Search results for

The rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel is the work of Israeli collaborators, says Ahmed Yusuf, political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. He says Hamas was willing to agree to a new cease-fire with Israel, but Israel hadn't lived up to its end of the bargain.

President-elect Barack Obama has named Arne Duncan of Chicago as his secretary of Education, drafting a fellow Chicagoan who has been associated with innovations in that city's troubled schools. Obama said Duncan was a "hands-on" practitioner of school reform.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) is apparently President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be Interior secretary, a position usually reserved for Westerners. But Salazar is getting mixed reviews at best from environmentalists and public lands advocates, while agricultural and mining interests are relieved.

President Obama called the conflict in Afghanistan "a war of necessity." Speaking Monday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Obama also lashed out at wasteful Pentagon spending and pledged to veto any pork-laden defense bills.

The Senate began debate Monday on the Democrats' plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. The measure faces an uphill battle, however, because of a dispute over abortion coverage and a government-run insurance option.

Following IndyMac's collapse, questions have been raised about Washington Mutual, one of the largest savings and loans. This week, WaMu issued a statement to show it was financially sound. But the company's own projections estimate losses of up to $19 billion.

The presidential and vice presidential candidates are criss-crossing the U.S. one day before the 2008 election. Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama and their running mates, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, are in key swing states.

China has launched an economic stimulus package worth nearly $600 billion, which includes more government investment in infrastructure, tax deductions for exporters, and bigger subsidies to the poor and farmers. Asian markets soared in response.

Hospitals in Maryland would be financially rewarded for keeping people healthy and out of the hospital. The arrangement, once unimaginable, could serve as a model for containing hospital costs elsewhere in the country.

President Obama says the economy is still stressed out, but there are "glimmers of hope." After meeting with economic advisers, the president says those include low mortgage rates leading to refinancing, increases in small business loans and stimulus tax cuts making their way into paychecks.