Headlines News

By Chris Baltimore HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. drug enforcement agents and Los Angeles police on Wednesday raided a Houston clinic owned by Conrad Murray, the doctor who was with pop icon Michael Jackson when he died, searching for information on the singer's use of the anesthetic, propofol. Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration entered the Armstrong Medical Clinic in nor ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected on Wednesday any notion he would order Israel's barrier in the West Bank to be torn down in response to the absence of Palestinian attacks from the occupied territory. "The separation fence will remain in place and will not be dismantled," Netanyahu said in a speech in parliament. "I hear they are saying today that beca ...

By Steven C. Johnson NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is no longer on the brink of disaster but recovery will be slow and the jobless rate will remain "stubbornly high" in coming quarters, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said on Wednesday. Healthcare reform is also crucial to a sustained recovery, Orszag told the Council on Foreign Relations, as rising healthcare costs  ...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Authorities in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Tuesday dropped disorderly conduct charges against a preeminent black scholar stemming from an incident that drew fresh attention to police treatment of minorities in the United States. Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his home in the Boston suburb of Cambridge last Thursday by a white police officer ...

By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan is repositioning forces to the south after complaints too few are involved in major U.S. and British offensives against the Taliban, officials said on Wednesday, even as clashes erupted in the north. Afghan troops battled a group of Taliban fighters dug into a valley in northern Kunduz on Wednesday, Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Az ...

By Arshad Mohammed PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sketched out on Wednesday how the United States might cope with a nuclear Iran -- by arming its allies in the Gulf and extending a "defense umbrella" over the region. She later said she was not suggesting a new policy and reiterated that Iran possessing nuclear weapons would be unacceptable.  ...

By Ross Colvin WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meets President Barack Obama on Wednesday in a visit aimed at asserting Iraq's newfound sovereignty and encouraging foreign investors to return to the war-ravaged country. Three weeks after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi towns and cities, paving the way for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011, both Washington ...

By Arshad Mohammed BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United States is concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology from North Korea to military-ruled Myanmar, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. Clinton's comments, during a visit to Bangkok, came ahead of a regional security meeting in the Thai resort of Phuket, where the most contentious topics will likel ...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to stop production of the F-22 fighter plane, handing President Barack Obama a victory as he tries to rein in defense spending. The Senate voted 58 to 40 to strip $1.75 billion for the Lockheed Martin Corp-built planes from a $680 billion defense bill, overriding the objections of lawmakers seeking to protect ma ...

By Jackie Frank WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday U.S. healthcare reform was "closer than ever," but fought to keep some fellow Democrats from deserting his chief policy initiative amid worries about its $1 trillion cost. Several key Democrats joined Republicans in Congress in suggesting a slower timetable for overhauling the $2.5 trillion industry, which  ...