McClatchy: Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.
The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.
WORLD
Yahoo: Afghan official said to take bribe for copper deal
A senior Afghan official allegedly took a $20 million bribe to steer a copper mining project to a Chinese company, a glaring example of the claims of corruption clouding the Obama administration's deliberations over expanding the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan.
In Washington, two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports said that Afghanistan's minister of mines, Muhammad Ibrahim Adel, allegedly accepted the money soon after the $3 billion contract was awarded in late 2007 to China Metallurgical Group Corp.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The payment to Adel was apparently made in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said one of the U.S. officials. Dubai, just a three-hour flight from Kabul, has long been viewed as hub for illicit cash transactions, according to an August report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The minister has denied having taken any bribes and said the contract went through all legal channels, according to Afghan state television.
Yahoo: Obama: Aim is to put US on path to end Afghan war
President Barack Obama said Wednesday his upcoming strategy in Afghanistan will "put us on a path towards ending the war" and that his goal is not to pass the conflict on to the next president.
Obama also declined to say he trusted Afghan President Hamid Karzai, offering praise to Karzai for holding his country together but saying: "He has some strengths, but he has some weaknesses."
"I'm less concerned about any individual than I am with a government as a whole that is having difficulty providing basic services to its people," Obama said in his latest blunt assessment of the Karzai government, whose competence is an essential part of a U.S. war effort now in its ninth year.
Obama is expected soon to announce a revamping of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is likely to send thousands more troops into Afghanistan to stabilize the deteriorating security there
CNN: Clinton says inauguration marks 'critical moment' for Afghanistan
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday -- the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration for a second term -- that now is a "critical moment" for Afghanistan, because Karzai has a "clear window" to demonstrate what kind of government he will lead.
Speaking to staff members at the U.S. Embassy, Clinton said there is a careful and thoughtful review of U.S. policy going on "because we know this is a turning point."
"We want to be a strong partner to people of Afghanistan," she said, "and to the government."
Reuters: Obama, South Korea's Lee urge North to end provocation
U.S. President Barack Obama and his South Korean counterpart pressed North Korea on Thursday to return to dormant nuclear talks and said it was time for the reclusive state to break a pattern of provocative behavior.
Obama and President Lee Myung-bak also agreed to push for progress on approving a bilateral free trade deal that has yet to be ratified by legislatures in either country two years after it was signed.
"The thing I want to emphasize is that President Lee and I both agree we want to break the pattern that existed in the past, in which North Korea behaves in a provocative fashion, and then is willing to return to talk ... and then that leads to seeking further concessions," Obama said.
Lee, standing beside Obama at a news conference after their bilateral meeting in Seoul, said that North Korea could hope for massive economic aid if it renounces its nuclear arms ambitions.
BBC: Iraq VP vetoes new election law
One of Iraq's two vice-presidents has vetoed part of the country's new election law, putting the parliamentary polls scheduled for January in doubt.
Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, revoked Article 1 of the law and called for the representation in parliament of displaced people to increase to 15%.
Most Iraqis who have fled violence since 2003 are thought to be Sunni.
Electoral officials say they have suspended preparations for a January vote until an amended law is approved.
Washington Post: Human rights group says Cuba is holding scores of political prisoners
Scores of Cubans have been detained as political prisoners since Raul Castro assumed power three years ago, a human-rights organization reported Wednesday, suggesting that there has been little change in the repressive system that existed under his brother Fidel.
Human Rights Watch issued what it called the most comprehensive report yet on civil and political rights in Cuba under Raul Castro, based on a two-month unofficial visit by its researchers to the island and supplemented by telephone interviews from the United States.
Raul Castro has introduced some limited free-market reforms since his ailing brother relinquished power to him in July 2006, the report said. But his government has continued to use "draconian laws and sham trials" to incarcerate people seen as critical of authorities, it added.
Colombia Reports: US Congressmen urge Clinton to step up humanitarian and decrease military aid
U.S. military funding to Colombia should be decreased and the 2011 budget should instead focus on humanitarian aid, U.S. Congressmen urged in a letter to the country's Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.
The Congressmen stated that cases of extrajudicial executions by members of the army, the resurgence of paramilitaries, the illegal wire tappings of government opponents and other human rights abuses were "trends that require a strong and focused diplomatic response." In regards to extrajudicial killings of civilians carried out by Colombian armed forces they said they were "disturbed that many of these units were recipients of U.S. military and defense assistance"
The letter calls for Clinton "to scale down assistance for Colombia's military and more systematically "Colombianize" such programs".
BBC: Brown draws election battle lines
Gordon Brown has put economic recovery at the heart of his final set of plans before the next general election.
Key measures in the Queen's Speech include a crackdown on excesses in the City and a legal obligation to halve the budget deficit within four years.
Mr Brown told the Commons Labour was the "only party with the policies to build a long-term recovery".
Tory leader David Cameron said Labour had run out of "money, time and ideas" and called for an immediate election.
ABC: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy
The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.
Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. A full report on the can be seen on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson tonight.
"The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton. "They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions."
Lithuanian officials provided ABC News with the documents of what they called a CIA front company, Elite, LLC, which purchased the property and built the "black site" in 2004.
UNITED STATES
CBS: Obama: U.S. Will Convict, Execute Mohammed
President Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and executed as Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed: "Failure is not an option."
Even if a terror trial suspect were acquitted, Holder said, he would not be released in the United States.
In one of a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, Mr. Obama said those offended by the legal privileges given to Mohammed by virtue of getting a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."
Reuters: Reid unveils broad Senate healthcare plan
U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid released a long-awaited healthcare reform plan on Wednesday that budget analysts said would extend coverage to tens of millions of the uninsured and reduce the deficit over 10 years.
After weeks of closed-door talks to combine two Senate measures, the publication of Reid's 2,074-page bill quickly set off what promises to be a lengthy and bitter debate over President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
"Tonight begins the last leg of this journey," Reid told reporters after meeting privately with Senate Democrats.
CNN: U.S. health chief: No change on mammogram policy
A federal advisory board's recommendation that women in their 40s should avoid routine mammograms is not government policy and has caused "a great deal of confusion," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday.
"My message to women is simple. Mammograms have always been an important life-saving tool in the fight against breast cancer, and they still are today," Sebelius said in a statement.
"Keep doing what you have been doing for years: talk to your doctor about your individual history, ask questions and make the decision that is right for you."
New York Times: U.S. Senate Panel Passes Food Safety Reform Bill
A Senate committee passed legislation on Wednesday that would increase government oversight of the U.S. food supply, which has been battered by a series of high-profile recalls that have soured consumer confidence in the food safety system.
The bill would expand U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight of the food supply by giving it the power to order recalls, increase inspection rates and require all facilities to have a food safety plan in place.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the legislation unanimously by a voice vote.
CBS: Hasan Reckless and Lazy, Boss Wrote in '07
Nidal Hasan's supervisor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center warned that Hasan was unprofessional, lazy and was "counseled for inappropriately discussing religious topics with his assigned patients," according to a memo obtained by National Public Radio.
Written by Dr. Scott Moran, the chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed, the 2007 memo is the first work performance evaluation that has surfaced from the file of the man who is accused of killing 13 people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood on Nov. 5.
Officials at Walter Reed sent the memo to Fort Hood this year when Hasan was transferred there, according to NPR.
The letter expresses "serious concerns" about Hasan's "poor judgment" and "lack of professionalism."
CBS4 Denver: 2 Ejected From '05 Bush Event In Court
A federal appeals court on Wednesday heard arguments that two people who were booted from a Denver public appearance by then-President George W. Bush shouldn't have been excluded from the event because of their views expressed on a bumper sticker.
Leslie Weise and Alex Young claim their First Amendment rights were violated when they were ejected from the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum on March 21, 2005, just before Bush was to appear at a taxpayer-funded town hall to tout his plan to privatize Social Security.
A judge dismissed their lawsuit last year, saying Bush had the right to ensure only his message was conveyed at his own speech. The lawsuit names two volunteers who asked Weise and Young to leave and two members of Bush's White House Advance team that oversaw the volunteers.
Weise and Young say a Secret Service agent told them they were picked for removal because they arrived at the museum in a car with a bumper sticker reading, "No More Blood For Oil," which was a reference to the Iraq war.
CNN: West Virginia's Byrd becomes the longest-serving member of Congress
When Robert Byrd came to Congress from West Virginia, a postage stamp cost 3 cents and kids were clamoring for a new toy called Mr. Potato Head.
On Wednesday, almost 57 years later, Byrd became the longest-serving member of Congress in history.
Two days before he turns 92, the eloquent legislator known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Senate rules and history surpasses Carl T. Hayden, the Arizona Democrat who served a total of 20,773 days in the U.S. House and Senate.
ENVIRONMENT
BBC: Poor women 'bear climate burden'
Women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change, a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned.
The agency said there was a disproportionate burden on those women and called for greater equality.
They do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water, it said.
MSNBC: Reality show: Calif. to require greener TVs
Most power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators adopted a first-in-the nation mandate to lower electricity demand. Given how large the California market is, the regulation could end up as a de facto national standard.
On a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission on Wednesday required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient beginning in 2011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013, and only a quarter of all TVs on the market currently meet that standard.
The California Energy Commission estimates that TVs account for about 10 percent of a home's electricity use. The concern is that the energy draw will rise by as much as 8 percent a year as consumers buy larger televisions, add more to their homes and watch them more often.