A politician stirred the debate about minority rights in Turkey when he spoke Kurdish in Parliament on Tuesday, violating laws that bar the language in official settings.
State-run television immediately cut off the live broadcast of legislator Ahmet Turk as he spoke in his native tongue, ostensibly to celebrate UNESCO world languages week.
But his real aim [...]

House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into how the agency failed to uncover the alleged $50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.
The clash between lawmakers and high-ranking SEC officials came at a hearing after the whistleblower in the case, Harry Markopolos, said he had feared for his [...]

President Barack Obama told Republicans in a closed-door meeting that he would be open to additional tax cuts in his economic stimulus package, one participant said Tuesday on the eve of a House vote on the $825 billion measure.
Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said Obama would not back off his own proposal for a $500-per-person payroll [...]

Senate Democratic leaders said a vote could come as early as this week on providing a second $350 billion for the financial industry, after assurances Sunday by President-elect Barack Obama and one of his top economic advisers that the money would be better monitored and spent.
The Bush administration and the incoming Obama team have undertaken [...]