Two senior U.S. senators are expected to introduce Tuesday legislation to establish an Internet consumer bill of rights, moving the needle in the burgeoning debate over how to protect individuals without impeding one of the country's few growth sectors. The bill, by Sen. John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, would create the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights, and if passed it would force companies to give consumers more control over how their ...

In a blizzard of personal meetings in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in telephone conversations from Washington, U.S. officials lobbied Afghan President Hamid Karzai to abide by the nation's constitution and accept a runoff election. Karzai announced Tuesday that he will take part in a presidential runoff vote in two weeks. Senior State Department officials say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Karzai and with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. One official told CNN that in a phone call to Karzai ...

The regional U.S. military commander was visiting Pakistan on Monday as that country's military continued its massive ground offensive against Taliban militants in the restive northwest tribal region. Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, was holding meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad. Also there, on a separate visit, was U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Gilani told Petraeus it was important that Pakistan and ...

One of President Obama's top advisers said Sunday the Bush administration failed to ask critical questions about the war in Afghanistan, leaving the Obama administration starting from scratch -- and leaving the war "adrift." "The president is asking the questions that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side and the strategic side," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN's "State of the Union." Among the things the Obama administration wants to ...

The unveiling Wednesday morning of the Senate's long-awaited draft legislation to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and shift the country to a clean-energy economy signals that Washington is inching ever closer to addressing global warming. The sweeping bill, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, will cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050 — targets that in the short-term are a bit more ambitious than a similar carbon cap and ...

Senator John Kerry, the new senior senator from Massachusetts, stood with his eyes closed, his right hand on Ted Kennedy's flag-draped casket. Thirty seconds went by and, head bowed, Kerry crossed himself and stepped back. His hand reached toward the casket one last time for a final friendly pat. "As far as I'm concerned we still have a senior senator and we have to celebrate his life," Kerry says a few minutes later, backstage at the John F. ...

On a hot August afternoon in 2008, Ted Kennedy took John Kerry sailing on his 50-ft. schooner, the Mya.It was a perfect day on the water, sunny with the occasional cotton-ball cloud riding the strong winds over the family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. With the Mya's blue hull moving at a good clip, Kennedy turned to his old friend with reminiscences of failed campaigns past: Kennedy's bid for the presidency in 1980 and Kerry's in 2004. What concerned ...

When Senator John Kerry visited Gaza last week, he made certain to emphasize that he had no contact with Hamas, and demanded that the militants stop firing rockets into Israel. Still, Kerry's visit — one of the first to the coastal strip by an American legislator since Hamas took power there in 2007 — wasn't exactly the kind of publicity that Israeli officials wanted. While being escorted into Gaza by an armed United Nations convoy, Kerry was disturbed ...

Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas passed Sen. John Kerry a letter for President Obama while Kerry visited Gaza on Thursday, senior State Department officials said. The letter for the president is in the hands of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the officials said Friday. Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, toured the devastation in Gaza and met with officials from the U.N. Works Relief Agency, the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Frederick Jones, ...