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Pope Benedict XVI 'is to resign' Breaking news The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development, reports from the Vatican say.

No pope has resigned in almost 600 years. But Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement is not entirely unprecedented. More than 260 men have reigned as Pope since Saint Peter was martyred in Rome in the third decade after the death of Christ, and at least four of them have resigned. We spoke to medieval historian Doctor Donald Prudlo, Associate Professor of History at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, about the history of papal resignations. Listen: Vatican Radio: It’s been centuries since a Pope has resigned the See of Peter. Can you tell us about the last Pope to resign? Dr....

Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also tocommunicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world,...

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down. Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed. Chu’s departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, the head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division who played a critical role in lying to Congress about Operation Fast and Furious, plans to resign soon, the Washington Post reports, citing anonymous sources. “It is not clear when Breuer intends to leave his post, nor what he plans to do once he departs, but it is certain that the prosecutor’s days in office are winding down, according to people who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter,” the Post wrote. When asked for a comment on the Post’s report, and to verify...

<p>The Obama administration's chief environmental watchdog, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, is stepping down after a nearly four-year tenure marked by high-profile brawls over global warming pollution, the Keystone XL oil pipeline, new controls on coal-fired plants and several other hot-button issues that affect the nation's economy and people's health.</p>

Via Drudge, it looks like accountability for the four deaths of Americans in Benghazi turned out to be temporary. The New York Post has learned that the four State Department officials that supposedly resigned after the Accountability Review Board report slammed Foggy Bottom for its "systemic failures" and "leadership and management deficiencies" will return to work after all --- and all but one in the same post: The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to...

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, says the resignation of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair “is the result of the Obama administration’s rampant politicization of national security and outright disregard for congressional intelligence oversight.” ABC News reported today that President Barack Obama would be accepting Blair’s resignation tomorrow, and the Associated Press reported that the administration has already interviewed several candidates to replace him. Hoekstra, who formerly served as chairman of the intelligence committee, issued a written statement saying that Blair’s readiness to step down, considering his record of service...

Former congressman Dick Armey has quit FreedomWorks, the conservative group he helped bring to national tea party prominence. Armey confirms that he wrote a letter to FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe on Nov. 30, resigning from the group, as first reported by Mother Jones. He told the Post that he does not know who leaked his resignation letter. “We accepted his letter of resignation and we wish him well,” FreedomWorks press secretary Jackie Bodnar said. “As I resign from all board positions and duties, please see below a list of dispositions on outstanding issues: I expect to be fully compensated through...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday abruptly announced he was quitting politics, injecting new turmoil into the Israeli political system weeks ahead of general elections. Barak, Israel's most-decorated soldier and one-time prime minister, said he would stay on in his current post until a new government is formed following the Jan. 22 balloting.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville police officer has quit after admitting he told colleagues that he would volunteer to assassinate President Barack Obama. Sam Koivisto told the Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/10zfc6q ) on Wednesday that his comments had been blown out of proportion and that he'd planned to retire in five months anyway. Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/20164591/police-officer-quits-after-comments-about-obama#ixzz2Czc5SK9A

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. will announce his resignation from Congress today in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Jackson's brother Jonathan Jackson said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sesame Workshop says Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned from "Sesame Street" in the wake of allegations that he had sex with an under-aged youth. Last week a man accused Clash of having sex with him when he was a teenage boy, a charge Clash denied.

In the post immediately below, Scott recaps some of the recent developments in the Petraeus scandal. I want to add one or two more, and also elaborate a bit on one of the items that Scott mentioned.The most significant of the recent bombshells, I think, is the report that Eric Holder knew about the scandal as of late summer, when the FBI contacted his office to get permission to interview Petraeus and Paula Braodwell. Holder apparently claims that he never mentioned this potentially election-derailing news to his boss and good buddy, Barack Obama. I find this claim–that, while many...

Trey Gowdy: 'He will be subpoenaed' Attempting a buck-up-the-troops post in the wake of unexpected and disheartening GOP defeat, I prioritized battle cries of 'Impeach Obama over Benghazigate' and 'NO tax increases'. This seemed to be what a lot of other people were thinking too- alas, most doubted the resolve and determination of what 'leadership' we still retain in this party- and wondered -as we always do- if anybody's even listening. Yet lo-and-behold, here we are three days later and BOTH seem on the path to realization: to the surprise and delight of conservatives, Boehner and McConnell stepped-right-up to the mike yesterday and...

The CEO-in-waiting of the defense contractor who declined to issue WARN Act layoff notices on the urging of the Obama administration — sequestration-related notices mandated by law that would have gone out just before the election — has resigned, citing an affair. Christopher E. Kubasik, 51, today resigned from his role as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer (COO), effective immediately, Lockheed Martin announced. Kubasik was set to become CEO in January. He “resigned after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. His actions violated the company’s Code of Ethics and...

Breaking now.

Dinesh D'Souza resigned as president of The King's College after a magazine story revealed that he was engaged to another woman while still married to his wife of 20 years. The Board of Trustees of The King's College, a Christian institution based in New York, accepted his resignation Thursday. Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/dinesh-dsouza-resigns-as-head-of-christian-college-amid-controversy-83538/cpf#RMCLfYaGm4Yxqop3.99

Premier Dalton McGuinty has announced he is resigning. McGuinty, who has led the Liberals since 1996 and been premier since 2003, stunned his caucus Monday night announcing it’s time for “renewal” at the helm of the party. “I’ve concluded that this is the right time for Ontario’s next Liberal Premier and our next set of ideas to guide our province forward,” McGuinty told his caucus. “Earlier today, I asked Yasir Naqvi, our party president, to convene a leadership convention at the earliest possible time.

Rep. Peter King called for the resignation Friday of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice for initially saying that the deadly Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was spontaneous. “I believe that this was such a failure of foreign policy messag[ing] and leadership, such a misstatement of facts as was known at the time … for her to go on all of those shows and in effect be our spokesman for the world and be misinforming the American people and our allies and countries around the world, to me, somebody has to pay the...