Content about United States
BEIJING — On Thursday, legal activist Chen Guangcheng told the United States that he wants to leave China, deepening a diplomatic dispute. His case has drawn comments from other prominent Chinese activists and dissidents — both to Chen directly and in other forums.
Dr. Robert Prentice, Jack Abramoff and Dr. Minette Drumwright speak during a talk hosted by the McCombs School of Business. Abramoff, who is currently on probation, owes $44 million in restitution.
As more people and businesses move to Austin, the city will encounter challenges and opportunities that come with an increasingly dense urban environment, say business leaders and academics.
Forbes magazine recently ranked the Austin metro area as the fastest growing city in the United States for the second year in a row. The publication rated cities using economic and population growth projections from Moody’s, an economic analysis agency.
BEIJING — The blind Chinese dissident who boldly fled house arrest and placed himself under the wing of U.S. diplomats balked Wednesday at a deal delicately worked out between the two countries to let him live freely in China, saying he now fears for his family’s safety unless they are all spirited abroad.
Wednesday evening, an audience at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center was confronted with a rare dilemma. If the speaker is an ex-convict, do you clap when they take the stage?
Ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff was invited to UT to launch the McCombs School of Business’ “Ethics Unwrapped” speakers series, and spoke to audience members about the dilemmas of legality and morality in the lobbying industry in an event titled “You Don’t Know Jack”.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in San Antonio has at least temporarily stopped the execution of a rapist who was on parole when prosecutors say he killed a neighbor and stole the man’s motorcycle.
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery granted a reprieve Wednesday afternoon to 55-year-old Anthony Bartee after his lawyers filed a civil rights lawsuit against Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed. Bartee was scheduled for lethal injection later in the day.
His lawyers want additional items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s president has branded his U.S. allies as corrupt, wasteful and contemptuous of Afghan lives. Once he even threatened to join the Taliban. Nonetheless, Hamid Karzai signed a deal that could keep thousands of U.S. troops in his country for years.
Despite his rhetoric, Karzai needs international support if Afghanistan is to survive economically and avoid descending into civil war like it did when the Soviets left two decades ago.
A year after he led the mission to apprehend Osama bin Laden, Adm. William H. McRaven returned to his alma mater to advocate for legal assistance for returning service women and men.
McRaven was the keynote speaker at the Champions of Justice Gala Benefiting Veterans Tuesday evening. The Texas Access to Justice Commission hosted the gala to raise funds for free civil legal services for low-income Texas veterans.
New information from current College Republicans at Texas leaders has revealed a former president of the organization was not a student when she held her position.
Title IX was a controversial amendment passed in 1972 that provided women with equal opportunities in the education system.
It reads, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity.” The actual wording of the amendment does not specifically mention college athletics but its “intent” has been applied to sports by ensuring equal participation including equal number of sports and scholarships for men and women.
A federal judge on Monday stopped Texas from preventing Planned Parenthood from getting funds through the state’s Women’s Health Program — a decision the state immediately appealed.
A federal judge on Monday stopped Texas from preventing Planned Parenthood from getting funds through the state’s Women’s Health Program — a decision the state immediately appealed.
MISSOULA, Mont. — The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the way Missoula police, prosecutors and the University of Montana responded to reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The federal investigation was disclosed Tuesday after the agency received complaints that the allegations were not properly handled.
It will look at all 80 sexual assaults reported by women in Missoula over the past three years. Eleven sexual assaults involving university students have been reported in the past 18 months, agency officials said Tuesday.
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan Tuesday night on the anniversary of the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and signed an agreement cementing U.S. commitment to the nation after American combat troops leave.
Alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama declared, “Together, we’re now committed to replacing war with peace.”
Growing up, I was taught to work harder because I was a black female and things wouldn’t be handed to me. I knew that people wouldn’t want to see me succeed because of the color of my skin. My mom told me at a very young age that I was different because I was black, but I needed to be proud of my culture and my ancestors who fought so that I could have a better life.
MADRID — On the front lines of the world’s May Day protests this year, along with the traditional chants, banners and marches, a gamut of emotions flowed through the crowds: Anger. Fear. Elation. Despair.
With Europe’s unemployed denouncing austerity measures, Asia’s laborers demanding higher salaries and U.S. protesters condemning Wall Street, Tuesday’s demonstrations by hundreds of thousands were less a celebration of workers’ rights than a furious venting over spending cuts, tax hikes and soaring unemployment.
BEIJING — The surprising escape of a blind legal activist from house arrest to the presumed custody of U.S. diplomats is buoying China’s embattled dissident community even as the government lashes out, detaining those who helped him and squelching mention of his name on the Internet.
NEW YORK — One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, will lay claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper on Monday.
Workers will erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to peak over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building.
NEW YORK — Vice President Joe Biden delivered a harsh attack Thursday on Mitt Romney’s foreign policy views, arguing that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is rooted in a Cold War mentality and is uninformed about the current challenges facing the U.S. abroad.
FORT MEADE, Md. — A military judge refused on Thursday to dismiss the most serious charge against an Army private accused in the biggest leak of government secrets in U.S. history.
Col. Denise Lind rejected a defense motion to throw out the charge of “aiding the enemy” during a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. It was one of several motions seeking to dismiss some or all of the charges, but Lind left all 22 counts against Manning in place.
The newly appointed UT System Student Regent hopes to improve communication for students between campuses and the UT System Board of Regents. During her college career, she has spent a total of nine years at two different UT System institutions.
LONDON — A surprisingly strong U.S. housing survey helped shore up markets Thursday despite a mixed batch of corporate earnings and further evidence of a sharp slowdown in the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro.
Over the past couple of days, markets have been buoyed by solid U.S. earnings, notably from Apple Inc., and an indication from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke that the central bank was prepared to do more, if needed, to shore up the U.S. economy.
Frank Deford realized early on that he had a gift that allowed him to write eloquently and creatively. He also realized he wanted to use that gift to tell sports stories.
In a lot of ways, on Friday night, it’ll just be friends playing against friends on the diamond. These are players that grew up as teammates in select ball and faced each other routinely in high school. After the game they’ll meet to catch up for a moment or two.
However, when the teams meet on the field during the game, there will be no room for past friendships, because it is Texas vs. Texas A&M in one of the longest standing rivalries in all of baseball.
NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors brought the first criminal charges Tuesday in the Gulf oil spill, accusing a former BP engineer of deleting more than 300 text messages that indicated the blown-out well was spewing far more crude than the company was telling the public at the time.
Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, was arrested and charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence.
