Create your own free news widgets.

Testimony moved forward yesterday on the Uniting American Families Act, or UAFA. The bill is aimed at letting same-sex couples where one person is an American citizen and the other is from a foreign country stay united through the immigration process. Among those who have testified were Shirley Tan. Ms Tan has been facing deportation back to her native Philippines where her life is in mortal danger from her own family.

The Obama administration said yesterday that it was pursuing a joint US-Chinese deal on action against global warming to help push the rest of the world towards a global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.Todd Stern, the US climate change envoy, said a deal between the two countries - the world's largest polluters - would boost efforts to secure a crucial accord to avoid dangerous climate change. Those UN talks are just six months away.'China may not be the alpha and omega of the international negotiations, but it is close,' Stern said in a speech to the Centre for American Progress, a liberal thinktank. 'No deal will be possible if we don't find a way forward with China.'Stern's remarks represent the clearest acknowledgement yet that the Obama administration has taken on board a blueprint for US-Chinese action to address global warming. The plan is the product of secret back-channel negotiations between US and Chinese officials that were revealed in the Guardian last month

The Obama administration said yesterday that it was pursuing a joint US-Chinese deal on action against global warming to help push the rest of the world towards a global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.Todd Stern, the US climate change envoy, said a deal between the two countries - the world's largest polluters - would boost efforts to secure a crucial accord to avoid dangerous climate change. Those UN talks are just six months away.'China may not be the alpha and omega of the international negotiations, but it is close,' Stern said in a speech to the Centre for American Progress, a liberal thinktank. 'No deal will be possible if we don't find a way forward with China.'Stern's remarks represent the clearest acknowledgement yet that the Obama administration has taken on board a blueprint for US-Chinese action to address global warming. The plan is the product of secret back-channel negotiations between US and Chinese officials that were revealed in the Guardian last month

Today, renewable energy sources generate 12 percent of electricity in the U.S. But wind, wave, sunshine and others represent more than 93 percent of the energy the country could be producing, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. [More]

The U.S. Marine Corps is wooing public school districts across the country, expanding a network of military academies that has grown steadily despite criticism that it's a recruiting ploy.

Seoul - North Korea's highest court on Thursday was to try two US journalists accused of entering the country illegally as the Stalinist state faces international criticism over its nuclear test and missile launches. The trial of Chinese-American Lau...

Stockholm - A new international agreement capping global emissions of greenhouse gases will hinge to a large extent on developed countries agreeing on comparable cuts, an advisor to the Swedish prime minister said Thursday. If we don't have that, we...

(Moscow) - The number of European Court of Human Rights judgments holding Russia responsible for serious violations of human rights in Chechnya has surpassed 100, but the government has failed to take appropriate steps to remedy them, Human Rights Watch, the Memorial Human Rights Center, and Russian Justice Initiative said today.  read more

(Brussels) - Having reached agreement to share information about detainees at Guantanamo seeking to be resettled in Europe, European countries should now jumpstart resettlement negotiations with the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. read more

More than 300 staff on Wednesday took part in the first ever strike at the European Central Bank, according to their trade union. The ECB employees put down pens and computer mice for 90 minutes as me...