Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday called on House Republicans to pass a short-term deal to extend the payroll tax cut while talks continue over how to pay for a year-long cut. In his first statement on the issue since Sunday, McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his counterparts in the House to pass an extension to prevent “any disruption the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions.” Read full article > >

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McConnell: House should pass short-term extension of payroll tax cut

The Obama administration will give states broad latitude to define the minimum benefits that many health insurance policies will be required to offer under the 2010 health-care law, officials announced Friday. The plan sparked criticism from interest groups on all sides of the issue. Consumer advocates worried that millions of Americans could end up with insurance substantially less comprehensive than the law’s drafters intended. Representatives of employers and insurers warned of an opposite scenario: A state could make the benefits package so comprehensive that the resulting plans would be prohibitively expensive. Read full article > >

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Minimum essential health benefits will be largely set by states

At a hospital full of survivors of a series of suicide bombings, the Afghan president promised to pursue the issue with Pakistan, but stopped short of accusing them of involvement.

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Karzai Seeks to Discuss Attacks on Shiites With Pakistan

Thousands of demonstrators march in Durban demanding faster action on climate change, as the annual UN summit on the issue reaches its half-way point.

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Protests at climate change summit

Australia’s governing Labor party votes to support same-sex marriage, although its MPs will be allowed a free vote on the issue in parliament.

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Australia Labor for gay marriage

Several lawmakers expressed support Wednesday for a controversial bill aimed at curbing online piracy as lobbying over the issue reached a fever pitch. In a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill proposed by committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), a bipartisan group of lawmakers said new laws are needed to help media outlets, software makers and retailers fight the illegal distribution of movies, songs and software. Read full article > >

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SOPA, controversial online piracy bill, gains support as lobbying intensifies

The U.S. Navy is confronting any number of strategic challenges as it seeks to rein in costs and cope with an aging fleet of ships and planes. And, then, on a new ship, there’s the issue of the toilets. The USS George H.W. Bush , built at a cost of $6.2 billion and deployed on its first combat mission only last spring, has experienced chronic plumbing problems for months, with the faltering of its vacuum-based system repeatedly leading to toilet outages. Read full article > >

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Naval ship faces chronic toilet outages at sea

A New Jersey congressman wrote directly to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta two months ago to raise questions about the Dover Air Force Base mortuary’s longtime practice of dumping troops’ cremated body parts in a landfill , but says he never received a reply. The congressman’s letter raises questions about when Panetta learned that the mortuary disposed of cremated portions of remains at the King George County, Va., landfill between 2003 and 2008. His spokesman, George Little, said Panetta was first briefed on the issue Wednesday. Read full article > >

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Pentagon was warned about landfill issue

Even as other countries take action, the issue is fading from the American agenda.

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News Analysis: Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

Scottish and UK ministers meet to discuss proposed new financial powers for Holyrood, amid an ongoing row over the issue.

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Tax issues focus of power group

Prime Minister David Cameron raises the issue of the Alexander Litvinenko murder case at the start of his bridge-building visit to Russia.

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Cameron raises Litvinenko issue

Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Alan Harper says that the issue of clergy entering civil partnerships with same-sex partners could be a source of major division in the church.

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Primate civil partnership warning

A Big Issue seller in Bath has landed his dream illustration job after a chance encounter.

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VIDEO: Big Issue seller lands dream job

New York’s state assembly approved a gay-marriage bill late Wednesday evening, setting up a showdown in the higher chamber. As of Wednesday, Senate Republicans were still undecided on how they would vote on the measure. “This issue has not been…

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NY Assembly Passes Gay Marriage

Nigeria’s pastors run multi-million dollar empires which rival that of oil tycoons, a Nigerian blogger who researches the issue tells the BBC.

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Nigeria’s ‘millionaire’ pastors