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(Reuters) - Armored personal carriers driven into the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk had been under the control of Ukrainian armed forces earlier on Wednesday, pictures taken by Reuters photographers showed. A soldier guarding one of six troop carriers now under the control of pro-Russian separatists told Reuters he was a member of Ukraine's 25th paratrooper division from Dnipropetrovsk. "All the soldiers and the officers are here. We are all boys who won't shoot our own people," said the soldier, whose uniform did not have any identifying markings on it. "They haven't fed us for three days on our base....

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn will consider running for president in 2016 -- if she sees an opportunity to do so, an aide to the 7th District Republican told RealClearPolitics. Blackburn is scheduled to be one of the speakers at a New Hampshire Republican rally this weekend but was not previously known to be mulling a White House bid. "If there's a door to kick down, she's willing to kick it down," the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. "These are the kinds of events you go to -- test the waters, and see what...

Sen. Rand Paul says he wants “100 percent” of pilots carrying weapons, as it’s the best way to prevent another attack like Sept. 11, 2001. “The goal of my bill is to have 100 percent of American pilots armed, because I think it’s a very cost effective, it’s the most cost effective way of deterring another attack on our planes,” Paul said on Fox News’s “Hannity” on Wednesday night. The Kentucky Republican says he supports recent calls to allow concealed weapons on military bases in the wake of the recent shooting at Fort Hood, but he is dealing with another...

A source close to Huckabee confirmed to ABC News that while in Iowa, Huckabee met behind closed doors with Gov. Terry Branstad, a fellow Republican, and other state GOP leaders and officials. In addition, he also huddled with several members of his 2008 campaign team based in the state. His message to those he encountered Tuesday, according to the source familiar with the discussions, was clear: Keep your powder dry.

A Republican Senator has questioned the utility of sending comedians to India at the expense of tax payer's money, at a time when the US is experiencing economic crunch. The question was raised by Senator Rand Paul yesterday, during a hearing of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wherein Secretary of State John Kerry, testified on the foreign policy priorities for the year 2015. "Throughout the six months preceding the attack on Benghazi, though, a lot of money was spent on things that I think most Americans would say are frivolous and maybe not part of the immediate mission of the State...

Jeb Bush, if he decides to run for president in 2016, and by some horrific nightmare, wins the White House, will bring about the apocalypse that will officially make America a footnote in history books that chronicle once great civilizations. This may sound a bit dramatic, but the truth of the matter is that the United States will not survive another Bush presidency. Many conservatives will bristle, arch their backs, pop out the claws, and start hissing at the mention of such a statement, but the fact is the Bush family are not true liberty-minded folks, but rather big government...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will make a decision on whether he’ll enter the 2016 presidential race by the end of this year, he said during an interview on Fox News Channel Sunday during the 25th anniversary celebration of his father’s presidency in College Station, Texas. ... He said in the Fox News interview that illegal immigration is, for many people, an effort to provide for their families, and “not a felony.” “It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family,” Bush said. “I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime. There should...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s massive advertising blitz has only one objective: To make South Carolina Republicans forget the massive pro-Obama voting record he’s accumulated over the last six years. Graham voted to confirm every single one of Obama’s left-wing Supreme Court nominee’s. Graham waxes eloquent over Hillary Clinton, yet blasts such friends of our constitutional liberties as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Graham cast key votes to end filibusters against gun control and Obamacare. Graham supports cap-and-trade legislation, the cornerstone of the mythical global warming hoax,

Mike Huckabee, whose win in the Iowa caucuses in 2008 put him on the national political map, holds an early lead there if he were to run again in 2016, according to a new poll. The WPA Research poll shows the former Arkansas governor on top of a field of potential candidates at 14 percent. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is in second place at 10 percent, while the rest are in single digits.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee lead the field of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates, according to a poll released Saturday. Huckabee and Paul each won support from 13 percent of likely Republican voters when asked whom they would vote for if the 2016 Republican primary were held today. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was close behind with 11 percent, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz each received 9 percent. Rand Paul tallied 13 percent again when respondents were asked which candidate they thought could defeat Hillary Clinton in the general...

Rand Paul is the most intriguing — and for Democrats, perhaps the most frightening — figure in today’s Republican Party. The Kentucky senator, who is more than flirting with a 2016 presidential run, is making a smart play for the millennial generation that was key to President Obama’s twin victories and that his own party has convincingly repelled. Paul’s unlikely pilgrimage to the progressive precincts of the University of California at Berkeley offered the most convincing evidence so far that he is serious about carving out this (sorry, President Clinton) third way space — and a demonstration of his potential...

DENVER (AP) — Marijuana farmers and agricultural tax breaks are the next wrinkle facing the states that have legal weed as lawmakers debate how to tax the product while it’s growing. Legislatures in both Colorado and Washington are taking a look at pot farmers this session. The states have already decided how to tax finished marijuana. But they are still mulling taxes as pot is produced, such as how the land on which marijuana is grown should be assessed for property taxes. Some lawmakers in both states say marijuana growers shouldn’t be eligible for any taxation perks afforded to farmers...

Sen. Claire McCaskill on Tuesday slammed recent comments by Sen. Rand Paul tying President Bill Clinton’s infidelities to the so-called war on women as “infuriating,” saying Republicans keep getting into trouble talking about women. The Missouri Democrat was talking about comments from Paul this Sunday on “Meet the Press” that Democrats decrying a “war on women” give Clinton a pass. “The Democrats — one of their big issues is they’ve concocted this, ‘Republicans are committing a war on women,’” the Kentucky Republican said. “I think, really, the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this. He took...

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is the most popular of the would-be 2016 Republican contenders among Iowa Republicans, handily outstripping his potential competition in the state that holds the first nominating contest every four years, according to a new poll. ... Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, on the other hand, sits at the bottom of the pack. Just 46 percent of Iowa Republicans say they have a favorable view of him, compared to 17 percent who hold an unfavorably view. Despite frequent trips to the state in recent months, he is still not well known to many Republicans: 37 percent still say...

CNSNews.com -- In a message sent to the Americas on Dec. 12, a day the Catholic Church celebrates in honor of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Pope Francis, who was named Person of the Year this week by Time magazine, said that America is called to be “a land prepared to accept life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age.” The Pope made his remarks during the course of the weekly general audience on Wednesday, and the message for the Americas was subsequently broadcast on Vatican Radio.

<p>Sarah Palin on Thursday apologized for comments that suggested Pope Francis might be adopting liberal positions.</p> <p>Palin had said on CNN on Tuesday that the Pope has "had some statements that to me sound kind of liberal, has taken me aback, has kind of surprised me."</p>

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- A satellite about the size of a Volkswagen van is on its way back down to Earth. The over one ton satellite is expected to crash land sometime Sunday night or Monday morning. But at this point, it's not clear where.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Michael Bloomberg has become the Republicans’ favorite punching bag in the closing days of the Virginia governor’s race. Rand Paul seized on the New York City mayor’s new $1.1 million TV ad buy, which attacks Republican Ken Cuccinelli for opposing gun control, during a Monday afternoon rally here. “Once he takes your guns, he’s coming after your Big Gulp,” the Kentucky senator said. Cuccinelli told the crowd of several hundred people that he and Paul stopped for Slurpees on the way over to the Filipino Cultural Center, their second of three stops together. “You want to...

During an interview for “This Week,” former Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush encouraged Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz – who told ABC News that he would do “anything” to stop Obamacare – to come up with an alternative and show some restraint if his aim was to repeal the president’s signature healthcare law. “I think the best way to repeal Obamacare is to have an alternative; we never hear the alternative…we could do this in a much lower cost with improved quality based on our principles, free market principles…and two, show how Obamacare, flawed to its core, doesn’t work,” Bush...

In addition to ending the shutdown and increasing the debt limit, under the proposal Congress and the White House would explore ways to ease across-the-board federal budget cuts that began taking effect a year ago, and replace at least part of them with benefit-program curbs that have been included in recent presidential budgets. Officials who described the approach did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss private conversations. With the weekend approaching, and the deadline for raising the debt limit five days away, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said it was time to "put this...