A sampling of reactions to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday night at age 77: Harry Reid, Senate majority leader: "Because of Ted Kennedy, more young children could afford to become healthy. More young adults could afford to become students. More of our oldest citizens and our poorest citizens could get the care they need to live longer, fuller lives. More minorities, women and immigrants could realize the rights our founding documents promised them. And more Americans ...

Britons including Prime Minister Gordon Brown have leapt to the defense of their creaking healthcare service after President Barack Obama's plans for a similar system in the United States were branded "evil" by Republicans. Tens of thousands of people have joined a Twitter group expressing pride in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), which offers free taxpayer-funded medical care to all British residents, while leading politicians have spoken out in support. Republican former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin earlier this week ...

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here's an excerpt of the full transcript, which will be published on TIME.com on July 30. TIME: So how much of your day are you spending on this President Obama: Well, I think over the last two, three weeks I'd say I'm spending at least ...

John Reid, a retired businessman, came home from a Caribbean cruise a few years ago with an infected toe as a souvenir. As a diabetic, he knew it was serious, so he went to the emergency room near his home in New York City. There, he says, the first doctor he saw ordered an immediate amputation, scheduling him for surgery right then and there. Horrified, he argued with the doctor, insisting there had to be a way to avoid ...

Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. Patch died peacefully at his care home in the southwestern English city of Wells, the ministry announced. His death came a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113. Patch was the last surviving soldier to have witnessed the horrors of trench warfare in the first World ...

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and the oldest surviving British veteran from World War I, has died at the age of 113, his care home said Saturday. Allingham died in his sleep at St. Dunstan's care home in Ovingdean, England, the home said in a statement. Born on June 6, 1896, Allingham was active until his final days, having celebrated his 113th birthday last month on the HMS President with his family, the care home said. The Guinness Book ...

A suburban Philadelphia swim club has invited children from a largely minority day-care center to come back after a June reversal that fueled allegations of racism against the club, a spokeswoman said Sunday. The development came during a hastily called Sunday afternoon meeting of the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Club members voted overwhelmingly to try to work things out with the day-care center, which accused some swim club members of making racist comments to black and Hispanic children ...

What if you went to your doctor, suffering from congestive heart failure, and your doctor had been given a limited budget from your insurance company to treat you? If he were to go over cost, he would pay out of his own pocket. If he spent less than the allotment — and you were satisfied with your treatment — he would keep some of the change. This is the guiding principle of a pilot payment model called Prometheus, ...

Alfa Demmellash grew up on less than a dollar a day, and against the backdrop of torture and murder. But these days she's living the American dream and helping others do the same. "Entrepreneurs are at the very heart of what the American dream is all about," says Demmellash, a native of Ethiopia. And from her small office in Jersey City, her nonprofit, Rising Tide Capital, is helping small businesses flourish. Robin Munn, who runs a flower shop ...

Michael Jackson's life has ended, but the legal battles over his possessions, his debts and his children are likely just beginning. Perhaps the biggest and saddest question is what will happen to the late singer's two sons and his daughter: 12-year-old Prince Michael I, 11-year-old Paris and 7-year-old Prince Michael II. Normally in such cases, care of the children would be taken over by the surviving parent or a close relative. But as with many other aspects ...