WORLD

Representative Gabrielle Giffords returned to the U.S. House on Monday night for the first time since an assassination attempt, drawing thunderous applause in a rare moment of unity during a contentious vote to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

The body of the 11-year-old girl was found in the Connecticut River in Stewartstown on Monday morning leaving a family in mourning.

New York City's event planners are gearing up for a surge in business after the Empire State embraced same-sex marriage and hundreds of couples rush to tie the knot.

There is a promising new lead that D.B. Cooper, the hijacker who leaped from a jetliner about 40 years ago, may have died 10 years ago of natural causes.

New Federal Communication Commission rules have major cable providers up in arms, but could be beneficial for consumers.

In an increasingly familiar pattern of the federal government challenging tough new state immigration laws, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday in an effort to halt an Alabama measure that has been described as the toughest in the nation.

The fate of tens of thousands of people living and dying from famine in the Somalia is literally in the hands and hearts of the internationally community. The deadly famine in Somalia could spread if the international community doesn't provide the funds needed to respond to the hunger crisis that has already killed thousands, the United Nations humanitarian chief warned.

U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords reminded Washington and the rest of America and watching world that yes, miracles do happen. Her arrival on the scene to cast a vote for the debt-limit bill came at just the right moment.

The U.N. says that more than $2 billion more in aid is required to help the starving in Somalia.

The Coast Guard captured nearly $180 million worth of cocaine aboard a Carribean narcotics submarine, a new type of vessel that allows drug traffickers to surreptitiously transport massive amounts of cocaine.

The U.S. is one Senate vote away from averting a federal government default and toward taking a step in the direction of fiscal health: The Senate is expected to vote and pass the bipartisan debt deal legislation Tuesday around noon EDT, and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it quickly.

The debt-ceiling deal hammered out by the Republicans and the Democrats in the Capitol has averted the risk of calamitous cuts in federal spending, while ensuring failure to service debt will not arise. However, analysts say some big questions remain to be answered.

If polar bears had any clue of the scale of speculation about the extinction threat they are facing due to climate change, they would have probably said "you're kidding, right?"

Turning a new page in her post-shooting life, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords attended Congress last night to take part in the voting on the debt deal.

The House of Representatives on Monday approved an 11th-hour deal to raise the borrowing limit, clearing the biggest hurdle to averting a potentially catastrophic debt default.

The bill, which will cut federal spending by up to $2.4 trillion over 10 years, raises the debt ceiling, and now goes to the Senate, where that chamber is expected to vote on it, and pass it, by Tuesday, late afternoon. If all goes as planned, the bill will be on President Obama's desk, and his signature will avert a default.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States Monday of living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets.

Leaders from both, major political parties fanned-out across Capitol Hill Monday night to secure votes to pass the bipartisan debt deal bill, which would also raise the debt ceiling, and avert a U.S. Government default. The strongest opposition will occur in the House, but two-chamber passage is expected by 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

U.S. health insurance companies must offer women free birth control and other preventive health care services under Obama administration rules released on Monday, a historic decision supported by family planning groups and opposed by conservative groups.

The White House and congressional leaders scrambled for enough support from skeptical lawmakers on Monday to push through an 11th-hour deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert a devastating debt default.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged Parliament Monday to preserve the democratic values of Norway as public pressure grew for stiffer sentences for serious crimes after an anti-immigration zealot's bloody rampage.

The saga that is the Yulia Tymoshenko case continues

The absurdity engulfing Washington in the runup to a debt deal taught us many things about the modern Republican party, but perhaps the most illustrative moment did not occur on the House floor; it involved a motivational movie.

Al-Jazeera English has been hailed for its vivid, path breaking coverage of the Arab Spring gaining worldwide recognition for it expansive resources and reportage, but the majority of the US can only watch the channel online.

The Obama administration announced Monday that private health insurers must pay for an assortment of women's health screenings, counseling and birth control. The benefits will begin on Jan 1, 2013 and will be offered "without cost-sharing" (no co-pay, co-insurance or deductibles).

At the Suisyoen retirement home 30 km (19 miles) south of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, elderly Japanese earthquake survivors are finding comfort in a plush, white robot.

Religious organizations on differing sides of the birth control debate aren't thrilled with a new provision of the Affordable Care Act.

Is the Republican Party serving the national interest? Or a narrow, special interest?

Leaders of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, came to an agreement after they worked furiously to sell their rank-and-file members on a debt deal reached with President Barack Obama in a bid to end a political 'cat and mouse' chase that nearly undermined Americans faith in their political institutions.