According to some, May 21, 2011 will mark the Day of Rapture and the end of the world as we know it. CNN takes an irreverent look behind the predictions and the unsurprising amount of skepticism it’s creating.         My Take: Doomsdayers show what’s wrong with all religion Editor’s Note: David Silverman, […]

The April 3, 1968 issue of the Monterey Peninsula Herald is now a deep color of sunset and among my proudest of possessions. On an inside page, across three columns, the headline reads, “Sex and Foreign Policy.” The article goes into some detail about how I started to post articles critical of the Vietnam War […]

Al Qaeda released a posthumous audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he praised revolutions sweeping through several Arab countries, and called for more Muslim “tyrants” to be toppled. Islamists have conspicuously been absent in the uprisings in the Middle East that have largely been led by ordinary citizens angered by autocratic rule, corruption […]

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Three years into the mortgage meltdown, California homeowners still have little relief from the foreclosure crisis. Last week, state legislative committees failed to clear three separate bills designed to help struggling homeowners and hold banks more accountable during foreclosure proceedings. This news comes as the number of foreclosures continues to rise, […]

Mexico City – Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday. X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern state of Chiapas, the state attorney general’s office said. The drivers of […]

Most high school students are chronically tired. They juggle school, sports, homework, chores, friends and family. To meet all of these demands, surveys show, high schoolers usually stay up close to midnight on school nights. And then they have to get up early the next morning, typically around 6 or 6:30 a.m., to get to […]

If Congress does not raise the limit on U.S. government debt before the specter of default becomes reality this summer, President Barack Obama will need to decide which bills to pay — and choose between market mayhem and a firestorm over missed benefit payments. The Obama administration and lawmakers are locked in talks over how […]

Paris – A French politician said Monday that International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing sexual assault charges in New York, attacked her daughter in 2002. Anne Mansouret, a member of parliament for the Socialist Party, said she cautioned her daughter, Tristane Banon, not to file a police report at the time, saying […]

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 16, 2011 White House Releases The Small Business Agenda: Growing America’s Small Businesses to Win the Future Highlighting Critical Support for Small Businesses Across the Country Report release marks kickoff of 2011 National Small Business Week   WASHINGTON — Today, the President’s […]

New York – Authorities charged the head of the International Monetary Fund early Sunday with criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment over an alleged incident in a New York hotel, his lawyer said. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was in police custody in connection with the alleged sexual assault Saturday of a Times Square hotel […]

With the government about to hit its $14.3 trillion debt limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned of “catastrophic” consequences and a new recession if Washington is not able to borrow more. A divided Congress has run out of time to raise the debt limit before Monday’s deadline, forcing Geithner into an emergency reallocation of […]

In Mexico City, the world’s richest man has just opened a new museum to showcase his extensive European and Mexican art collection. Telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim calls the museum a gift to his country. The glimmering, modern building is already being hailed as a new landmark in Mexico’s capital, but it is also being criticized […]

London, England – He is one of China’s most successful and internationally renowned artists — but at the opening of his latest exhibition “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” in London, the controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was missing. The unveiling of 12 cast bronze sculptures — representing the Chinese zodiac animals — at London’s Somerset House […]

Census Bureau Releases 2010 Census Demographic Profiles for Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin The U.S. Census Bureau today released the Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Puerto […]

On May 6th, the Indonesian Consulate announced the launch of the “American Batik” Design Competition, a contest searching for the best batik designs that incorporate the American spirit through the use of batik. The theme of the competition is “the spirit of America in the heritage of A fashion show displaying both traditional batik and […]

The number of empty houses and rental units in California has jumped over the past decade, according to new Census data released Thursday–another sign of how the Great Recession and housing bust have continued to batter the nation’s largest state. Some 8.1 percent of all housing units in the state were vacant in 2010, up […]