The most important news for Thursday, July 22nd, 2010....
U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen says that five confirmed leaks in and around BP's damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico are more like "drips" and aren't yet reason to worry.
The U.S. government granted BP another day to continue tests on a cap plugging the massive Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Tuesday as forecasters warned that a line of Caribbean storms could head into the Gulf after the weekend.
It is being reported that a BP plan to hire large numbers of Gulf scientists could mean that there will be very few experts available to testify against them when oil spill cases go to trial.
One congressman is warning that the massive cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico may be doing more long-term damage than the oil spill itself.
One team of scientists has found very high methane readings near the oil disaster site.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says that 67 million gallons of oil remain in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
According to one new report, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could end up destroying over 100,000 jobs.
BP defended its embattled chief executive on Wednesday and denied a report that he would soon leave the company.
China's largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled on Wednesday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress on Wednesday that the economic outlook remains "unusually uncertain".
Barack Obama officially signed the Wall Street reform bill into law on Wednesday, promising that the measure will put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts of failed banks.
Obama administration housing rescue programs have been extremely ineffective at preventing a rise in home foreclosures even as the government's support for the mortgage market grew by nearly $700 billion in the past year, U.S. bailout watchdogs said on Wednesday.
Approximately half of all American workers have less than $2000 saved for retirement.
Goldman Sachs is reporting that profits fell 82 percent in the second quarter as the UK bonus tax cost it $600 million and it paid $550 million to settle a major court case.
Starting January 1, 2012, Form 1099s will become a means of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service the purchases of all goods and services by small businesses and self-employed people that exceed $600 during a calendar year. Precious metals such as coins and bullion fall into this category and coin dealers have been among those most upset by the change.
Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest at a recent meeting as tensions rose over a report that the city’s manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.
An increasing number of U.S. towns are ripping up their asphalt roads and are replacing them with cheaper gravel.
One-third of U.S. counties are facing a high risk that future water demand will outstrip supplies, spelling potential disaster for central and southern states and the crops grown there, a new study says.
Russian farmers are being urged to harvest their crops at night due to the worst heat wave in a decade.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told his Fatah movement he wants a more specific U.S. commitment on the borders of a future Palestinian state before agreeing to direct talks with Israel.
A Senate panel voted on Tuesday to send the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan to the full Senate for confirmation.
The "Journolist" scandal has deepened with new revelations that participants in the now-defunct email list for ideologically approved journalists--no conservatives allowed--engaged in efforts to suppress news damaging to then-candidate Barack Obama.
Fox News is reporting on a "presidential assassination program" where "American citizens are targeted for killings far away from any battlefield, based exclusively on unchecked accusations by the executive branch that they're involved in terrorism."
Will people who are skeptical of climate change soon be facing criminal charges in the European Court of Justice?
Brussels plan to hold an EU summit with atheists and freemasons in the autumn, inviting them to a political dialogue parallel to the annual summit the bloc holds with Europe's religious leaders.
In the U.K., trash service is now used as an instrument for enforcing the green agenda.
The upper house of Russia's parliament has passed a bill giving vastly expanded powers to the country's main security agency, a move that critics say echoes the era of the Soviet KGB.
The unveiling of a larger-than-life bronze statue of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has provoked renewed speculation that "The Dear Leader" may be close to death.
The U.S. has intensified sanctions against North Korea in a move designed to punish Pyongyang for sinking a South Korean ship and pursuing nuclear weapons.
Kennedy and La Guardia airports in New York will soon get body image scanners, which use X-rays or radio waves to detect weapons on 3-D images that look like passengers' naked bodies.
In a joint enterprise between the U.S. Navy and Raytheon Missile Systems, laser beams have been used for the first time in naval warfare to shoot down aircraft.
The United States has spent more than $1 trillion on wars since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, a recently released Congressional report says.
U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen has once again reiterated his concerns about China's massive military buildup.
A classified State Department report to Congress says that potential Russian cheating on the new START nuclear-arms pact would not be significant because of the size of U.S. nuclear forces.
Hillary Clinton says that she believes Osama bin Laden is still hidden inside Pakistan.
Seven other Latin American countries want to join Mexico in supporting the Obama administration's lawsuit challenging Arizona's new immigration enforcement law.
One team of scientists says that it has discovered the most massive star ever found.
Genetically modified Russian dairy goats with a human genome in their DNA can produce milk containing human protein.
Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil.
More than 1,000 people have died in severe flooding in China so far this year, and the heaviest rains are still to come, a senior official warned on Wednesday.
The behavior of gay activists at rallies by a touring pro-marriage event has ranged from "silly" to "crazy" and "disgraceful", one event leader reports.
Two brothers were shot dead outside a courtroom in the Pakistani's Punjab province where they faced blasphemy charges after allegedly distributing Christian pamphlets.
Lastly, burglars are increasingly using Twitter and Facebook to find out if potential victims have left their homes empty.
