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Biden reportedly lashed out at Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra over his department’s handling of migrant children -- amid broader reported tensions between the White House and HHS. Biden "lashed out" at Becerra in a March 30 Oval Office meeting when Becerra allegedly failed to have answers for questions about the agency’s ability to take care of migrant kids, according to The New York Times. The Biden administration has been facing a dramatic surge in migrants at the border -- particularly unaccompanied children, who the Biden administration is not removing via Title 42 public health protections that...

Judicial officials say a Saudi court has convicted four women and 11 men for mingling at a party and sentenced them to flogging and prison terms. The men, who are between 30 and 40 years old, and three of the women, who are under the age of 30, were sentenced to an unspecified number of lashes and one or two year prison terms each. The fourth woman, a minor, was sentenced to 80 lashes and was not sent to prison.

EN ROUTE TO OSHKOSH, Wis., Nov. 12, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today condemned a spate of leaks regarding both the Afghanistan strategy deliberations and last week's shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, threatening to fire anyone in the Defense Department he finds is involved. "I am appalled by the amount of leaking that has been going on," Gates told reporters traveling with him today in the wake of media reports following yesterday's national security session on Afghanistan, President Barack Obama's eighth in the past two months. Gates said he has little doubt that some of those leaks have...

Saudi Court to Review Case of Rape Victim Sentenced to 200 Lashes November 28, 2007 A Saudi court will review the case of a teenage gang rape victim sentenced to jail and flogging after she was convicted of violating the country's strict sex segregation laws, the foreign minister said Tuesday. The remarks by Prince Saud al-Faisal, made in the United States and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, were the latest in response to a salvo of international condemnation of Saudi judicial authorities' handling of the case. It was also a sharp turn from a statement Saturday in which...

HOLLYWOOD starlets who regret topless appearances in B-list films made before they hit the big time should spare a pitying thought for their Iranian counterparts - who risk far more than mere embarrassment.In a scandal now gripping the conservative Islamic country, police are investigating a private film circulating on the black market that purports to show a rising young soap star making love to her boyfriend. The woman is being investigated for a suspected breach of the country's morality laws that prohibit sex outside marriage. Lashing is the penalty. Her alleged partner in the footage, which has spread across the...