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U.S. President Barack Obama plans to usher in what he hopes will be a second four-year term in the White House at an election-night rally at a huge convention center near downtown Chicago, campaign and city officials said on Wednesday. The event will likely draw thousands of supporters to the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago, Obama's hometown and the site of his re-election campaign headquarters. Supporters are expected to watch the voting results come in and then hear a speech by the incumbent Democrat who faces Republican Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, in the...

With the outcome of next month’s presidential election increasingly hazy, here’s a shred of clarity that investors can cling to: The tax rates they pay on investment income such as stock profits and dividends are almost certain to change. Whether rates rise or fall could affect the prices of some dividend-paying stocks, experts say. Some, mainly Republicans, believe that lower rates would boost the economy and lift markets. Under the current system, people pay the government 15 percent on most dividends and capital gains, the profits from selling investments. Both candidates’ proposals would divide taxpayers into two categories: Those who...

Last week, the blog China Defense posted two photos, nearly identical, with only one line of text: “Just in case you might get confused, only one bird below is the J-20.” The J-20 stealth fighter is the creation of the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for the People’s Liberation Army in China. About a year and a half ago, the People’s Liberation Army conducted its first tests of the aircraft, which is expected to be fully operational sometime between 2017 and 2019.

American scientists have drawn up plans for a new generation of nuclear-powered drones capable of flying over remote regions of the world for months on end without refuelling. The blueprints for the new drones, which have been developed by Sandia National Laboratories – the US government's principal nuclear research and development agency – and defence contractor Northrop Grumman, were designed to increase flying time "from days to months" while making more power available for operating equipment, according to a project summary published by Sandia. "It's pretty terrifying prospect," said Chris Coles of Drone Wars UK, which campaigns against the increasing...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The newly established Jewish Tea Party of New York will hold its first official event Wednesday, a Staten Island Stands With Israel event co-hosted by the Staten Island Tea Party. "It is time for Americans to stand and proclaim their support of the only true democracy in the Middle East," said group founder Ilya Galak, editor of Citizens Magazine, a publication that caters to the borough's burgeoning immigrant Russian population. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Staaten, West Brighton. Said Galak: "Israel is a staunch ally of the United States in a...

A controversial proposal to build a massive underground pipeline to carry 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas has become the environmental issue of the summer, pitting developers and labor unions desperate for construction jobs against environmentalists and Native American tribes who fear the pipeline will spell environmental disaster. TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL project would consist of more than 1,700 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipe, about 327 miles of which would be in Canada while the rest would snake southward through the central United States. Because the pipeline would...

DeMint Still Fighting for 'Cut, Cap and Balance' Sen. DeMint reacts to Pres. Obama's speech and critiques debt plans revealed by Boehner and Reid WATCH THE VIDEO.

CAIRO - Egypt's long banned Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday it intends to form a political party once democracy is established, as the country's new military rulers launched a panel of experts to amend the country's constitution enough to allow democratic elections later this year. The panel is to draw up changes at a breakneck pace - within 10 days - to end the monopoly that ousted President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party once held, which it ensured through widespread election rigging. The initial changes may not be enough for many in Egypt calling for the current constitution,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal 2012 will seek to cut the record federal deficit by $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years, White House budget director Jack Lew said on Sunday. Lew, speaking on CNN, said the president was also on track to halve the budget deficit by the end of his first term in office, which goes through 2012. But Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, said the spending cuts in the president's budget to be released on Monday were not enough. "We are reducing programs that are important programs that we care...

When it comes to the democrats job creating abilities, it's non-existent. But to be fair, I haven't heard what I want to from republicans either. What are their job creating ideas? Are they going to bring back our American companies from overseas by cutting the red tape, regulations and tariffs that made them go outside the U.S.? Are they going to put a choker leash on the Unions? Are the "green" jobs actually going to stay in the U.S.?

BEIRUT – The Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its allies plan to resign from the Lebanese Cabinet and topple the government on Wednesday over tensions stemming from the international investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, officials said.

The ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee promised Sunday that he would launch a number of investigations as chairman in the next Congress, but that he would do so in a "less partisan way." "The most important thing my committee can do is seek the truth," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on "Fox News Sunday." "I'm going to go after a lot of things and I'm going to do a lot of investigating," he said. Issa said that one issue to be tackled would be administration earmarks in the form of competitive grants. He was asked...

Camp: Americans being forced out of health plans because of ObamaCareBy U.S. Rep. Dave Camp Updated: 8:41 am, Sun Jul 18, 2010 President Obama and the Democrats repeatedly told Americans that if they liked the health plan they have, they can keep it. Sounds good. Too bad it's not true. As a result of the Democrats' health care law, residents in Virginia have already lost access to one health care plan and now many residents in Maine could lose theirs as well. If this trend continues, millions of Americans will lose their health plan -- something nonpartisan experts repeatedly warned...

Pentagon researchers are attempting to develop a military vehicle which can travel underwater like a submarine before bursting out of the waves and flying like an aeroplane. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US military science and technology department, has set about creating an aircraft that can fly low over the water until near its target before disappearing under the sea to avoid detection. It would then creep closer in submarine form before attacking its target, probably a ship or coastal installation, and fly home.

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HUNTSVILLE, Canada (AFP) – The drive for a punitive global tax on the world's largest banks ran into the sand Saturday with key G8 and G20 nations dismissing the European plan as unwarranted. A last-gasp European push for the levy failed as a raft of developed and developing countries -- led by G20 hosts Canada -- rejected one-size-fits-all rules. Britain, France and Germany had argued the tax would curb the type of excessive financial risk-taking that pushed the global economy to the brink, and help build a nest egg for future crises. But the idea came up against fierce opposition...

A Northwest Portland psychiatrist who the state has reprimanded for wrongly prescribing drugs says he plans to open a facility in the city and charge fees to help patients end their lives under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. Stuart G. Weisberg has mailed invitations to local doctors and politicians inviting them to a July 21 "presentation" at the deluxe El Gaucho restaurant in downtown to unveil his new business, End of Life Consultants LLC.

It sounds like the sort of diabolically genius plot that usually comes from Republicans, but there's reason to wonder whether Florida Democrats have conspired to put tea party candidates on ballots in hopes that it will siphon votes from leading Republican candidates. Chief suspect: Fire-breathing liberal Alan Grayson, the Orlando Democrat whose health-care histrionics have led him into a tough reelection race. Roll Call notes that a woman running in his race as a Florida Tea Party candidate was previously working for Grayson as a pollster.

The left-wing militants of SEIU and the National People’s Action group plan to shut down K Street, the heart of the lobbying industry in the nation’s capital, at a massive in-your-face rally and march planned for Monday. The goal of the “action” –in organizing parlance— is a show of force calculated to intimidate bank lobbyists and show support for sweeping anti-bank legislation pending in Congress. The action, called The Showdown on K Street, is listed at the website of Jobs With Justice. JwJ works closely with ACORN, other community organizing groups, and the labor movement.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Thursday will create a commission to privatize as many as 2,000 state jobs beginning next January, officials said tonight. As he grapples with an $11 billion deficit in the budget he will present on Tuesday, Christie is also considering invoking the Disaster Control Act to suspend Civil Service rules to make it easier for him to lay off higher paid workers, according to two administration officials. The Republican governor today plans to sign an executive order creating the task force to cut the size and cost of the state payroll. Three officials familiar with his...