A new study documents the increasing crush of patients turning to free public clinics in the Houston area. Officials there are worried because they expect even more people to seek care when the Affordable Care Act, the federal health law, takes effect in a little over a year.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison following his bribery and extortion convictions. He is expected to begin serving the sentence in February.
France and Germany are trying to persuade other European countries to sign onto a package of reforms aimed at shoring up the embattled euro. They're hoping to win agreement in time for Friday's big summit of European leaders in Brussels. A failure to reach agreement could send the wrong signal to the financial markets, which are already deeply worried about Europe's fiscal problems.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe's economic turmoil is the continent's greatest crisis since World War II. But critics say she has been doing too little and lacks a bold vision for solving Europe's problems.
Credit AP
In an undated photo from the early 1990s, Merkel, then Germany's minister for women and youth, is shown beside Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Unlike Kohl, Merkel did not live through World War II and was not shaped by history in the same way as her predecessor.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's approach to the debt crisis currently roiling Europe has been calm, logical, methodical and — according to detractors, especially outside Germany, too slow and unimaginative.
Critics are seething that she insists on austerity as the main medicine for debt-ridden southern neighbors while she offers no new ideas for growth and fiercely resists efforts to let the European Central Bank intervene more.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul's passionate base of support could explain a new study that finds he received more favorable treatment on Twitter than any other GOP hopeful.
Credit DANIEL ACKER / Landov
Texas Rep. Ron Paul has received more favorable treatment on Twitter than any other GOP presidential hopeful, according to a new study.
