The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment, according to a senior U.S. military official familiar with Gen. Stanley McChrystal's thinking. The request will be for troops and equipment for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as more assets to deal with roadside bombs and explosives, said the official, who declined to be identified because McChrystal's request has not been formally transmitted to the Pentagon. The request could be ...

Somali pirates released a German cargo ship Saturday that they have held since May, the German Foreign Ministry said. The suit alleges white officers post on and moderate the privately operated site, Domelights.com, both on and off the job. Domelights' users "often joke about the racially offensive commentary on the site ... or will mention them in front of black police officers," thus creating "a racially hostile work environment," according to lawyers for the all-black Guardian Civic League, the lead ...

A group of black Philadelphia police officers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against their department, alleging an online forum geared toward city police is "infested with racist, white supremacist and anti-African-American content." The suit alleges white officers post on and moderate the privately operated site, Domelights.com, both on and off the job. Domelights' users "often joke about the racially offensive commentary on the site ... or will mention them in front of black police officers," thus creating "a racially hostile ...

Pity Pete Hoekstra. His only crime was to make the oh-so-obvious comparison between oppressed Iranians and the GOP. "Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House," the Michigan Congressman, who is running for governor, tweeted June 17. Shockingly, the parallels between Iran's attempts to gag the press and Nancy Pelosi's decision to adjourn Congress before taking a vote on an energy bill last August were lost on ...

The man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan is now allowed to visit his mother more, to get a driver's license and spend more time away from the mental hospital where he lives, a federal judge ruled. The ruling, released Tuesday, expands the freedoms of John Hinckley Jr. over the objections of prosecutors. They argued that Hinckley is still mentally ill and harbors unhealthy feelings about women. Hinckley, 54, has been confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington since ...

UK broadcaster BSkyB said Wednesday that it had refused a request for a £50 million ($82 million) lifeline from troubled Irish sports pay-TV broadcaster Setanta, as it seeks to avoid administration. BSkyB, which is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, was offered the live rights to 46 English Premier League football matches next season as an add-on option to its Sky Sports service. It already holds four packages of rights to show a total of 92 games next season. BSkyB ...

Stem-cell science is a fast-moving field. Just three years since a Japanese researcher first reprogrammed ordinary skin cells into stem cells without the use of embryos, scientists at a Massachusetts biotech company have repeated the feat, only this time with a new method that creates the first stem cells safe enough for human use. The achievement brings the potentially lifesaving technology one step closer to real treatments for disease. Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell ...

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey. More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & ...

To expand openness and transparency, the Obama administration has rescinded a Bush administration standard on withholding government documents, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday. All Obama administration departments and agencies will release documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act unless doing so is forbidden by law or would harm a government interest, Holder said. In 2001, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft issued guidance to the Bush administration that the Justice Department would defend decisions to withhold records ...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged businessman Robert Allen Stanford with orchestrating an $8 billion fraudulent investment program. Stanford is the tycoon who bankrolled the Twenty20 Super Series cricket competition in the West Indies last year. The Texan has also contributed millions of dollars to the West Indies Cricket Board in an attempt to boost their flagging fortunes. Rose Romero, Regional Director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office in Texas, said, "We are alleging a fraud of ...