US President Barack Obama will announce an executive order on immigration reform Thursday, according to the White House. In a statement on Wednesday, the White House said Obama will give a prime-time address at 8 p.m. on Thursday to discuss his plan for immigration reform, likely to include temporary reprieve from deportation for as much as 5 million undocumented illegal immigrants. A senior congressional... 

US Senate floor Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote for their congressional representatives, both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, their governors and their state representatives. They will elect 435 members of the House of Representatives, 33 senators, 38 governors and 46 state legislatures. The House of Representatives is already controlled by the Republicans and polls... 

The Australian Senate has passed new national security laws that could put journalists behind bars for up to 10 years for merely reporting on terrorism-related subjects, Press TV reports. The bill proposed by the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott was unanimously adopted by the Senate on Thursday and is to be sent to the House of Representatives for final approval. The legislation, dubbed the... 

The US Senate has approved legislation which aims to bar Iran’s proposed ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Abutalebi from entering the United States. The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, was passed by the Democratic-controlled chamber on Monday by a voice vote. The bill has been to prevent supposed “known terrorists” from entering the US to serve as UN ambassadors. The... 

US President Barack Obama speaks with military personnel while viewing an Iron Dome missile battery on March 20 at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. The US Congress has authorized $284 million to fund Israel’s missile systems program, triple the amount the Obama administration had requested. The bill, introduced jointly by the House of Representatives and Senate budget committees,... 

The US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee has proposed a nearly half a billion dollar increase in military aid to Israel even as the United States is struggling with domestic economic issues. The committee approved $488 million last week to fund Israel’s development of two missile systems and to finance the purchase of extra batteries for 2014. The proposal must now be approved by... 

US President Barack Obama has signed legislation passed by Congress Wednesday to temporarily lift the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown, averting the threat of default just hours before the October 17 deadline. The legislation funds the government through to January 15 and lifts the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling until February 7. The White House budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, said... 

Republican and Democratic leaders in the US Senate are reportedly “very close” to announcing a deal on the nation’s borrowing authority that would avert an unprecedented default on US debt. Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority and minority leaders held talks on Wednesday morning as the Thursday deadline on the debt limit is fast approaching. The US Treasury taps out its reserves... 

As the US government shutdown nears its third week, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been unable to strike a deal over the budget and raise the nation’s borrowing authority to avert a default. Since efforts in the House of Representatives to reach a fiscal deal failed last week, negotiations on ending the shutdown and avoiding a potential federal default have shifted to the Senate. Senate... 

Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee used obscure language to characterize the push for a clean resolution which would end the government shutdown, labeling it a form of “martial law.” Advocating for the passage of a clean continuing resolution that would, at least temporarily, end the current standoff in Washington and reopen the government, Lee said there were enough members of Congress... 

Just 10 days until a possible US government shutdown, the House of Representatives passed a bill that keeps the government open but defunds the 2010 affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The House vote was 230-189. The Republican-drafted continuing resolution, or CR, keeps the government open until December 15. The CR would also cut spending on food stamps for the poor by $40 billion over 10 years. Republicans... 

Thousands of Chileans have rallied against a bill dubbed the “Monsanto law” that would let multinationals patent GMO seeds. Activists say it will not only compromise food sovereignty in Chile, but will also harm consumer health. Mass protests were held in at least nine cities across the Latin American country to protest the bill that would allow for the development of genetically modified seeds.... 

The National Security Agency has invited certain members of Congress to a top secret, invitation only meeting to discuss a proposed amendment that could end the NSA’s ability to conduct dragnet surveillance on millions of Americans. A letter circulated only to select lawmakers early Tuesday announced that NSA Director General Keith B. Alexander would host a question and answer session with members... 

NSA director General Keith B. Alexander met with lawmakers on Tuesday. The Obama administration tried on Tuesday to slow Congressional lawmakers’ opposition to the National Security Agency’s spying operations in the United States. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have proposed amendment to a military appropriations bill that would stop the financing for NSA phone data collection program... 

US President Barack Obama US stock markets opened drastically lower on Wednesday following the reelection of President Barack Obama over fears of the looming fiscal cliff. The US stock market indices fell on opening bell with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1.84 percent to 13,002.50, the S&P 500 tumbling 1.88 percent to 1,401.59, and NASDAQ plunging 1.93 percent to 2,953.87. This comes...