White House set to reverse health care conscience clause

The Obama administration plans to reverse a regulation from late in the Bush administration allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections, an official said Friday. The Provider Refusal Rule was proposed by the Bush White House in August and enacted on January 20, the day President Barack Obama took office. It expanded on a 30-year-old law establishing a “conscience clause” for “health-care professionals who don’t want to perform abortions.” Under the rule, workers in health-care settings — from doctors to janitors — can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it.

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Turkish TV cuts politician during speech in Kurdish

The head of a Kurdish nationalist party in Turkey addressed parliament Tuesday in the Kurdish language — which is illegal — prompting the national broadcaster to pull the plug on the live broadcast. In his address, Democratic Society Party leader Ahmet Turk began his speech in Turkish, addressing the value of a “multilingual culture” and decrying the fact that the Kurdish language is not protected under Turkey’s constitution. “We have no objection to Turkish being the official language, yet we want our demands for the lifting of the ban on Kurdish language to be understood as a humanitarian demand,” he said

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Author jailed for insulting Thai king freed

An Australian author imprisoned last month for insulting the king and crown prince of Thailand was on his way home Saturday after receiving a pardon from the king. Harry Nicolaides, 41, was arrested last August over his 2005 book titled “Verisimilitude.” The book includes a paragraph about the king and crown prince that authorities deemed a violation of a law that makes it illegal to defame, insult or threaten the crown

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Why Europe Is Fuming About the Stimulus Package

Europe’s euphoria over Barack Obama is fading fast. As Congress wrangles over the President’s $819 billion stimulus package, a “buy American” clause has the European Union threatening legal action and retaliatory sanctions and opening up the prospect of an explosive trade war. Just weeks after hailing Obama’s election, E.U

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Obama to walk trade tightrope in Ottawa

President Obama takes his first foreign trip Thursday, but domestic politics will loom large as he tackles the explosive issue of protectionism in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the leader of the United States’ largest trade partner. At issue is a controversial so-called “Buy American” provision requiring the use of U.S.-produced iron, steel, and other manufactured goods in public works projects funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. Several Democratic-leaning unions and domestic steel and iron producers favor the provision; a large number of business and trade organizations are opposed

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