President Obama on Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney.
The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo is scheduled to be made public Friday morning, according to an administration official and another source familiar with the White House decision.
Obama orders hospitals to grant same-sex couples visitation rights
No-one saw, no-one heard: 300 Palestinian olive trees uprooted
Some 300 olive trees belonging to Palestinians were uprooted on the night between Monday and Tuesday in groves near the village of Mihmas, close to the illegal outpost of Migron. Mihmas residents blamed settlers for the attack and said this was the third time the settlers had uprooted trees in the area.
Survey: US Healthcare Lags Behind Other Countries
In a 22-nation survey released on Thursday, results show that people living in countries with government-run healthcare systems like Sweden and Canada are more confident that their families can get decent, affordable healthcare, than Americans are.
An online poll conducted by Ipsos/Reuters found that 70 percent of Canadians and almost 75 percent of Swedes felt it was fairly easy to receive treatment if a relative became ill. In the same poll, only 51 percent of Americans felt they would get care easily.
Spanish Judge who investigated Bush torture program facing charges
Spain's most prominent judge, already charged with abuse of power in a potentially career-ending indictment, denied any wrongdoing as he testified Thursday as a suspect in a separate bribery investigation that has compounded his legal woes.
Judge Baltasar Garzon - internationally known for having gone after former Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden in Spain's court system - testified for more than four hours as a suspect before the Supreme Court.
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TVNL Comment: Every msm article covering this story OMITS the fact that Judge Garzon also investigated six officials of President George W. Bush's administration for their alleged roles in what he called the "systematic program" of torture at Guantánamo Bay. Coincidence? Just asking....
Mexicans haunted by church abuse
Alberto Athie, a former Mexican priest, took the difficult decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church following his investigations into a high-profile paedophile priest.
He holds up the letter he wrote 13 years ago to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. It details senior Mexican priest Marcial Maciel's sexual abuse of young boys.
How Senator Vitter Battled the EPA Over Formaldehyde’s Link to Cancer
When Sen. David Vitter persuaded the EPA to agree to yet another review of its long-delayed assessment of the health risks of formaldehyde, he was praised by companies that use or manufacture a chemical found in everything from plywood to carpet.
Google Holly Grieg....Obama: Israel should sign nuclear non-proliferation treaty
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged all countries, including Israel, to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT.
"Whether we're talking about Israel or any other country, we think that becoming part of the NPT is important," Obama said. "And that, by the way, is not a new position. That's been a consistent position of the United States government, even prior to my administration."
Big banks make big profits from loans to poor
Drawn by the prospect of hefty profits from even the smallest of loans, a raft of banks and financial institutions now dominate the field, with some charging interest rates of 100 percent or more.
Rates vary widely across the globe, but the ones that draw the most concern tend to occur in countries like Nigeria and Mexico, where the demand for small loans from a large population cannot be met by existing lenders.
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