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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stevie Wonder is calling off a concert for a group that raises money for the Israeli military. Wonder had been scheduled to perform next week for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, which raises money for Israeli soldiers and their families.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A federal judge is considering whether to block a first-of-its kind California law that prohibits licensed therapists from counseling gay minors on how to become straight. U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento held a 50-minute hearing on the issue Friday and said she intended to issue a written ruling next week.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that his department arrested ten illegal aliens being smuggled into the United States. The ten aliens were in the back of a pickup. The driver and suspected smuggler of the group absconded and escaped arrest. The ten would-be immigrants were paying $4000 each to be smuggled into the United States. The apprehension of a pickup packed with illegal aliens is not newsworthy yet the documentation of the smuggling fees of $4000 per alien is. With the possibility of a blanket amnesty being seriously discussed by both political parties, the attraction to come to the United States...

A new Texas-based company is developing a shooting system that could turn even the least skilled marksmen into a sniper-quality shooter. TrackingPoint calls its system the “world’s first precision guided firearm.” President Jason Schauble explained in a YouTube demonstration of the technology that what the company did is “put jet fighter lock-and-launch technology into a firing system.” The system uses a conventional gun and ammunition, but combines them with a Intelligent Digital Tracking Scope and a guided trigger. The technology doesn’t let you fire until the shot is spot on. “You don’t have to be an experienced shooter,” Schauble said...

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda fighters are still trying to make inroads into Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, cautioning that battling the group would be a core U.S. mission there for years to come. Panetta made the comments as the United States weighs how large a military force to keep in Afghanistan when the NATO combat mission ends in 2014, ending a war that, at that point, will have stretched for over 13 years. There are approximately 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but the residual force may number less than 10,000. President Barack Obama could decide in...

A 16-year-old boy was arrested by police investigating a hate crime after pieces of ham were thrown at a mosque. The teenager was held on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offence by officers called to Broadfield Mosque in Crawley, West Sussex. Sussex Police said "real anguish and anxiety" was caused to worshippers who witnessed the incident as they left the mosque at around 4pm last Tuesday. Eating pork and products made from it is strictly forbidden in Islam. The arrested teenager, who is from the local area, has been freed on police bail pending further inquiries. Sergeant Jim...

In response to a question from reporter Major Garrett on whether the Obama administration's mishandling of Benghazi raises "core questions of basic competency," press secretary Jay Carney revealed that Barack Obama "is not particularly concerned" about whether Susan Rice misled the American people: "What the president is worried about, Major, is what happened and why in Benghazi. He is not particularly concerned about whether the ambassador or I went out and talked about the fact that we believed extremists might have been responsible.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- An elder from Montana's Crow Indian Tribe who ceremoniously adopted then-Sen. Barack Obama into his family during the 2008 presidential race has died. Tribal officials say 78-year-old Hartford "Sonny" Black Eagle Jr. died Monday at his home in Lodge Grass on the tribe's reservation in the southeastern part of the state.

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, dismissed discussion of GOP defections from his “no new taxes” pledge, and President Obama’s tax theories, as pure fantasy. In a Tuesday interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition,” the conservative activist reinforced that support for his “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” — which was signed by 95 percent of Republican congressmen earlier this month – is not waning. Norquist stated that Democrats’ openness to substantial spending cuts is like imagining a “pink unicorn.”

President Barack Obama urged Americans on Wednesday to help him pressure Congress to prevent a Jan. 1 tax hike on the middle class, saying it was up to the public to make sure Washington doesn't "screw this up." "When the American people speak loudly enough, lo and behold Congress listens," Obama said, flanked by Americans who answered the White House's call to detail what that tax increase would cost them personally. "We really need to get this right. I can only do it with the help of the American people," the president said. "It's too important for Washington to screw...

An anti-gun owner initiative considered in Washington could lead to massive civil disobedience and a severe domestic crisis, gun law expert John M. Snyder warned on Friday. "According to confidential information," he said, "forces linked with the administration suggest the government classify semiautomatic firearms and multiple capacity ammunition feeding devices as Title 2 National Firearms Act items under the Gun Control Act of 1968. Americans familiar with federal gun laws understand that under this scenario, semiautomatics and high capacity magazines could be acquired only with great difficulty and at great expense by America's estimated 100 million law-abiding firearms owners, notes...

The president-elect of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, praised President Barack Obama's immigration plan in a meeting today at the White House. “We fully support your proposal,” said Peña Nieto in reference to Obama's immigration plan, according to the pool report. “We want to contribute. We want to be part of this.” Obama indicated his willingness to visit Mexico after the president-elect invited the American president to the 2013 North American Leaders Summit. “Any excuses to go to Mexico,” said Obama. “I’m always game.”

The White House sharply escalated its attacks Tuesday on Republicans trying to stop Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice from succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. Press secretary Jay Carney described GOP lawmakers as being gripped by a politically fueled "obsession" with a series of television appearances Rice made shortly after the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in which she wrongly suggested the attack had stemmed from a demonstration over an anti-Muslim video rather than a terrorist assault. Carney's comments came after Rice met privately on Capitol Hill with Republican...

LONDON (AlertNet) - Flood-hit countries in Latin America and Asia – particularly Thailand, Cambodia and Pakistan – were the most severely affected by climate change in 2011, according to rankings released Tuesday. But the United States soared up the worst-hit list as a result of a spate of tornados, record-breaking temperatures and intense hurricanes in 2011 - which suggests the country’s recent damage from Hurricane Sandy may be part of a trend toward greater vulnerability to climate impacts. The United States, which has been on the most-affected list previously, including after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, moved from 30th place...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Four female military service members have filed a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday and is the second such federal challenge filed by female service members this year.

Saying they want to get the conversation on immigration reform started, top Senate Republicans on Tuesday introduced a version of the so-called “Dream Act” to grant young illegal immigrants legal status in the US, though not giving them a special path to citizenship. GOP Sens. Jon Kyl and Kay Bailey Hutchison said they have introduced a bill that would reward those who take college classes or join the military. “We have got to get this ball rolling,” said Mr. Kyl, an Arizona Republican who is retiring this year. “We have to have a discussion that is sensible, that is calm.”...

Under fire from congressional critics, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice stressed in a Tuesday statement that she did not intend to mislead the public about the September 11th attacks on the Benghazi consulate. "Neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved," Rice said. Rice has emerged as a high-profile administration for congressional critics who claim that the Obama administration tried to cover up a terrorist link to the attacks. Rice and acting...

The White House expressed "significant and serious" concerns on Monday about Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's shock power grab last week. But press secretary Jay Carney carefully avoided offering any criticism of a leader who just one week ago seemed to be on President Barack Obama's speed dial as they worked on a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Carney repeatedly addressed the political crisis in Egypt in relatively dry and mild diplo-speak, while emphasizing that Morsi "played an important role" in crafting the cease-fire and deserved "credit" for that. There was no "we strongly condemn" and no "we denounce," and even...

On the eve of a visit by Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto, the White House promised Monday that President Barack Obama "will be pressing for action" in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform and regards that goal as "achievable." "There is a real opportunity here to move forward and the president is committed to that," press secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily briefing. "He believes that comprehensive immigration reform is achievable ... because there has been in the past bipartisan support for immigration reform," Carney said. "And he thinks it's important not just for specific communities that would be...

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice will meet with senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questions about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya. CBS News has learned her appearance will include a morning meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been among her biggest critics since her initial remarks on the attack. Rice has come under fire from Republicans for her initial account of the attack five days after it took place, when she suggested that there was no evidence the incident was an act of terrorism. On CBS News' "Face the Nation," in one example, she said...