A Pentagon report being released this hour says nearly three quarters of service members polled believe that allowing gays to serve openly in the military will have little to no impact, but the report says there is a significant minority that opposes
From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Speer. The White House is wrapping up its effort to get a nuclear arms treaty with Russia through Congress this year. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the latest big Republican gun to come to the White House's aid. T
The US House is expected to vote this hour on whether to extend expiring tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports the issue's been generating heated debate. Democrats say they want to keep lower tax rates from middl
Iran announced today it's produced its own uranium, which could be processed into material that could be used for nuclear power. Iran's nuclear energy chief said this means Iran has become self-sufficient in the entire fuel cycle, from extracting ura
From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum. In the Senate today, Republicans blocked two Democratic proposals for extending the expiring Bush-era tax cuts. NPR's David Welna reports the measures ran into a wall of Republican opposition. Democratic pr
The embattled founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, is suffering another setback. Switzerland has frozen the bank account of his whistle-blowing website. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the bank reportedly acted because Assange allegedly had provided
President Obama is standing by his decision to give the GOP what it wanted - Bush-era tax cut extensions for the wealthiest Americans. Confronted with criticism from members of his own party, the president called the last-minute briefing with White H
From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A Baltimore man is in federal custody for allegedly plotting to blow up a military recruitment site in Maryland. The Justice Department says the suspect, Antonio Martinez, is a 21-year-old Muslim conver
In Britain, thousands of students are crowded around Parliament in protest at today's vote to triple university tuition. The plan to cap tuition fees to the equivalent of $14,000 was approved 323-302 in the House of Commons, where supporters said the
The man accused of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart has been found guilty. Today, a jury convicted Brian David Mitchell eight years after he abducted Smart from her Utah home when she was 14. Smart is now 23 years old. NPR's Howard Berkes report
NATO says six coalition troops and two Afghan soldiers have been killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. In Kabul, NPR's Quil Lawrence reports military authorities say a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed van at the gates of
From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. In a legal blow to the Obama administration, a federal court judge in Virginia has struck down a central piece of the president's health care law. US District Judge Henry Hudson ruled today that requiri
An appeal from Swedish prosecutors is keeping Julian Assange in a British jail for at least another two days. Sweden is fighting a British judge's decision today to free the Wikileaks founder on bail while he fights extradition to Sweden, where he fa
The US government is suing BP as well as eight other companies and subsidiaries over the unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. Attorney General Eric Holder says the suit is just the first step in holding BP and others accou
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the president's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, is in the hospital after emergency surgery. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, Holbrooke is a veteran diplomat who's been given some of the thorniest fore
British police have arrested 12 men on terrorism charges during early morning raids in three cities, saying urgent action was needed to protect public safety. But officials are calling the arrest just the first stage of a large-scale intelligence ope
President Obama is expressing cautious optimism about the way the war's progressing in Afghanistan. NPR's Rachel Martin reports the White House releases its long-awaited progress report today. The president took the podium flanked by the Vice Preside
President Obama signed the 858-billion-dollar tax-cut bill this afternoon, extending Bush-era tax rates for another two years. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the tax bill passed the House last night with nearly equal support from Democrats and Repub
From NPR News in Washington, Im Nora Raum. The Senate is set to vote in about an hour on whether to overturn a ban on gays serving openly in the military. A major opponent is John McCain of Arizona, who said there's no evidence the policy has failed.
The Senate is in session today to discuss whether to ratify START, a new arms control treaty signed by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev earlier this year. Treaties require the approval of a two-thirds majority. Vice President Joe Biden