Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, insists he has a mandate to hold a referendum on independence amid a growing row with Westminster.

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Salmond ‘has referendum mandate’

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, facing increased scrutiny as he solidifies his standing atop the Republican presidential field, sought to convince conservatives in a forum Saturday night that he would not stray from a limited-government philosophy. Asked why conservatives should trust that he won’t advance “big government approaches,” given his history of supporting an individual health-care mandate, climate change policies and a larger federal role in education policy, Gingrich said it was his years in Washington that made him best-suited to transform government. Read full article > >

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Republican hopefuls make pitch at Huckabee forum

First Minister Carwyn Jones writes to the Prime Minister insisting the assembly’s election system is not changed without a mandate from the people.

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Jones plea to PM over vote change

For weeks, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction heard exhortations to “go big” and come up with a $4 trillion to $5 trillion debt reduction package. But committee members apparently couldn’t even agree on their mandated $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction — and it seems increasingly likely that they will now throw in the towel with no agreement at all . Read full article > >

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Our super-pathetic debt supercommittee

MADRID — Spanish conservatives won a resounding mandate at the polls Sunday, freeing them to make deep austerity cuts as they struggle to pull the country’s economy out of a tailspin. In an election marked by bitter disappointment and desperation over the euro zone’s highest unemployment rate, the Socialists who have led the country since 2004 were cast from office in their worst showing in the modern era of Spain’s democracy. Read full article > >

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Spain’s conservatives earn resounding election victory as voters oust Socialists

The White House Thursday threatened to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act because of a series of provisions within the bill that mandate military custody for some terrorism suspects and prevent the administration from transferring detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “Any bill that challenges or constrains the President’s critical authorities to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the Nation would prompt the President’s senior advisers to recommend a veto,” the White House said in a statement. Read full article > >

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Veto threatened over detention provisions

As a candidate, President Obama vigorously opposed the mandate that required people to buy coverage or pay a penalty. That requirement is at the heart of the constitutional challenge.

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News Analysis: Insurance Mandate May Be Health Law’s Undoing

Small record-keeping errors might exist concerning tens of thousands of graves at Arlington National Cemetery, but a review of every plot has not found any additional cases of people being buried in the wrong places, cemetery officials said Friday. The grave-by-grave accounting of the country’s preeminent military burial ground was mandated by Congress last year after an Army investigation found widespread problems at the 150-year-old cemetery, including misidentified and misplaced remains, urns that had been unearthed and dumped in a dirt pile, and millions of dollars wasted on botched contracts. Read full article > >

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No more burial mistakes at Arlington Cemetery found so far

To better ensure its staff follows the school’s biblical mandate, Georgia’s Shorter University told its 200 employees late last month to sign a “Personal Lifestyle Statement” rejecting homosexuality, adultery and premarital sex. The New York Daily News reports that those who don’t sign the pledge may lose their jobs. Read full article > >

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Georgia’s Shorter University tells workers to sign pledge they are not gay

Facebook’s use of software that enables it to track users’ online activity after they log off of the social-networking site came under scrutiny in Washington this week, with lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups demanding a federal investigation. In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission , Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.) wrote that Facebook’s use of “cookie” software should be investigated under the “unfair and deceptive acts” clause of the agency’s mandate. Read full article > >

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Facebook tracking prompts calls for FTC investigation

On the same July day that Donald Rumsfeld was patted down by airport security at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, I underwent an upper-body pat-down at Reagan National. I was posing spread-eagle in the full body scanner, in compliance with various mandates of the federal Transportation Security Administration, when something set off a female TSA agent, who began mumbling anxiously into her walkie-talkie. Read full article > >

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How my shirt flummoxed the TSA

More than 4.2 million people have security clearances for access to classified information, a number that vastly outstrips previous estimates and nearly rivals the population of metropolitan Washington. The number was disclosed in a new report that was mandated by Congress and marks the first time that the government has produced a detailed accounting of the clearances issued to federal, military and contract employees. Read full article > >

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How many security clearances have been issued? Nearly enough for everyone in the Washington area

RICHMOND — After hours of emotional debate, the Virginia Board of Health overwhelmingly approved far-reaching regulations for abortion clinics Thursday that some operators say could shut down many of the state’s 22 facilities. The very specific regulations , some of the toughest in the nation, include mandates on the size of exam rooms, the width of hallways and the number of parking spaces, as well as requirements for inspections, medical procedures and record-keeping. Read full article > >

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Va. Board of Health approves stricter rules for abortion clinics

The new bipartisan congressional committee charged with reducing the federal deficit will hold its first meeting Thursday, and if it is to fulfill its mandate, it must come up with enough savings to buy every team in the National Football League. And then buy the whole league over and over again — 35 times. The mission is to reduce the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, enough money to cash out Oprah 400 times over. The dollar figures tossed around in Washington’s debate over spending have grown so large that for many people they have ceased to have much meaning. Read full article > >

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Supercommittee faces super-sized challenges

The president will seek to pressure a special Congressional committee to propose measures to promote job creation as well as larger long-term deficit cuts than mandated, aides said.

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Obama to Press Committee on Jobs