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President Joe Biden will unveil the much-anticipated first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on Monday, agency officials confirmed. The image, known as “Webb’s First Deep Field,” will be the deepest and highest-resolution view of the universe ever captured. Biden is scheduled to release it on Monday. President Joe Biden will unveil the much-anticipated first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on Monday, agency officials confirmed. The image, known as "Webb's First Deep Field," will be the deepest and highest-resolution view of the universe ever captured, showing myriad galaxies as they appeared up to 13 billion...

President-elect Joe Biden will outline his sweeping economic rescue package in a prime-time speech in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday evening. The package, which will be at the top of Biden’s legislative agenda as he takes office amid an ongoing pandemic, includes a commitment to $1,400 direct stimulus checks and has an estimated price tag in excess of $1.4 trillion, Reuters reported Thursday.

NEW YORK—Former President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new climate initiative Monday to help cities measure their risk for severe weather and natural disasters. The hope is to help curb the impact of deadly storms like Superstorm Sandy, which devastated parts of New York City last October. The project will be run through C40, a coalition of major cities around the world that united to study the impact of climate change on their municipalities. The group, chaired by Bloomberg, merged two years ago with the Clinton Climate Initiative—an offshoot of Clinton’s philanthropic foundation. Known...

The planned unveiling in London of a memorial to the 55,573 Royal Air Force Bomber Command airmen killed in World War II has sparked muted criticism in Germany, where many regard the Allied air raids that destroyed entire cities and killed over 500,000 civilians as unjustified and criminal. Helma Orosz, the mayor of Dresden, which was devastated in an Allied attack in February 1945, criticized the plans for the monument when they first became public in 2010, and spoke to London Mayor Boris Johnson about it. "The planned memorial triggered astonishment in Dresden and was judged critically by us in...

The Fenway Frank and Dodger Dog need to make some room because there is a new champion coming this season. The "Champion Dog" at Rangers Ballpark measures nearly two feet long and weighs a pound, before any toppings are added. The all-beef frank includes a mountain of shredded cheese, chili and sautéed onions. The meal comes with a pile of fries and is designed for four people. At $26, it has a price tag to match too. Shawn Mattox, Sportservice general manager, which handles concessions for the park, was looking for an item that had the "wow" factor. "We just...

Senate Democrats have filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through fiscal year 2011, according to Senate GOP sources. The 1,924-page bill includes funding to implement the sweeping healthcare reform bill Congress passed earlier this year as well as additional funds for Internal Revenue Service agents, according to a senior GOP aide familiar with the legislation. The package drew a swift rebuke from Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. "The attempt by Democrat leadership to rush through a nearly 2,000-page

Reuters) - The Obama administration is expected to announce by Wednesday its updated plan for oil and natural gas drilling in U.S. waters, including whether to allow exploration for the first time along the U.S. East Coast

ANSING, Mich. – Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will roll out her final budget plan Thursday amid a chorus of calls for more spending from some groups and lower taxes from others. The Democratic governor hasn't said if she'll propose raising or shifting taxes as a way to deal with a deficit of at least $1.6 billion in the budget year that starts Oct. 1. But it seems likely. Granholm has proposed saving about $450 million annually by trimming teacher and state worker benefits, cutting prison costs and requiring that some school services be privatized. But that still leaves a gaping...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is unveiling plans to require higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and tougher rules on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson planned to release the proposed regulations Tuesday. They call for the auto industry's fleet of new vehicles to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. The plan follows up on President Barack Obama's announcement in May that the government regulations would link emissions and fuel economy standards. The Obama administration estimated earlier this year the requirements would cost up to $1,300 per new vehicle by...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to announce on Friday a competition for $4 billion in federal grants to improve academic achievement in U.S. schools, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Obama wants states to use funds from the competition, dubbed the "Race to the Top," to ease limits on so-called charter schools, link teacher pay to student achievement and move toward common U.S. academic standards, the Post said. Charter schools receive public funding but generally are exempt from some state or local rules and regulations. They are operated as an alternative to traditional public schools.

LONDON – Scientists unveiled on Tuesday what they hope will be one of the world's fastest biofuel vehicles, powered by waste from chocolate factories and made partly from plant fibers. Its makers hope the racer will go 145 mph and give manufacturers ideas about how to build more ecologically friendly vehicles. The car runs on vegetable oils and chocolate waste that has been turned into biofuel. The steering wheel is made out of plant-based fibers derived from carrots and other root vegetables, and the seat is built of flax fibre and soybean oil foam. The body is also made of...

A group of scientists have unveiled what they say is the most comprehensive study ever of African genes. Published following a decade of study, the researchers say their findings give new insight into the origins of humans. The first humans probably evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border before migrating north, the study says. Published in the US journal Science, it aims to teach Africans on population history and aid research into why diseases hit particular groups. The scientists examined genetic material from 121 African populations, as well as four African-American populations and 60 non-African populations.

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday to keep the government running until mid-November, giving them more time to bridge gaping differences with President Bush over the budget. The stopgap legislation is needed as the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year looms with none of the 12 annual spending bills, which fund government agencies and departments, passed into law. At the same time, the bill temporarily extends health coverage for children from low-income families as Congress and Bush wrangle over how much to expand the program, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The House is poised to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Interior Department will unveil on Monday its official plan for oil and natural gas drilling in federal waters through 2012, the department said on Friday. The department's Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore federal lands, declined to give details of the announcement, other than that the "multi-year program would significantly increase the nation's domestic energy supplies while protecting the coastal and marine environments." The department must issue a drilling plan that outlines where it expects drilling in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf every five years. The MMS said in January the drilling plan could include...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats next week will push to impose a conservation fee on oil and natural gas taken from the Gulf of Mexico if prices remain at current high levels. Also, under a package of energy measures to be unveiled Friday, oil and gas companies would be barred from future Gulf lease sales unless they agree to renegotiate flawed 1998-99 leases that allowed them to avoid federal royalty payments. The legislation is part of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s priority agenda that is being pushed through during the first 100 hours of business with Democrats...

BAGHDAD -- As the country of Iraq moves from a heavy reliance on military security towards self-reliance and an everyday presence of civil security, the National Police will provide a paramilitary presence skilled in bridging the gap between the military and police services. A new plan by Iraq’s Ministry of Interior is designed to facilitate the transition. The use of paramilitary forces is common to many countries. Known in France as Gendarmerie and in Italy as Caribinieri, these forces have been widely used in peacekeeping operations throughout the world. These types of forces were used in Haiti during the rebellion...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his health care affordability summit Monday to unveil a plan to expand health access for California children as he met with noted business, labor and medical leaders to discuss reforms to the overburdened health care system. Across campus at the University of California, Los Angeles, state Treasurer and Democratic nominee Phil Angelides staged his own "town hall" event with the associate director of the university's Center for Heath Policy Research and a handful of senior citizens and university students. Angelides pledged to sponsor legislation to expand the state's Healthy Families Program and force all companies...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose a new plan Saturday requiring drug companies to give discounts to low-income residents within five years or face state sanctions, Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe said Friday. The plan is similar to Democratic proposals the governor has rejected in the past. Under the new proposal, drug companies would have five years to offer discounts to people who earn less than three times the federal poverty level, or about $60,000 a year for a family of four. Companies that do not cooperate could be cut out of the state's Medi-Cal program, which provides...

Çatalhöyük excavations unveil very dawn of human civilization Monday, July 10, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News A total of 130 houses have been unearthed to date during excavations at the 9,000-year-old site of Çatalhöyük in Konya's Çumra district, excavation assistant team leader Shahina Farid has said. The first excavations at the site -- considered one of the oldest settlements in the history of mankind, dating back to the Neolithic Age -- were conducted by British archaeologist James Mellart, who uncovered 80 houses during excavations between 1961-1964, according to the Anatolia news agency. Work at the site resumed in 1993...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's incoming prime minister said Wednesday he will unveil his Cabinet to parliament this weekend, the first sign that the country may finally be moving ahead with a national unity government after weeks of wrangling. There are hopes that sharing power successfully will help heal the sectarian rift underlying the relentless wave of violence that has swept Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago and open the way for American troops to begin returning home. But talks were still under way on choices to head the critical ministries of interior and defense, which control the police...