, a policy shift to directly help those opposing President Bashar al-Assad's forces on the ground, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States continues to oppose providing lethal assistance and said it also will not provide such items as bullet-proof vests, armored-personnel vehicles and military training for now. A U.S. State Department spokeswoman traveling with U.S. ...

Pentagon says no additional cracks found in F-35 engines

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Wednesday that no additional cracks have been found on F-35 fighter engines during inspections begun after the February 19 incident that halted flights of the entire fighter fleet, and operation of the engines on the ground. Kyra Hawn, spokeswoman for the F-35 program office, said officials were continuing to investigate a cracked engine blade found on a test plane at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, with engineers at enginemaker Pratt & Whitney due to break open the affected engine blade for further study on Wednesday. ...


Lawmakers raise concerns about Obama's drone policies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee - Republicans and Democrats alike - expressed concern on Wednesday about U.S. drone strikes against American citizens and President Barack Obama's secrecy in laying out the legal justifications. The public congressional hearing on "drone-kill policy" was noteworthy: government officials refrained for years from even uttering the word "drone" when talking about the use of armed, pilotless aircraft because such operations were classified. ...


Pre-Sequester Pink Slips? Duncan Stretches Impact on Teachers

At the White House today, Education Secretary Arne Duncan sounded the alarm over looming automatic cuts to the nation’s school system, warning that as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs with some layoffs already underway. It’s an eye-opening claim, but one not entirely...


Dog shoots man in Florida - maybe

MIAMI (Reuters) - Police added a dose of skepticism on Wednesday to a report about a man who says he was shot by his dog while driving down a Florida highway. Commander Steve Carr, a police spokesman in the central town of Sebring, where the shooting occurred on Saturday, said there were "some indications" the shooting victim may have made up his "dog shoots man" story. Gregory Lane Lanier, 35, told police he thought the 9mm Beretta semi-automatic handgun on the floor of his pickup truck was unloaded when the black and tan English bulldog kicked it and caused it to fire. ...

Justice Department says wins $1 billion Dow tax shelter case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday it has won a $1 billion tax shelter case against Dow Chemical Co that involved a Swiss partnership, Wall Street financial giant Goldman Sachs and international law firm King & Spalding. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana rejected two tax shelter transactions entered into by the Dow Chemical Co "that purported to create approximately $1 billion in phony tax deductions," Justice said in a statement. ...


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