Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift a longstanding ban on women serving in combat, according to senior defense officials.The services have until this May to come up with a plan to implement the change, according to a Defense Department official.That means the changes could come into effect as early as May. The services will have until January 2016 to complete the implementation...

Read More..

At State, you lose some, you keep some

A major opening at the State Department: We’re hearing that highly regarded Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides has decided to decline Secretary-designate Sen. John F. Kerry’s offer that he stay on for up to a year for the transition. Nides, the deputy secretary for management, apparently told Kerry on Friday that he wanted to move on after two years on the job and would leave in February. ...

Read More..

Justin Bieber overtakes Lady Gaga in Twitter follower race

  By mid-day, the Biebs had 33,342,299 followers, against 33,333,682 for the Mother Monster, followed by Katy Perry, Rihanna and, a day after his public second-term inauguration, President Barack Obama with 26,183,711 followers.Last week Twitter Counter had forecasted that, according to its algorithms, Bieber would clinch first place last Sunday.Bieber and Lady Gaga -- who had led...

Read More..

EC suggests to Justice Verma panel to penalize MLAs filing false affidavits

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC), in its suggestions to the Justice J S Verma committee tasked with reviewing the anti-rape laws, has proposed that legislators found to have filed false affidavits with their nomination papers, should be immediately disqualified and punished with imprisonment upto two years.The EC, whose representatives appeared before the Verma panel on Saturday, sought a tougher...

Read More..

Space Pictures This Week: Solar Tantrum, Petroglyphs at Night

Photograph by Tony Rowell, Your ShotThis image of Native American petroglyphs, or rock art, shot against the Milky Way, was taken in California's eastern Sierra Nevada on January 14.Petroglyphs—one of many forms of rock art—are created by scraping, rubbing, or chiseling designs into the patina coating desert rocks. Depending on the conditions surrounding a piece of rock art, these designs can endure...

Read More..

Left Turn? Obama Speech Invigorates Progressives

A presidential campaign that was largely about jobs and the economy gave way during Monday's inaugural ceremonies to a sweeping affirmation of progressivism and call for "collective action." Now, liberal allies of President Obama say they're closely watching to see whether the second-term president follows through on issues with which he has struggled before.Obama's groundbreaking...

Read More..

Football: Platini disagrees with Blatter over Boateng

PARIS: UEFA president Michel Platini differed with his FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter on Monday in applauding Kevin-Prince Boateng leading his AC Milan team-mates off the pitch after receiving a torrent of racial abuse in a friendly earlier this month.Blatter had said players should not take matters into their own hands although he has since said that clubs whose fans are guilty of racial...

Read More..

Bhagat Singh Koshyari likely to be next Uttarakhand BJP chief

DEHRADUN: BJP national vice-president Bhagat Singh Koshyari is all set to be unanimously nominated as the next BJP chief in Uttarakhand with Tirath Singh Rawat and Trivendra Singh Rawat, two of the top contenders, withdrawing their nomination papers on Monday.Both the Rawats withdrew their nomination papers a day after they filed it for the poll for the post of state BJP chief.A source in BJP said...

Read More..

Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

Read More..

Live Updates: Obamas Watch Inaugural Parade

Four years and one day after President Obama first took his first oath of office, America is once again celebrating his Inauguration. This time the schedule includes performances by Beyonce and Katy Perry, a parade with more than 2,000 members of the military and two Inaugural balls.Refresh here for updates throughout the day.Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page on Monday morning starting at...

Read More..