The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was "shocked and appalled" that one of his potential successors had sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro."

Two months ago, Mohammad Anwar recalls, the Taliban paraded accused thieves through his village, tarred their faces with oil and threw them in jail. The public punishment was a clear sign to villagers that the Taliban are now in charge.

The Illinois House committee investigating a possible impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't subpoena two incoming White House advisers, the committee chairwoman said Saturday, shutting down a request from the governor's attorney.

She stressed, all pensions and wages will be indexed by the inflation rate, and benefits will be preserved.

Lytvyn has intention to meet with Russian leadership.

The speaker stressed, he had not consulted with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko regarding the candidacy for this position.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Verkhovna Rada passed the national budget for 2009 on December 26.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, President Viktor Yuschenko applied to the Constitutional Court with a request to give official interpretation of the date for the next presidential elections in Ukraine.

The Conservatives would cut taxes if they won the next General Election, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne suggests.

Britons need the spirit shown in World War II to get through the recession, Gordon Brown is to say in his New Year message.

The Illinois House committee investigating a possible impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Saturday that members won't subpoena two incoming White House advisers as the governor's attorney requested.

A day after spending a quiet Christmas evening at their vacation retreat, President-elect Barack Obama and his children watched a dolphin show at an aquatic park and then picked up some shave ice, a local treat.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday that if what he's done asIllinois governor is an impeachable offense, he's living on the "wrongplanet" and is in the "wrong place." Speaking to a local TV reporter outside a Chicago law office, the

As the events unfold on the Gaza Strip, with Israeli planes attacking Hamas-controlled security compounds and Hamas vowing revenge, vacationing President-elect Barack Obama is keeping his own counsel.

Tennessee politician Chip Saltsman, currently running for chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent a controversial collection of songs to members of his party as a Christmas present, but one song in particular is garnering a bit of attention.

A new prosecutor in Colorado says he plans to take a fresh look at oneof the country's most high-profile cold cases — the slaying a dozenyears ago of JonBenet Ramsey.

Crews gradually restored electrical service across parts of Oahu onSaturday after a power failure blacked out the island's population ofabout 900,000 people and thousands of tourists including vacationingPresident-elect Barack Obama.

Even after a crucial deadline came and went, the financing arm ofGeneral Motors Corp. remained silent Saturday on whether it cleared afinal hurdle to become a bank holding company and gain access tobillions in federal bailout money.

Police in central New Mexico say a tour bus lost control in an areawith icy roads and overturned, killing two people and injuring at least50 others.