Obama to unveil $4 billion school improvement plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to announce on Friday a competition for $4 billion in federal grants to improve academic achievement in U.S. schools, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Obama wants states to use funds from the competition, dubbed the "Race to the Top," to ease limits on so-called charter schools, link teacher pay to student achievement and move toward common U.S. academic standards, the Post said.
Senate to miss healthcare August deadline
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's healthcare reform drive suffered a setback on Thursday when Senate leaders said they would not pass it before a month-long August recess, but Obama urged lawmakers to keep working toward approval by the end of the year. The day after Obama held a prime-time news conference to sell his top domestic priority, congressional leaders struggled to ease doubts about the healthcare plan and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the full chamber would not take it up until September.
budget vote hits delaysSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California budget deal that would at least temporarily avert a financial collapse of the most populous U.S. state hit delays on Thursday, although legislative leaders still hoped lawmakers would pass the plan. The agreement by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republican and Democratic leaders would close a $26 billion budget gap, but some rank and file legislators raised objections to some of the deep spending cuts in the plan.
U.S. focuses new intelligence effort on Taliban
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Afghanistan is more closely integrating intelligence-gathering operations as part of its new drive against Taliban insurgents, a senior defense official said Thursday. Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Vickers told reporters data from unmanned drones and other aircraft, intercepted messages, ground troops and other sources were being consolidated into a unified effort for the first time.
U.S. courts convict 91 percent in terrorism trials: study
MIAMI (Reuters) - Guantanamo prisoners could be successfully tried in the United States because an overwhelming number of terrorism cases in U.S. courts since the September 11 attacks have led to convictions, a study released Thursday said. Moreover, the trials did not leak national secrets or endanger surrounding communities, Human Rights First said in report issued amid a national debate over how to prosecute foreign terrorism suspects held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Hezbollah arms cache violated U.N. embargo: U.S
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States joined Israel on Thursday in accusing Hezbollah guerrillas of violating a U.N. weapons embargo in southern Lebanon and undermining the efforts of U.N. peacekeepers there. U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told the Security Council behind closed doors that the United Nations suspected an explosion in southern Lebanon last week was the detonation of an operational weapons cache that Wolff said Washington believes belonged to Hezbollah.
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