The Iraqi Interior Ministry on Monday blamed ministry infiltrators for the 2006 killing of the sister of the Sunni vice president. "For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money," said 91-year-old Celestino Almeda. Still, he said, "After what we have suffered, what we have contributed for the sake of democracy, it's peanuts. It's a drop in the bucket." During the war, the Philippines was a U.S. commonwealth. The U.S. military promised full veterans benefits to Filipinos ...

More than 60 years after reneging on a promise to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who fought for the United States during World War II, the U.S. government will soon be sending out checks -- to the few who are still alive. "For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money," said 91-year-old Celestino Almeda. Still, he said, "After what we have suffered, what we have contributed for the sake of democracy, it's peanuts. It's a ...

During the most contentious stretch of the Democratic presidential primary campaign last winter, then-candidate Hillary Clinton mocked Barack Obama for his pledge to transcend Washington's entrenched partisanship. "The sky will open. The lights will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect!" Clinton bellowed. Obama dismissed Clinton's sarcasm as overly cynical and further evidence she was a creature of Washington. But as President Obama prepares ...

Washington police told the mother of slain congressional intern Chandra Levy that an arrest is imminent in her daughter's 2001 death, Susan Levy told CNN on Saturday. "I got a call from the Washington police department, just to give me a heads up that there's a warrant out for the arrest," Levy said. Police Chief Cathy Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department did not reveal the suspect's name when she contacted the parents on Friday, Levy said. She said police ...

Washington police told the mother of murder victim Chandra Levy that an arrest is imminent in the eight-year-old case, Susan Levy told CNN on Saturday. Police Chief Cathy Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department did not reveal the suspect's name, Levy said. Police did not provide details, and told reporters that no announcement is expected this weekend. "This case generated numerous bits of information, which we continue to follow up on," Lanier said in a written statement Saturday morning. Earlier ...

Barack Obama calls them the Propeller-Heads, the cheerful band of financial nerds he has charged with saving America's economy. And on the Friday before Presidents' Day weekend, they were ready to show him the latest piece of their rescue plan: the 2010 federal budget. Having just squeezed through Congress what may be the largest spending bill in history, the President now needed to do something that would make the stimulus fight look easy: show the country and the world that ...

More than 30 years ago, a special Senate investigation peered into abuses that included spying on the American people by their own government. The findings by Senator Frank Church's committee, drawn from testimony spanning 800 witnesses and thousands of pages of government documents, revealed how powerful government surveillance tools were misused against the American people. For instance, the FBI's COINTELPRO operation spent more than two decades searching in vain for communist influence in the NAACP and infiltrated domestic groups ...

Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents -- whose cases became flashpoints in the controversy over border security -- were released early from prison Tuesday, one of their attorneys and a congressman said. The agents were convicted in 2006 of shooting and wounding an unarmed illegal immigrant and then covering it up. President George W. Bush issued commutations for both men during his final days in office last month. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean had received 11- and 12-year prison sentences, ...

Former President Bill Clinton was in Austin, Texas, over the weekend to host the Clinton Global Initiative University, which encourages college students and administrators to come up with creative ways to address global issues. CNN's John Roberts sat down with Clinton to ask him about how the Obama administration is performing, how his wife, Hillary Clinton, is doing as secretary of state, and what responsibility he may have for the current financial crisis. John Roberts: Mr. President, in terms of ...

If you are a firm believer in the war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' grim assessment last month of what lies in store for the U.S. might have made you shudder. "If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience and money, to be honest," he said. But if you are a defense contractor who has enjoyed ...