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Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a "punk prayer" on the altar of Russia's main cathedral went on trial on Monday in a case seen as a test of the longtime leader's treatment of dissent during a new presidential term. The women from the band 'Pussy Riot' face up to seven years in prison for an unsanctioned performance in which they entered Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral wearing masks, ascended the altar and called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!" Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, were brought to Moscow's Khamovniki court...

Protesters broke windows of least a half-dozen storefronts in Anaheim on Tuesday and five people were arrested in the second major clash between police and demonstrators since an officer shot dead an apparently unarmed man. Tom Tait, mayor of the southern California city, had called on Monday for a state and federal review of the shooting of the man, a suspected gang member. Over 600 demonstrators gathered at City Hall on Tuesday, where officials were holding a regular meeting, police said. Some threw patio chairs through the windows of a Starbucks, according to a Reuters witness. No one in the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a law that will tighten controls on civil rights groups funded from abroad, the his press office said on Saturday, a step opponents say is part of a campaign to suppress dissent. The law, which was cleared by the upper house of parliament earlier in July, will force non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaging in "political activity" to register with the Justice Ministry as "foreign agents" and to file a report to officials every quarter. Opposition groups say Putin is trying to silence groups whose criticism of his human rights record has undercut his credibility and...

At 8:42 PM Central, it was already certain to any sentient human being that incumbent Republican Scott Walker had romped contender Tom Barrett in the Wisconsin recall election. Yet, despite the crater-sized percentage gap, here is what CNN, via Reuters, was reporting:Maybe this is why CNN is hemmorhaging viewers like nobody's business. But it's Fox that invents news, right?But what interested me was the main photo on this Reuters page. What the $^*@ is that doing hanging there like some third world Commie dictator's poster in a voting location???

Reuters is worried that new tough anti voter fraud laws will hurt Barack Obama’s chances of reelection next November. Complaining that such laws “could” reduce Obama’s supporters by “hundreds of thousands” the media outlet apparently sees no irony in its own position. Reuters doesn’t feel at all self-conscious about the implication that only fraudulent applicants have to be concerned about these new laws and honest people would not be disadvantaged in the least. “Republican” led Legislatures Further exposing its support for voter fraud the media giant cites “Republican-led legislatures” in 12 states as the culprits who are sharply restricting fraudulent...

They’re ladies first – Ninjas second There are now reportedly 3,500 black lady ninjas in Iran ready and willing to defend the evil regime. MSNBC, CNN and Reuters reported on these female trained killers last month. The dreaded Iranian she-ninjas sued Reuters today on defamation charges. Iran Press TV reported: Last month, Reuters showed a number of Iranian girls training martial arts in a city near Tehran, claiming Iran was training more than 3,000 female ninjas to kill any possible foreign invaders. The distorted Reuters report was picked up by other British media outlets. Following the strong reaction of Iranian...

More than half of Americans support President Barack Obama's apology for U.S. troops burning copies of the Koran, an incident that triggered a spate of bloody protests and attacks on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, 56 percent of those surveyed backed Obama, who has been criticized by U.S. Republican presidential candidates for apologizing to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Twenty-three percent disagreed. While the spasm of violence that erupted following the incident on a NATO base in Afghanistan does not appear to have significantly altered Americans' perspective on the war, 66 percent of those polled...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pledges to curb Jewish zealotry in Israel on Sunday after an 8-year-old girl complained of being menaced by ultra-Orthodox men who deemed her dress immodest. While his conservative government insists such incidents are fringe phenomena in the mostly secular country, Netanyahu's repeated announcements on the matter reflected concern about widening religious and political schisms. "In a Western, liberal democracy, the public realm is open and safe for all, men and women both, and neither harassment nor discrimination have any place there," he told his cabinet in broadcast remarks. Netanyahu said he had ordered law...

The days of unbiased reporting are well behind us. What we have now are news agencies who are bent on furthering a political agenda. Proof positive comes in the form of a Reuters story with a somewhat confusing title: “Alabama immigration law decried, applauded as some flee state.” (Click here for original story) The title is somewhat ambiguous as to who is “decrying” and who is “applauding” but the article leaves little doubt as to the ideological leanings of the author(s): (Reuters) – A climate of fear and panic has taken hold in Alabama’s immigrant community since a federal judge...

Obama said the U.S. recovery suffered setbacks this year due to problems around the world, including the Arab Spring uprisings that drove up energy prices and worries about the financial health of European countries. "They have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with all the challenges that their banking system faced. It is now being compounded with what is happening in Greece," Obama told an audience of about 400 in Mountain View in California's Silicon Valley. "So they are going through a financial crisis that is scaring the world and they are trying...

Feinstein campaign sues bank, ex-treasurer over missing fundsBy Mary Slosson LOS ANGELES | Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:59pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Senator Dianne Feinstein's campaign sued its former treasurer and the First California Bank on Friday, seeking the return of millions of dollars in missing funds the campaign believes were embezzled. Campaign officials said the action came after the bank failed to provide the campaign access to its own account records when a tangle of unauthorized money transfers and co-mingling of funds was unearthed. The irregularities were spread across 400 bank accounts and dozens of organizations over a...

President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed the end of the policy banning gays from serving openly in the armed forces, as the Pentagon vowed "zero tolerance" for harassment of homosexuals in the military. "Today, the discriminatory law known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is finally and formally repealed," Obama said in a statement. "As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love." The repeal went into effect on Tuesday, ushering in a new era in the armed forces. The law had allowed gay men...

Congress approved and President Barack Obama signed a deal to raise the government's debt ceiling on Tuesday after the Senate passed it by a 74-26 vote. Here is a list of how each Republican (R), Democratic (D) and Independent (I) senator voted:

New disagreement erupted late on Saturday between congressional Democrats and Republicans over the timetable for increasing U.S. borrowing authority, possibly jeopardizing efforts to avert a default. Democratic and Republican leaders escalated their fight despite instructions from President Barack Obama earlier to produce a budget plan by Monday that would clear the way for Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2. Saying he was "deeply disappointed" by the lack of progress toward a deal to raise the credit limit built around deficit cuts, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Republican "intransigence" was "pushing us to the brink...

Reuters) - A Yemeni man yelled "God is greatest" in Arabic as he tried to barge into the cockpit of an American Airlines flight over the weekend, a federal prosecutor told a judge in the case on Tuesday. Rageh Al-Murisi, 28, has been charged with interfering with a flight crew for the incident on Sunday aboard American Airlines flight 1561, which was bound for San Francisco from Chicago with 162 people on board.

The top oil exporter and U.S. ally is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of public dissent, does not have an elected parliament or any political parties. Saudi Islamists and opposition activists this month launched a political party called the "Islamic Umma" in a rare challenge to authority inspired by unrest triggering regime change in Tunisia and Egypt... New York-based Human Rights Watch demanded the release of the activists, some of whom have been campaigning for several years for greater political freedom in Saudi Arabia.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve's journey to the outer limits of monetary policy is raising concerns about how hard it will be to withdraw trillions of dollars in stimulus from the banking system when the time is right. While that day seems distant now, some economists and market analysts have even begun pondering the unthinkable: could the vaunted Fed, the world's most powerful central bank, become insolvent? Almost by definition, the answer is no. As the monetary authority, the central bank is the master of the printing press. It can literally conjure up money at will, and arguably did...

WikiLeaks' next assault on Washington may highlight U.S. government reports on suspected militants held at Guantanamo Bay, which some U.S. officials worry could show certain detainees were freed despite intelligence assessments they were still dangerous. The leaks could be an embarrassment to President Barack Obama's administration, already angered over WikiLeaks document dumps of U.S. State Department cables, as it seeks to fulfil a 2-year-old pledge to close the prison and either release the foreign terrorism suspects or move them elsewhere.

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) – Years after India broke into the hi-tech business with information technology and China by way of manufacturing, Brazil may find its entrance in an unusual place -- a cow's ear. The South American giant is preparing to use its first locally-designed microchip in cattle earrings, a device that could eventually help authorities crack down on destruction of the Amazon rain forest caused by roaming herds. Produced by state-funded firm Ceitec, the "Chip do Boi" or "Cow Chip" is part of home-grown innovation efforts that Brazil hopes will help it overcome challenges in its sprawling economy...

President Barack Obama tried to revive his common touch on Thursday with a mainly light-hearted appearance on daytime television where five women hosts grilled him about his Blackberry, Lindsay Lohan and the Afghan war. His appearance was the first by a sitting U.S. president on a daytime talk show. It allowed Obama to appeal directly to a targeted audience as he fights flagging poll numbers while he and his fellow Democrats try to avoid big losses in the November congressional election. "The View" typically draws 3-4 million viewers and is particularly popular with women who are home at its late-morning...