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Senate confirms Obama judge pick WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana yesterday for the Chicago-based U.S. Appeals Court for the Seventh Circuit, approving a nominee targeted by conservatives as a liberal activist.

NEW YORK | The rumors are true, according to Sarah Palin: The McCain-Palin campaign was not a happy family. In Mrs. Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue," the former Alaska governor confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The vice presidential candidate confirms that she had wanted to speak on election night, but was denied the chance and says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.

(IsraelNN.com) A United Nations Security Council committee confirmed on Tuesday that Iran violated U.N. sanctions by trying to send a ship with weapons to Syria. The high-explosive shells, including those than can pierce armor, and anti-tank explosives may have been destined for Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Hizbullah in Iran or Syrian-backed Iraqis, Council diplomats told the Associated Press.

TEHRAN (AFP) — The US confirmed Tuesday that Iran has launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns in an international community already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive. "It appears that the Iranians conducted a launch of a low orbit satellite," said a US official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – The Senate has confirmed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as commander of U.S. Central Command and Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to receive his fourth star and succeed Petraeus as commander of Multinational Force Iraq. The full Senate confirmed Petraeus by a vote of 95-2 and Odierno by a 96-1 margin. Odierno is the Army’s 3rd Corps commander and served as commander of Multinational Corps Iraq for 14 months. The changes put Petraeus -- who implemented the U.S. surge into Iraq -- in charge of U.S. military forces in a dangerous part of the...

WASHINGTON - A new solar cycle is under way. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday that the first sunspot of a new 11-year cycle has appeared in the sun's northern hemisphere. The frequency of sunspots rises and falls during these cycles, and the start of a new cycle indicates they are likely to begin increasing. Sunspots, areas of intense magnetic activity on the sun, can affect Earth by disrupting electrical grids, airline and military communications, GPS signals and even cell phones, the agency said. During periods of intense sunspot activity, known as solar storms, highly charged radiation from...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2007 – A Congressional Research Service report confirms the Defense Department estimate for when the Army and Marine Corps will run out money and be forced to furlough civilians and shutter bases. The report, released Dec. 6, says the Army will run out of operations and maintenance money by mid-February, and the Marine Corps will run out of funds a month later. Amy Belasco, Stephen Daggett and Pat Towell wrote the report, titled “How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?” The service, a part of the Library of Congress, affirmed...

British troops in Iraq are afraid to open fire, secret MoD report confirms By Sean Rayment. Defence Correspondent (Filed: 30/04/2006) British troops in Iraq "lack the confidence to open fire" because of a "fear of prosecution", says a confidential Ministry of Defence (MoD) report seen by The Sunday Telegraph. It confirms that soldiers believe that if they shoot dead insurgents they will become embroiled in a "protracted investigation" and if prosecuted will receive "no support from the chain of command". British troops show restraint when attacked in Basra The study into soldiers' confidence is understood to have been ordered by...

AL TAMAL, Iraq (Jan. 14, 2006) -- Seaman Bryan W. Stocks, a 20-year-old Kenai, Alaska, native and platoon hospital corpsman for 3rd Platoon, Company A, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, had a tough choice to make when he was considering enlisting into the Navy: nuclear physics or medicine. One involves high mathematics and accounting for the behavior of atoms; the other, calculating medicinal dosages and accounting for the behavior of human beings. Two equally demanding and difficult jobs suitable for only the most trustworthy and intelligent of enlistees. Ultimately, though, the decision came down to a question of what Stocks...

WASHINGTON - John Glover Roberts Jr. won confirmation as the 17th chief justice of the United States Thursday, overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate to lead the Supreme Court through turbulent social issues for generations to come. The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts — a 50-year-old U.S. Appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. — as the successor to the late William H. Rehnquist, who died earlier this month. All of the Senate's majority Republicans, and about half of the Democrats, voted for Roberts. Underscoring the rarity of a chief justice's confirmation, senators answered the roll by...

WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed on Monday the nomination of Lester Crawford to serve as the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that has been roundly criticized in recent years for its drug-safety monitoring. Lawmakers voted 78-16 in favor of the nomination. Crawford already has broad experience at the agency. He has served as acting commission for the past year, and he previously served as deputy commissioner. "Dr. Crawford is a dedicated public servant who has ably led the agency," said Michael Leavitt, secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. "I look forward to working...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate unanimously confirmed three of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees to the state Board of Education Thursday. The senate approved student member Ricky Gill, 17, of Lodi; Bonnie Reiss, an adviser to Schwarzenegger; and Ruth Bloom, a longtime art education advocate. Bloom, 59, has developed curriculum and taught art at UCLA Extension and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Her term on the board expires in January 2007. Reiss, 48, has served as president of the Inner-City Games Foundation and is currently a senior adviser to Schwarzenegger. She has previously worked as an entertainment lawyer, accountant, producer...

WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) won easy confirmation Wednesday to be President Bush (news - web sites)'s new secretary of state, despite strong dissent from a small group of Democrats who said she shares blame for mistakes and war deaths in Iraq (news - web sites). The Senate voted 85 to 13 to confirm Rice, who succeeds Colin Powell (news - web sites) as America's top diplomat and becomes the first black woman to hold the job. Plans were made for her to be sworn in at the White House Wednesday night, take her place in the...

Sacrificial burial deepens mystery at Teotihuacan, but confirms the city’s militarism Partially uncovered figurine, carved in jade, found in connection with three unbound, seated bodies and other objects at the top of the pyramid’s fifth stage (the offering was presumably made in the construction of the sixth stage), circa 350 AD. This object is notable in that it is carved from jade that originated in Guatemala, and appears to be Mayan in style. Other jade objects on top of the figurine are beads and earspools. A spectacular new discovery from an ongoing excavation at the Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Moon...

BERLIN (AFP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder confirmed that he and his wife have adopted a child, reported to be a girl from a Russian orphanage, but called on the media to respect his family's privacy. "I can confirm that we have adopted a child," he told reporters in Berlin. The head of Schroeder's Social Democrats party in his homestate of Lower Saxony, Wolfgang Juettner, said on Monday that the first couple had claimed custody of the girl, named Victoria, from Saint Petersburg. Schroeder's wife, former journalist Doris Schroeder-Koepf, has a 13-year-old daughter named Klara from a previous relationship with...

JERUSALEM - Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago — well before recent Syrian overtures — but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israel's foreign minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said he was ready to open negotiations if Syria "stops helping terror." The secret meetings appeared part of an effort to restart peace talks between Israel and one of its most intractable enemies. Earlier talks broke down in 2000. Syrian President Bashar Assad called last month for a resumption of official talks, but Israel leaders are split over...

New Study on Peopling of Americas Confirms Some Theories, Unsettles Others The New World was populated in at least two migrations, according to a paper presented by C. Loring Brace to the National Academy of Sciences. The settlers in the first wave, who walked across the Bering Land Bridge 15,000 years ago, were the forebears of present-day inhabitants south of the U.S.-Canadian border. The ancestors of linguistically distinct peoples including the Inuit, Aleut, and Na-Dene speakers made the watery crossing from Asia about 5,000 years ago.(The people are todays American Indian/Native Americans) The new study by Dr. Brace, professor of...

Study of genome confirms Sars virus is new By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor 15 April 2003 Scientists said yesterday they had identified the virus thought to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and confirmed it had not been seen before in humans. Research teams from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Michael Smith Genome Centre in British Columbia, separately claimed to have sequenced the genome of the coronavirus that causes lethal pneumonia. But neither could identify its source. The CDC said it was "distinct from all previously recognised coronaviruses". The achievement came as doctors in...

UN confirms reports of cannibal soldiers UN investigators have found credible evidence to support reports Congolese rebel troops have killed and eaten Pygmies in northeastern Congo. During the past week, UN human rights investigators have been studying reports of cannibal soldiers eating the jungle dwellers' sexual organs in Ituri province. Forces of the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement, or MLC, are accused of killing and eating the pygmies' organs in a bid to gain strength. "The UN is taking these accusations very seriously and has sent a team of six officials to investigate the accusations and other human rights abuses in...