By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States uses drones for surveillance in some limited law enforcement situations, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday, sparking additional debate about President Barack Obama’s use of domestic surveillance. The acknowledgement...
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FBI director admits using surveillance drones on U.S. soil
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Obama to appoint Republican Jim Comey to head FBI
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will nominate Jim Comey to be the next FBI director on Friday, picking a former Justice Department official who has deep experience in the U.S. battle against terrorism, a White House official said on Thursday. If confirmed by the Senate, Comey, a...
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Boehner asks Obama to push Democrats to act before student loan rates double
By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner urged President Barack Obama on Thursday to push Democrats in Congress to back a move to switch student loan interest rates to a market-based system before they double on July 1. In just 10 days, rates on...
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Archaeologists discover lost Maya city in Mexican jungle
By Luc Cohen MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Archaeologists have found an ancient Maya city that remained hidden for centuries in the rain forests of eastern Mexico, a discovery in a remote nature reserve they hope will yield clues about how the civilization collapsed around 1,000 years ago. The...
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Four in ten U.S. adults care for sick and elderly relatives
By Yasmeen Abutaleb WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Four in 10 U.S. adults are now caring for a sick or elderly family member as more people develop chronic illnesses and the population ages, a new study has found. “More health care is happening at home,” said Susannah Fox, associate...
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Research finds wealth warps your perspective and makes you less ethical
Across multiple studies, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have found that being in the upper-class predisposes individuals to acting unethically. Studies conducted by psychology professor Paul Piff found those who drive luxury cars were less likely to stop for pedestrians,...
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Gohmert: Cutting food stamps not evil because poor people buy king crab legs
Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday denied it was “evil” for Republicans to want to cut food stamps because poor people used the program to purchase extravagant foods. The Texas congressman complained that Democrats had portrayed Republicans as evil because they supported a...
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Astronomically high air pollution plagues city-dwellers in Asia
Air pollution has become a curse for millions of city-dwellers in Asia, posing a mounting risk to the very young and very old, pregnant women and people with heart and respiratory problems, say experts. “The levels of pollution in parts of China, India and elsewhere in Asia are just...
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Watch live: Sen. Jeff Merkley addresses Netroots
Netroots Nation 2013 kicked off on Thursday evening with a speech from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in San Jose, California. Other speakers include Ash Kalra (San Jose City Council), Howard Dean, Barney Frank, Becky Bond, Speaker Perez, Sandra Fluke, and Mike Honda. Watch live, broadcast via Netroots...
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Secret FISA court allows NSA to collect and use data without a warrant
Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is...
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Mainstream media accused of belittling Brazilian protests
Brazilians marching against corruption and the cost of the 2014 World Cup are also angry at the media, including the influential Globo network, accused of belittling their movement. In Sao Paulo, the country’s business and media capital, Globo TV crews have been jeered while covering protest...
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American Medical Association calls on reversal of gay blood donor ban
A leading US doctors’ group this week urged the reversal of a decades-old ban on donations of blood from gay men, saying the law is discriminatory and outdated. The policy decision came Tuesday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, a professional grouping of...
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Obama meets privacy board to discuss surveillance programs
US President Barack Obama Friday meets members of a privacy watchdog board, finally fully active after years of delays, to discuss a furor over US spy agency Internet and telephone snooping. The meeting will take place in the secure Situation Room of the White House to allow classified information...
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European Union ministers back ban on menthol cigarettes
European Union health ministers on Friday approved plans to ban menthol and other flavoured cigarettes as part of a crackdown on youth smoking. But the ministers reduced the size of mandatory health warnings on packages, including pictures of diseased organs, and they stopped short of banning...
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American Atheists’ David Silverman at Netroots: ‘Why do we talk about God when we talk about politics?’
This year at Netroots Nation, Raw Story is asking 5 Questions of various panel speakers, exhibitors and attendees about issues you won’t hear addressed on the main stage. Though many liberals progressives define themselves as non-religious, most candidates they are asked to support...
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Coroner says Canadian tourist found in hotel water tank died of natural causes
Coroner’s officials say that a Canadian tourist whose body was found in a Los Angeles hotel’s water tank died from an accidental drowning. According to the Los Angeles Times, medical examiners found no signs of trauma on the body of Elisa Lam, and toxicology reports returned clean. Lam’s body was...
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Lesbian couple attacked after having sex in McDonald’s bathroom
Two women were allegedly attacked and beaten by a group of people outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania after being kicked out for allegedly having sex inside the women’s bathroom. The Daily Mail reported that the confrontation began Thursday afternoon, after customers at the...
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Putin supports bill granting amnesty to white-collar criminals
President Vladimir Putin urged lawmakers Friday to pass a newly-drafted bill that would grant an amnesty to white-collar criminals in a bid to improve Russia’s frigid business climate at a time of slowing growth. In a keynote address to the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin...
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Four feared dead in Canada as floods paralyze Calgary
By Nia Williams and Scott Haggett CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The heaviest floods in decades shut down the Canadian oil capital of Calgary on Friday, with an evacuation of the downtown core and tens of thousands of residents forced to leave their homes. Police said four people may have died...
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Edward Snowden charged with espionage: reports
Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and conversion of government property by federal prosecutors, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The sealed criminal complaint was reportedly filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the...
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