Iowa high court strikes down same-sex marriage ban

The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state law Friday that banned same-sex marriage. Iowa becomes the third state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and Connecticut. Friday’s decision upheld a 2007 ruling by a lower court that Iowa’s 1998 law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples went against the state’s constitution.

Share

Clinton backs talks with moderate Taliban

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday endorsed Afghan plans to hold reconciliation talks with moderate Taliban members. “We must support efforts by the government of Afghanistan to separate the extremists of al Qaeda and the Taliban from those who joined their ranks, not out of conviction but out of desperation,” Clinton said in an address laying out the new U.S. strategy for the region that President Obama announced last week

Share

2-Min. Bio: Accused Nazi John Demjanjuk

It took a special brand of cruelty to stand out amid the horrors of the Holocaust, but “Ivan the Terrible” was no ordinary sadist. As a Nazi guard, Ivan earned his sobriquet by ushering thousands of prisoners — sometimes hacking them with a sword as they passed — into the gas chambers at Poland’s Treblinka death camp. After the war, he vanished.

Share

‘Hillary: The Movie’ gets high court attention

The star of the show did not appear — and the film in question was not shown — but Hillary Clinton’s big-screen moment was all the talk Tuesday at the Supreme Court. The justices heard arguments in a free-speech case over a 2008 documentary, shown in theaters, that was sharply critical of the onetime presidential candidate and current secretary of state.

Share

A Gay Marriage Solution: End Marriage?

When a Jewish boy turns 13, he heads to a temple for a deeply meaningful rite of passage, his bar mitzvah. When a Catholic girl reaches about the same age, she stands in front of the local bishop, who touches her forehead with holy oil as she is confirmed into a 2,000-year-old faith tradition.

Share

Vice president’s mother in hospital

Vice President Joe Biden’s 91-year-old mother was hospitalized Sunday after a fall at her home in Delaware, according to Biden’s office. “As per my commitment and the commitment of [President] Asif Ali Zardari, I announce the reinstatement of all deposed judges,” Gilani said in his address Monday. In addition, Gilani said the government is seeking a review of a court ruling last month that disqualified opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother from public office and ensnared the country in a political crisis.

Share