All Trought about politic at Ukraine

(AP) — JERUSALEM - Israel is pushing ahead with a long-delayed plan to build hundreds of apartments in east Jerusalem, staking claims to land the Palestinians want for a future state and complicating already tense relations with the U.S. over its demand for a construction moratorium.

The government has chosen developers to build 486 new apartments in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood after a yearlong delay over pricing disputes, the state-run land agency said Tuesday.

The announcement came just days after Israel approved up to 455 apartments in the West Bank. Construction plans are continuing even as Israel negotiates with the U.S. on its demand for a total building freeze in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will tell the nation in a prime-time address precisely how he wants to expand health care, pitching a fresh argument _ but, to liberal disappointment, no demand _ for a government-run insurance option.

"The president's going to speak clearly and directly to the American people about what's in this bill for them," press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday, hours before Obama appeared before a rare joint session of Congress and a live national television audience.

Opening a final push for his top domestic priority, Obama will push for a health care overhaul that provides new and crucial protections for people who already have insurance, affordable access to coverage to those without, and reduced spending for families, businesses and government.

"We do intend to get something done this ... Read more »

Keeping kids at home from school when they get sick is one of the most important ways to stop the spread of swine flu.

But plenty of parents can't skip a day of work to watch their children - and that worries the hero school nurse who first detected the virus in New York.

The head nurse at St. Francis Preparatory - the Queens school that became the epicenter of swine flu in the spring - says New York City needs a law to force all employers to provide paid sick days.

"At a school where the parents have no sick da ... Read more »

They wore feathers on their heads - and almost nothing on their bodies - as revelers from more than a dozen island nations danced up Eastern Parkway on Monday for the annual West Indian American Day Carnival Parade.

"People are shocked to see all the naked ladies but ... it's nothing for me," said Trinidadian native Marilyn Harbin, 56. "This is about freedom and letting loose."

The dancers weren't naked, but there were plenty of sequined bikinis strutting down the Brooklyn parade route to calypso and reggae beats.

"We wine and we gyrate to the pulsating music," said Barbadian-born Susan Dottin, 39, of East New York, Brooklyn, who wore a blue-and-gold feathered bikini and a headdress as she proudly waved her Barbados flag.

"You're getting loose, you're feeling no hangups, nothing, no inhibitions. It's just about having a good time."

The crowds squealed wildly at the passing floats and dancers as they inhaled the succule ... Read more »

To the list of bureaucrats and wonks working at City Hall, now add robots.

The Husqvarna Automower 230 ACX - a foot-high battery-powered lawn-mowing robot that steers itself around the lawn, then returns to its charger when it needs more juice - just joined the City Hall staff as a groundskeeper.

For now, it's just a temporary, non-paying gig.

"It's on loan from the manufacturer for just a few weeks," said city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "We're trying it out to see how it works."

The city has thousands of acres of parklands and ballfields that are now mowed by unionized workers but Benepe says the city's lawn-mowing workforce has no reason to fear they'll b ... Read more »

The awful stench coming from a Queens apartment on Monday was so bad that cops thought they would find a body inside.

But when firefighters busted down the the door, they found tenant Ming Li Sung was very much alive - and living with rotting garbage piled floor to ceiling.

"When they started trying to clear away some of the trash to get in, he popped up inside, yelling, 'Get out! Get out!'" said Ray West, who lives across the hall.

Cops first noticed the horrible smell when they were called to the Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City in the early morning for a domestic dispute.

"They thought he was DOA," said West.

The apartment looked like a landfill, wit ... Read more »

KABUL - About 200,000 votes have been thrown out of the tally of Afghan election results because of fraud, an election official said Tuesday.

Widespread allegations of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies are threatening the legitimacy of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 vote as the country awaits final results. More than 650 major fraud charges have been lodges with a complaints commission.

The Independent Electoral Commission previously said that results from 447 polling stations were thrown out, and an official said that amounts to about 200,000 ballots.

"The numbers were suspicious and the resul ... Read more »

JERUSALEM - Israel officially approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in the West Bank on Monday, deepening its rift with the U.S. over settlement expansion.

The construction is the first approved by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under heavy U.S. pressure to freeze all settlement activity on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.

"Given the choice between making peace and making settlements, they have chosen to make settlements," chief Palestinian negotiator ... Read more »