Free Republic

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin offered couples cash to have more children to halt a dramatic decline in population and called for a stronger army in a key speech on Wednesday in which he shrugged off sharp attacks by Washington. Putin, defying predictions he would focus on foreign policy, zeroed in on Russia's dwindling population -- an issue with huge implications for the economy -- which is falling by 700,000 people every year. In his annual speech to the nation, the president, who in July hosts leaders of the G8 group of rich democracies, responded only obliquely to stinging...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Despite promises to open up government and even his own calendar for public review, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape California benefit from millions of dollars in spending by nonprofit groups that are not required to disclose where they get or how they spend their money. These groups have supported some of Schwarzenegger's most memorable events, including trade missions to Tokyo and Tel Aviv, bus tours up and down the state and even the wild July appearance at a shopping mall in Ontario where he called Democrats "girlie men" during the budget impasse. But quirks in state...