An online news organization has published what it said is a copy of Iran's proposals to the United Nations which were supposed to address international concerns about its nuclear program. This week, Iran distributed its proposals to the diplomatic representatives of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members, plus Germany. The proposals have not been released to the public and CNN cannot independently verify that the five-page document on ProPublica.org is the actual proposal submitted to the U.N. ProPublica.org describes ...

A southern California assemblyman resigned Wednesday after a recording of him whispering about sexual exploits to a colleague was made public. Former Republican Assemblyman Mike Duvall was at an appropriations committee meeting in July when a microphone picked up his licentious conversation. "I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state," Duvall said in a statement on his ...

Iran has "prepared an updated nuclear package" and is ready to hold talks with world powers, the country's state-run Press TV reported Tuesday. Iran will offer the new package to the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, Press TV reported. The six countries will meet Wednesday in Frankfurt, Germany to discuss Iran's nuclear program, the network said. The network did not say what the new package entailed. The news comes days after ...

After Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans exactly four years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, the city emerged as an inadvertent symbol of global warming, the first American victim of climate change. Over 200,000 homes were destroyed during the Category 5 hurricane. But in the years since, the Crescent City has quietly embraced a new and unexpected role as a laboratory for green building. Sustainable development groups that range from the international nonprofit Global Green to earth-friendly celebrities like Brad ...

Israel makes no secret that it sees Iran is its biggest threat but the scale of the threat is less clear cut. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not missed an opportunity to name Iran as the number one threat, and like his predecessors he has said Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran. Tests are ongoing for Israel's arrow missile system, designed to intercept incoming rockets -- although Israel does not openly say which direction they'd come from. Last week, ...

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and ...

Cheryl Morse was 19 years old when she hitchhiked more than 700 miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Bethel, New York. She was determined to make it to the Woodstock music festival. Although Morse, now 59, no longer recalls details such as how long it took to get there or what food, if any, she ate, she still vividly remembers the music. When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young opened their set with "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," she said the energy in ...

While his Republican party has been flailing and losing and dwindling to its base, Florida Governor Charlie Crist has remained extremely popular by governing from the middle. He's stocked his administration with Democrats, appointed a fairly liberal African-American Democrat to the state Supreme Court, expanded voting rights for felons, crusaded against global warming, and enthusiastically supported President Obama's stimulus package. Crist's crossover appeal — along with his powerhouse skills as a fundraiser and campaigner — has made him a ...

The answer to easing the energy crunch in one of the nation's most populous states could lie underwater. Imagine if your utility company could harness the ocean's current to power your house, cool your office, even charge your car. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University are in the early stages of turning that idea into reality in the powerful Gulf Stream off the state's eastern shore. "If you can take an engine and put it on the back of ...

House Democrats split sharply over the issue of health care reform Friday as a key committee chairman said he would not negotiate further with party conservatives worried about spiraling medical costs. A leader of the party's conservative faction in turn declared that the party's internal negotiations over health care had failed and warned the party leadership not to ram the current version of the health care bill through by circumventing the traditional legislative process. The escalating public dissension within ...