The weekly Yusufiyah area government council meeting is about to start, and the heavily fortified front gate of the local community center is a crush of activity. U.S. Soldiers and Iraqi police call the men forward one by one, and pat them down for weapons before letting them inside. It is a scene replicated thousands of times a day all over the country. Except for one difference: here, the security detail includes a team of eight Iraqi women checking all of the females attempting to enter ...

Thousands of Venezuelans residing in Florida cast ballots at their Miami consulate last month in a referendum on whether to abolish presidential term limits back home. Most voted "no," because the last thing they want is to see left-wing President Hugo Chávez run again when his second term expires in 2012. But two of the most emphatically anti-Chávez figures at the consulate weren't voters. They weren't even Venezuelan. They were some of South Florida's most prominent and outspoken Cuban-American politicians: ...

A legal advocacy group sued the federal government Tuesday, seeking benefits for 15 gay and lesbian Massachusetts residents who wed after the state legalized same-sex marriage. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders -- the same Boston-based group that successfully argued in 2003 for same-sex marriage rights in Massachusetts -- filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston on behalf of six couples and three men whose husbands have died. The suit contends the federal Defense of Marriage Act ...

Every Thursday afternoon, the San Geronimo Valley Community Center opens its doors to the needy. It becomes a food bank to serve the most vulnerable citizens of Marin County, California. Bread, fruit, canned vegetables, meat and cereal are all available for free. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as nationwide, more people are coming to food banks. In 2008, demand for emergency food assistance went up by 30 percent compared with the previous year, according to ...

European Union leaders were meeting Sunday for an emergency summit in Brussels amid growing fears that national protectionism will sabotage coordinated efforts to reverse the current economic decline. The summit, called by Czech Prime Minister and President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, will address the ways in which the individual member states implement their recovery plan and fight the impact of the financial crisis. The meeting follows French president Nicolas ...

Susan Fradin has nightmares about Cheerios. Specifically, the Honey Nut variety. Her son Noah is allergic to peanuts and almonds, and her nighttime torment began during his first trip to sleepaway camp, when he was 9. Fradin, a former publicist in Los Angeles, worried that her son would eat cereal he shouldn't and go into anaphylactic shock. "I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, What if he eats Honey Nut Cheerios thinking they are regular Cheerios?" she ...

Insurgents dressed as Iraqi police officers shot and killed a U.S. soldier and an interpreter Tuesday afternoon in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said Wednesday. Sharpton has lead a chorus of criticism and allegations that the cartoon published Feb. 18 was racist. He said Murdoch's apology was a "good gesture," but he still had questions. Public debate on the issue continued to rage on the New York Post Web site early Wednesday, with some saying they were ...

Trinidad hosted the Caribbean's largest Carnival celebration Tuesday. Across the country, revelers donned their costumes at daybreak to take part in parades and marches on the day before Ash Wednesday. Sharpton has lead a chorus of criticism and allegations that the cartoon published Feb. 18 was racist. He said Murdoch's apology was a "good gesture," but he still had questions. Public debate on the issue continued to rage on the New York Post Web site early Wednesday, with some saying ...

Good, but not enough, the Rev. Al Sharpton said in response to New York Post Chairman Rupert Murdoch's apology for a controversial editorial cartoon published in the newspaper. Online Wednesday, some Post readers reacted similarly. Sharpton has lead a chorus of criticism and allegations that the cartoon published Feb. 18 was racist. He said Murdoch's apology was a "good gesture," but he still had questions. Public debate on the issue continued to rage on the New York Post Web site ...

Last Friday the 13th was supposed to be a special day for 14-year-old Amber Leeanne DuBois. She left her home in Escondido, California, around 7 a.m. for school with a check in hand, a down payment on a baby lamb that she was going to raise and care for as part of her Future Farmers of America class. It was a day that she'd been looking forward to for more than a year, her family says. But she never made ...