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Obama sets new Afghan strategy, briefs allies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday prepared to announce he will deploy about 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as part of a new strategy that aims to lay the ground for an eventual withdrawal.
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White House
Barack Obama
Washington, D.C
Afghanistan
'Locality pay' for federal workers won't increase (AP)
AP - Federal employees whose regional costs of living entitles them to higher compensation will see no increase in their "locality pay" percentages next year, President Barack Obama informed Congress on Monday.
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White House
Barack Obama
House Weighs Impeachment of Judge
The House Judiciary Committee has begun rare impeachment proceedings against a federal judge, who is accused of soliciting money from lawyers who appeared before him.
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Pittsburgh Pushes Tuition Tax
Pittsburgh is proposing what appears to be a one-of-a-kind 1% tuition tax on local university and college students, who claim the tax is illegal and unfair.
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White House's Summers: tackling unemployment urgent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tackling high U.S. unemployment is a crucial challenge but the solution will not be delivered overnight, a top White House economic adviser said on Monday.
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Washington, D.C
Some Borrowers Find Little Relief
The Treasury Department announced plans to beef up its foreclosure-prevention effort by pressuring mortgage companies to complete more loan modifications.
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Guidelines Aim to Ease Short Sales
The Obama administration laid out final guidelines that should make it easier for some financially troubled borrowers to sell their homes.
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Sharp tones kick off Senate debate
Historic debate on health care reform opens on a fiercely partisan note in the Senate on Monday.
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Chelsea Clinton to marry
Chelsea Clinton is engaged.
Washington (CNN) – Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is engaged, a spokesman for the former president confirms to CNN.
Chelsea ...
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Congress
CNN
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
N.J. Likely to Allow Medical Marijuana
New Jersey is poised to become the latest state to allow medical marijuana for certain serious diseases.
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Shielding the Whistleblower
Congress wants to close a legislative loophole that has led to the dismissal of many corporate whistleblower complaints.
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Senate Bill to Raise Some Premiums
The Senate's health bill will keep insurance premiums roughly the same for most Americans and may raise them for some people who buy coverage on their own.
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Analysts: Obama's Afghanistan speech crucial
U.S. President Barack Obama has waited too long to address the instability in Afghanistan, putting at risk the efforts to stabilize the troubled country, a pair of authors said Monday.
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White House
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Dems 'nervous' about Afghan plan (Politico)
Politico - President Obama faces skepticism from his own party as he prepares to commit up to 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
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World
Afghanistan
Democratic National Committee
Obama to detail big troop increase in Afghanistan (AP)
AP - After months of debate, President Barack Obama will spell out a costly Afghanistan war expansion to a skeptical public Tuesday night, coupling an infusion of as many as 35,000 more troops with a vow that there will be no endless U.S. ...
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White House
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Congress calls for party crashers to testify
Congress calls for party crashers to testify.
Washington (CNN) - The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee called Monday for the couple who crashed President Obama's state dinner last week and the head of Secret Service ...
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Congress
Homeland Security
Emotions high, Senate opens partisan health debate (AP)
AP - Riven by partisanship, the Senate plunged into a widely anticipated debate Monday over sweeping health care legislation that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have vowed to approve and Republicans have sworn to block.
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White House
Barack Obama
Obama faces steep challenges in new Afghan policy (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — With eight years of blood and treasure already spent and perhaps his presidency hanging in the balance, President Barack Obama will tell the world Tuesday how he'll escalate the war in Afghanistan — and ...
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White House
Barack Obama
Washington, D.C
Afghanistan
Foreign Policy
Trial ordered after high court age bias ruling (Reuters)
Reuters - A federal appeals court on Monday ordered a new trial in a case that led the U.S. Supreme Court in June to make it harder for workers to win age discrimination lawsuits.
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Defense official communicated with WH crashers (AP)
AP - The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.
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White House
Barack Obama
More is Less as House Expense Records Go Online
By T. W. Farnam
House office expense reports were published online for the first time today offering more access than ever to details of how lawmakers spend public funds. But Congressional watchdogs and citizens checking in on their ...
Wendell Potter: Health-Care Exec Turns Whistle-Blower
The most effective proponent of reforming the system emerged from the upper ranks of the health-insurance industry
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Health care
Dem: Bush intentionally lost bin Laden (Politico)
Politico - Hinchey accusses Bush of letting bin Laden escape during the American invasion of Afghanistan.
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World
Afghanistan
Dems sour on stock transaction tax
Three House Democrats rip a proposed tax on stock transactions, as the idea gains traction among others.
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Congress
Democratic National Committee
Democrat Probes State Dinner Breach
A House Democrat said he's seeking surveillance footage, logs and other records that may help show how a Virginia couple allegedly breached White House security at a state dinner last week.
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Congress
Virginia Foxx
Obama War Speech to Outline Costs, Limits for U.S. (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg - Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will outline
for the public tomorrow the cost of his new strategy in
Afghanistan and the limits on U.S. involvement there, White
House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
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White House
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Robert Gibbs
Michael Bloomberg
Conservatives hammer Huck over shooting
The conservative blogosphere unleashed a torrent of criticism against Mike Huckabee Monday.
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Mike Huckabee
AP News in Brief (AP)
AP - Obama to detail plan to add as many as 35,000 troops in Afghanistan with US exit strategy
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World
Afghanistan
Pelosi spends $2,993 on flowers
The House Speaker, who has come under fire for spending before, also spent $2,740 on bottled water.
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Congress
Nancy Pelosi
Swiss minaret vote and vague fears about Islam
General concern about creeping Islamic power, rather than a critical national problem with mosques, appears to have produced the Swiss minaret vote banning construction of the towers.
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General David Petraeus
As Obama adds troops to Afghanistan, Iraq challenges aren't over (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - KIRKUK, Iraq _While President Barack Obama prepares to announce that he's sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, his problems in Iraq are far from over.
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World
Iraq
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Huckabee's commutation record
From msnbc.com's Carrie Dann As we noted this morning, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee came under fire during his presidential run for his commutation of the sentence of Wayne Dumond, who was found guilty of rape and murder in Missouri after ...
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Mike Huckabee
Washington, D.C
9/11 families back Afghan surge, but some are wary (AP)
AP - Americans who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 will watch with keen interest when President Barack Obama presents his new plan for the war in Afghanistan.
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World
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
9/11
Obama's Diplomacy Push May Pay Off
Obama's diplomatic push may pay dividends as he seeks additional NATO troops in Afghanistan, backing on climate legislation and taming a defiant Iran.
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White House
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Iran
Networks plan live coverage of Obama's speech (AP)
AP - A number of TV networks are announcing plans for live coverage of President Barack Obama's speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
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White House
Barack Obama
Rising debt threatens to derail Congress on just about everything (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The Senate began a debate Monday over the future of health care in America that's likely to go on for weeks, but behind the scenes, lawmakers are struggling to resolve an even more explosive issue: how to pay ...
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Washington, D.C
Swiss minaret ban: Can Europe learn to trust its Muslim citizens?
Switzerland's ban on minarets is based on inflamed stereotypes that Islam is in conflict with Swiss values.
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World
Switzerland
Senate opens health care debate
The U.S. Senate opened debate Monday on a sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's health care system.
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Health care
Washington to host international AIDS forum in 2012 (AFP)
AFP - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Monday that the International AIDS Society will host its 2012 conference in Washington, as the Obama administration lifts a decades-old ban on HIV-positive visitors.
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White House
Washington, D.C
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Barack Obama
International Monetary Fund
Reid to Senate: Get ready to work overtime on health care
Reid to Senate: Get ready to work overtime on health care.
Washington (CNN) – On their first day back from the Thanksgiving break, Harry Reid had a warning for his fellow senators: You can forget about any more down time for ...
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Congress
Harry Reid
Health care
Evan Bayh
Analysis: Contentious primaries will precede 2010 Senate elections
Washington (CNN) - Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to leave the Republican Party in April handed President Obama a key vote in the Senate, and Specter was rewarded by quickly being endorsed by the president and Democratic leaders in his bid for ...
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Congress
Republican National Committee
Arlen Specter
Afghan officials fear talk of exit strategy (AP)
AP - Afghan officials hope President Barack Obama's address on Afghanistan won't be weighted too heavily on an exit strategy — even though that's the message many Americans and Democrats in Congress want to hear.
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White House
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Liberal think tank wants Afghan timeline
From NBC's Ali Weinberg and Kelly Paice President Obama must "set a timeline" for foreign combat troop involvement, insist on sustained commitments from allied countries, and recalibrate the U.S.-Pakistani relationship in order to achieve results ...
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World
Afghanistan
Homeland Security
Barack Obama
Levin: Obama needs to 'connect the dots' Tuesday
Levin: Obama needs to 'connect the dots' Tuesday.
Washington (CNN) - There is an overriding theme to Sen. Carl Levin's acceptance of President Obama's expected announcement that the United States will be sending upwards ...
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World
Barack Obama
Afghanistan
Carl Levin
Senate opens debate on health care bill
Washington (CNN) - The U.S. Senate opened debate Monday on a sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's health care system.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched what is expected to be a lengthy and rancorous legislative battle by hailing the ...
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Congress
Harry Reid
Health care
Conservative Blog Buzz: Huck hit hard
From NBC's Kelly Paice The conservative blogosphere is hitting Mike Huckabee hard today regarding his granting of clemency to the suspect in the Washington state shootings that killed four police officers. Their conclusion, like First Read's ...
DeMint takes heat for downplaying his home state
(CNN) – The Democrat hoping to unseat Jim DeMint next year took direct aim at the conservative South Carolina senator for the first time on Monday, accusing him of putting "personal political ambitions" ahead of his constituents.
Chad ...
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Congress
Jim DeMint
Chad
Peter DeFazio
Senators urge renegotiation of U.S. trade deals
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. senators urged President Barack Obama Monday to back legislation requiring the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a long list of other trade pacts they blame for millions of lost U.S. ...
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White House
Washington, D.C
Barack Obama
Crasher Couple Deny Seeking Cash For Their Story
The Virginia couple who allegedly crashed a White House state dinner denied that they have been trying to sell their story to the media.
Tareq and Mihaele Salahi are not shopping any interviews or demanding money from any media networks ...
Crasher Coule Deny Seeking Cash For Their Story
The Virginia couple who allegedly crashed a White House state dinner denied that they have been trying to sell their story to the media.
Tareq and Mihaele Salahi are not shopping any interviews or demanding money from any media networks ...
