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President Obama will not meet with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli prime minister’s visit to the United States in March, a White House official said Thursday. "As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had originally invited Netanyahu to speak early next month, but the Israeli leader asked to push back the address to coincide with...

Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) surprise invitation to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address Congress was "inappropriate," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi charged Thursday The California Democrat said that, not only did Boehner break congressional protocol by not consulting with Democratic leaders about the invitation, but the timing of the speech — coming just a few weeks ahead of Israel's contentious national elections — hints that politics are at play. "It's out of the ordinary that the Speaker would decide that he would be inviting people to a joint session without any bipartisan consultation," Pelosi said Thursday during her weekly...

(Reuters) - Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was expected to yield to demands on Wednesday for constitutional change and power sharing with Houthi rebels who took up positions outside his home after defeating his guards in two days of battle. Gulf neighbors denounced what they described as a coup in Yemen, although both the Houthis and some of the president's allies denied that he had been overthrown. A source close to the president said Hadi had met an official of the Shi'ite Muslim rebel group and would soon issue decrees resolving all differences. The source denied Hadi was under house...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Shiite rebels in control of Yemen's capital now hold the country's president "captive" at his home, his aides said Wednesday, putting in question who actually rules the Arab world's most-impoverished nation. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi "cannot leave his house" after Houthi rebels removed his guards and deployed their own fighters there Wednesday, one aide said. Another described the country being at the "point of no return." Hadi can't resign as president as the Houthis have threatened to prosecute him, that aide said. The two aides spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to...

The White House has released a couple of excerpts of the president's address to the nation. Here's the second: “But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A fire that burned the Eric Garner memorial after a vigil led by the Rev. Al Sharpton on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was an accident, according to the city Fire Department. Eric Garner's relatives, including daughter Erica Garner and step-father Benjamin Carr, have said that the fire was intentionally set.

Christiane AmanpourVerified account ‏@camanpour BREAKING: Paris is going to sue @FoxNews after image of Paris was “insulted” and “prejudiced,” Mayor @Anne_Hidalgo tells me.

(CNN)Unknown assailants fired shots Monday night at a U.S. Embassy vehicle in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, the U.S. Embassy said, at the end of a day marked by heavy fighting around the presidential palace. Nine people were killed and 67 others injured Monday in the fighting between government forces and Houthi militants, Yemen's Health Ministry said, before the sides agreed to a ceasefire. The U.S. Embassy said Tuesday the shooters fired first into the air and then turned the guns on its vehicle. The vehicle carried U.S. diplomatic personnel and was at a checkpoint near the embassy. No injuries were reported....

Seth Rogen took quite a bit of heat for this tweet about “American Sniper”: Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds. 11:05 AM - 18 Jan 2015 Apparently, he finally started feeling the burn. This afternoon, he’s trying to walk it back: Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen I just said something "kinda reminded" me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper. It just reminded me of the Tarantino scene. 2:55 PM - 19 Jan 2015 Seth RogenVerified account ‏@Sethrogen I wasn't comparing the two. Big...

EXCERPT Good-naturedly referencing his friend Andrew Young—who marched with King and is prominent in the film—early in his speech, Clinton told the sold-out crowd, “I saw Andy earlier today and I said, ‘Andy, I just watched Selma. Were you ever that thin?’ (eliciting thunderous laughter) and he said yes, he was, that they were dodging so many bullets in droves they all used to be thin.” As he continued to speak, he got decidedly more serious. “If you haven’t yet, go see the movie Selma,” he insisted, “and you will see the enormous pressures imposed on the King family and...

The United States must "repair the breach" between police and the communities they serve, Vice President Biden argued Monday during a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech. "We need to agree in this nation on two basic statements of truth," Biden said during a speech to the Organization of Minority Women in Delaware. "Cops have a right to go home at night to see their families. And two, all minorities, no matter what their neighborhood, have a right to be treated with respect and with dignity. All life matters." In the wake of police killings of unarmed suspects in Ferguson,...

As President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding national cyber security efforts, hackers claiming to represent the Islamic State (IS) took over the Twitter account of the Pentagon division in charge of the Middle East. Hackers with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, posted links on U.S. Central Command’s official Twitter page to what it claimed was “confidential data from your mobile devices.” “ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base. With Allah’s permission we are in CENTCOM now,” said one tweet sent from CENTCOM’s account.

The San Antonio Spurs will visit the White House today, Jan. 12, where they will meet with President Barack Obama and be recognized for their 2014 NBA Championship.

Attorney General Eric Holder is in Paris this week to attend a meeting on fighting terrorism, but did not participate in a march with world leaders Sunday to honor the 17 people killed last week in France. More than 40 world leaders marched arm in arm through Paris to rally for unity and freedom of expression and to honor the victims of the three days of terrorist attacks. The leaders headed a demonstration of at least tens of thousands of people who converged on the capital after three gunmen last week attacked a newspaper office, kosher supermarket and police. Among...

Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States is at war with terrorists who pervert the Muslim faith in order to justify violence. Asked on ABC's "This Week" if the U.S. is at war with "radical Islam," Holder said the country is at war "with those who would commit terrorist attacks and who would corrupt the Islamic faith … to try to justify their terrorist actions." "That's who we are at war with," Holder said. "We are determined to take the fight to them to prevent them from engaging in these kinds of activities." The exchange with "This Week" host...

The Army plans to send a brigade of tanks and fighting vehicles into Europe by the end of this year, according to the top Army commander in the region. More than 150 tanks and fighting vehicles will go to Germany and other countries in Europe as part of the Army’s plan to bolster its presence on the continent. The shift comes as the war in Afghanistan winds down and more resources and troops are available for service in Europe. “By the end of 2015, we will have an entire heavy brigade combat team of equipment — that’s enough tanks and...

On his MSNBC show Thursday, host Chris Hayes ran a segment about an attempted bombing which took place outside of the building housing the Colorado Springs NAACP that used images from a completely unrelated incident which occurred in France. The FBI and ATF are investigating the incident in which a homemade explosive was placed next to a gas can outside of the Colorado Springs building which houses the NAACP office, as well as a barber shop. The explosive was on the side of the building near the barber shop, but authorities are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime...

@CNN anchor Chris Cuomo said the black French terrorist was "African American" 12:28 PM - 9 Jan 2015

Attorney General Eric Holder is flying off to Paris this weekend for a meeting with the French Minister of Interior in the aftermath of a violent terrorist attack in which 12 people were killed and 11 wounded at the Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo, which printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Holder, who will meet with French officials on counter-terrorism, is a big opponent of “Islamophobia” against Muslims. “There can be no ‘us’ or ‘them’ among Americans,” Holder said at a 2010 dinner held by the California-based group Muslim Advocates. “And I believe that law enforcement has an obligation to ensure...

After defeating a rebellion by 25 conservative Republicans this week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday declared himself “the most anti-establishment Speaker” in history. “During my years here when I voted, I had the eighth-most conservative voting record in the Congress, and it does pain me to be described as spineless or a squish,” Boehner told reporters. “But what pains me the most is when they describe me as the establishment. “I’m the most anti-establishment Speaker we’ve ever had. "Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Who's the guy who believes in regular order? Me," Boehner continued....