Senate bracing for a ‘hard slog’ on stimulus bill

Democrats admit it’s going to be a tough fight to get President Obama’s economic stimulus plan passed with bipartisan support, but they are optimistic it can be done. On Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said it is going to be a “long, hard slog” with “late nights” after the $900 billion bill comes to the Senate floor Monday night

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Actor Henry Gibson dead at 73, spokesman says

Actor Henry Gibson, who played roles ranging from loopy poets to vengeful Illinois Nazis and cranky judges during a 40-year film and television career, has died at age 73, his representatives said Wednesday. Gibson was a regular on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” where he was known for popping up to read short, humorous poems during the show’s 1968-71 run

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Del Potro U.S. Open win is ‘dream come true’

Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro has told CNN that beating world number one Roger Federer to win the men’s U.S. Open title at Flushing Meadows was a “dream come true.” The 20-year-old upset the odds to clinch a 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win in New York, a victory that brought an end to his Swiss opponent’s five-year stranglehold on the event.

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Murray sent crashing by Cilic in New York

Second seed and last year’s runner-up Andy Murray has crashed out of the U.S.Open at the fourth round stage, losing in straight sets to Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic on Tuesday. Briton Murray, who was seeded to face holder Roger Federer in a repeat of last year’s Flushing Meadows final, looked lackluster throughout the match as Cilic comfortably reached his first grand slam quarterfinal with a 7-5 6-2 6-2 victory in two hours and eight minutes

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Comment: UK Speaker’s resignation first step to clean stables

Michael Martin, forced to resign as Speaker of the British parliament, has become the highest profile victim of the expenses scandal which has dominated public life in Britain now for nearly two weeks. Martin has suffered because as Speaker he not only chaired debates in the Commons chamber but was in effect parliament’s chief executive. In that role he was responsible for the Fees Office.

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In pictures: Star power on full wattage at Cannes

Like the swarms of snapping paparazzi that constantly surround them, stars of all shades are irresistibly drawn (or contractually obliged) to show face at Cannes — quite simply, when the world’s most prestigious film festival turns the wattage up to full, there’s nowhere more glamorous. The subject of Speaker Michael Martin’s speech wasn’t clear.

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UK Speaker to address calls for his head

The speaker of Britain’s House of Commons plans to make a statement Tuesday afternoon amid calls for him to resign, a spokesman for the House of Commons told CNN. The subject of Speaker Michael Martin’s speech wasn’t clear. But he has come under increasing pressure from MPs to step down in connection with a widening scandal surrounding lawmakers’ expenses

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