government news stories on Newser

CIA Reveals Names of 15 Slain Agents

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:40:05 CDT

CIA agents killed in the line of duty over the last 30 years finally got their due yesterday. The agency revealed the names of 15 such operatives in a ceremony, reports the Los Angeles Times . Many of the fallen officers had been working under the guise of State Department employees....

UFO Rattles Colorado Town

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:43:00 CDT

ET, phone Colorado. Lafayette residents are still scratching their heads after seeing three red lights in a triangular shape hover in the sky last week, move off, then vanish. A father videotaped the lights that were spotted by his son at work, as well as by a number of townies....

Belgium Grabs World Record For...

Matt Cantor — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:55:34 CST

Who needs a government? Not Belgium! The country broke the world record for the longest political deadlock last week—a distinction previously held by Iraq and its much-fretted-over 249-day holdout. Some quibble that Iraq’s lawmakers had to wait another 40 days to be seated, but no one doubts that Belgium...

Gawker Hack Puts 1.3M Users' Data at Risk

Matt Cantor — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:11:10 CST

Gawker's databases have been hacked, and the site is telling users to change their passwords on Gawker and any other site where they used the same password. The management says it's “deeply embarrassed” by the security failure, noting that it shouldn’t have to depend “on the goodwill of the hackers...

Meet Mexico's Fake President

Nick McMaster — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:38:42 CST

Andrés Manuel López Obrador narrowly lost Mexico’s 2006 presidential election to Felipe Calderón, a result he attributed to fraud. In what seemed at the time like a show of defiance, held a mock inauguration. But Obrador was serious: To this day, he calls himself the “Legitimate President” leading the “Legitimate...

Lockerbie Bomber Fading Fast

Nick McMaster — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:08:07 CDT

The condition of the cancer-stricken Lockerbie bomber has taken a sharp turn for the worse in the last few days, the Times of London reports. "The last check-up was very, very bad. He's dying. He is unable to speak to anyone," said the brother of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi. Cancer...

Fierce Rivalries Shape, Threaten Kenyan Politics

Katherine Thompson — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:54:04 CDT

Election violence in 2007 gave way to an uneasy coalition between Kenyan PM Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki, but that move seems only to have transformed the fighting on the streets into squabbling in the capital. Now, "Kenya does not have a functioning executive at all, just an unholy...

Can Amy Poehler Save NBC's Bacon?

Nick McMaster — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:50:23 CDT

Wallowing in a muddy fourth place among major networks, NBC is betting on Amy Poehler to clean up its ratings with Parks and Recreation , Will Leitch writes in New York magazine. A mockumentary style sitcom “from the people who bring you The Office ”—as NBC ads are trumpeting—the show...

Is Obama Trying to Fix Too Much at Once?

Jason Farago — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:35:00 CST

David Brooks is not a liberal, but the New York Times columnist doesn't hesitate to call himself "a great admirer of Barack Obama and those around him." Yet as the new administration has thrown itself at a dozen staggering problems, from fixing health care and the auto industry to creating...