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Obama cranking up efforts to have US join global Rights of Child pact

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration is reviving efforts to have the United States sign onto a global children’s rights treaty ratified by every U.N. member except the U.S. and Somalia, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Monday.

Administration plan to shore up highway funds puts off overhaul of transportation programs

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday offered a temporary finance plan that could put off an overhaul of federal highway programs — and what is likely to be a politically sensitive vote to raise gas taxes — until after next year’s midterm congressional elections.

Obama’s first global warming report dire, but offers hope; ‘Not too late,’ one official says

WASHINGTON — Rising sea levels, sweltering temperatures, deeper droughts, and heavier downpours — global warming’s serious effects are already here and getting worse, the Obama administration warned on Tuesday in the grimmest, most urgent language on climate change ever to come out of any White House.

Obama administration to keep secret 44 coal ash sites that pose threat to people nearby

WASHINGTON — Dozens of communities nationwide are at risk from a coal ash spill like the one that blanketed a Tennessee neighborhood last year, but the Obama administration has decided not to tell the public about it because of the danger of a terrorist attack.

Senators tell FAA to adopt 2005 safety recommendation on pilot background checks

WASHINGTON — Senators on Wednesday urged the Federal Aviation Administration to implement a 2005 recommendation that airlines be required to check the training histories of pilots they hire, an issue in a February air crash near Buffalo, N.Y.

Addiction and death: Regulating tobacco products is a personal issue for many senators

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin was just 10 or 11 when he and his cousin Mike sneaked out behind a garage in East St. Louis, Ill., to have a smoke, Durbin’s first. He didn’t care much for the taste of the cigarette but, unfortunately, Mike did.

Senate rejects challenge to bill giving FDA control over tobacco products

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday rejected the main challenge to legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration sweeping controls over tobacco products, easing the way for passage of the measure this week.

Obama administration warns senators: The highway construction fund will go broke in August

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is warning lawmakers that the trust fund that pays for highway construction will go broke in August unless Congress approves an infusion of as much as $7 billion.

Senator: Obama administration has warned highway construction fund will go broke in August

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is warning that the trust fund that pays for highway construction will go broke in August unless Congress approves an infusion of as much as $7 billion.

Senators told widespread rapes in Congo a weapon of war that often goes unpunished

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of women, girls and babies have been raped during 12 years of conflict in eastern Congo, victims of a weapon of war that almost always goes unpunished, senators were told Wednesday.

Senators told widespread rapes in Congo a weapon of war that often goes unpunished

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of women, girls and babies have been raped during 12 years of conflict in eastern Congo, victims of a weapon of war that almost always goes unpunished, senators were told Wednesday.

US supports reducing climate-warming gases, but won’t propose it under UN ozone treaty

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners “a very significant” threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.’s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.

US supports reducing climate-warming gases under UN ozone treaty, but won’t propose it

UNITED NATIONS — The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners “a very significant” threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.’s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.

Island nations want treaty to cut greenhouse gases, worried about rising sea levels

UNITED NATIONS — Two small island nations, worried by rising sea levels, proposed drastic global cuts Thursday in the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a class of powerful greenhouse gases commonly used as coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners.

Conservatives prepare for clash over nearly 20-year-old Rights of Child pact, unapproved by US

NEW YORK — A global children’s rights treaty, ratified by every U.N. member except the United States and Somalia, has so alarmed its American critics that some are now pushing to add a parental rights amendment to the Constitution as a buffer against it.

Sen. Boxer readies Calif. Democrats for special interest attacks in 2010 re-election bid

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is warning Democratic supporters to get ready for a tough re-election campaign next year.

Silicon Valley evolves from technological, economic engine to California political machine

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Silicon Valley, the nation’s center of high-tech innovation, is exporting a new kind of product — frustrated former CEOs leaping from the boardroom to politics with promises to return economic luster to the Golden State.