Jeffrey Zarrillo and his partner Paul Katami and Sandy Stier and her partner Kristin Perry enter the federal courthouse in San Francisco, California in this July 2, 2009 file photo.

Perhaps it is the spirit of the season, but my empathy receptors are in overdrive for poor Barack Obama.

Blizzard-like storm slams U.S. East Coast A group of men help push a motorist through the street during a snow storm in Washington, Saturday, Dec.

The Senate cleared its year-end plate of some must-do work Saturday as it passed a critical budget bill that blends money for the Pentagon with additional help for the jobless.

A historic U.N. climate conference ended Saturday with only a nonbinding "Copenhagen Accord" to show for two weeks of debate and frustration.

After months of denials, Iran acknowledged Saturday that at least three people detained in the country's postelection turmoil were beaten to death by their jailers.

A teenage Dutch sailor who made headlines when she went to court to fight for the right to sail solo around the world has gone missing, police said Sunday.

Islamic militants fired mortars into Mogadishu's police compound as the force was celebrating its 66th anniversary Sunday, sparking a battle that killed at least 12 civilians and a police officer, officials said.

The Philippines' most active volcano could have a huge eruption within days, officials warned Sunday after detecting a drastic surge in earthquakes and eerie rumbling sounds in surrounding foothills. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated as a precaution.

A slow-moving storm that blanketed swaths of the mid-Atlantic with nearly 2 feet of snow reached southern New England on Sunday, continuing its assault on the East Coast after causing at least five deaths, crippling travel and leaving empty stores

Tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators marched through the streets of the central Taiwanese city of Taichung on Sunday, ahead of the arrival of a senior Chinese envoy for trade talks that some on the island fear could eventually lead

The long-awaited subversion trial of a high-profile Chinese dissident who has called for greater civil rights in the country and an end to the Communist Party's political dominance will start in a few days, the man's lawyer said Sunday.

Outnumbered Republicans are pledging to delay passage of historic health care legislation as long as possible after jubilant Democrats locked in Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson as the 60th and decisive vote.

While the overwhelming media campaign is heralding the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference as our last chance to "save the planet", Thierry Meyssan considers that, despite appearances, the issues on the table have little to do with environmental concerns but revolve

Good morning. It's an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, friends: I promise that I will not talk more than most have spoken this afternoon. Allow me an initial comment which I would have liked to make as part of the previous point which

Thank you. It is wonderful being back here at Georgetown in this magnificent Gaston Hall, and to give you something to do during exam week. (Laughter.) It's one of those quasi-legitimate reasons for taking a break - (laughter) - which

Photo via FlickrMy Senator, Diane Feinstein of California, has calling on Congress to ban BPA -- short for bisphenol A, the ubiquitous component of plastics that has been linked to infertility and cancer. Feinstein authored the Ban Poisonous Additives (BPA)

Help Those Who Need to Be Saved From Climate Change"When Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the chairman of the G-77 group of developing countries at Copenhagen, came to the press center at 1 AM last night, he was not there to pontificate