STORY HIGHLIGHTS Philosophy professor Natalia Juarez is running for congress in Mexico Her campaign includes a billboard on which she and other women are topless The candidate says it's her way of giving voters a wake-up call with radical ideas for Mexico "Even if I dressed as a nun ... conservatives are never going to vote for me," she says (CNN) -- It's a campaign that's raising a lot of eyebrows in Mexico. The campaign involves a 34-year-old philosophy professor named Natalia Juarez, who's running for the Mexican congress. When Juarez realized her bid for office was off to a slow start a few weeks ago, the leftist candidate quickly decided she was going to be transparent with voters in a way they didn't expect. ... Continue reading →
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- Female soldiers this week are moving into new jobs in once all-male units as the Army breaks down formal barriers in recognition of what has already happened in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The policy change announced earlier this year is being tested at nine brigades, including one at Fort Campbell, before going Army-wide. It opens thousands of jobs to female soldiers by loosening restrictions meant to keep them away from the battlefield. Experience on the ground in the past decade showed women were fighting and dying alongside male soldiers anyway. Col. Val Keaveny Jr., commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team that is among units piloting the change, told The Associated Press that for the last decade it has ... Continue reading →
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. The states led by New York are asking the high court to preserve Montana's state-level regulations on corporate political expenditures, according to a copy of a brief written by New York's attorney general's office and obtained by The Associated Press. The brief will be publicly released Monday. The Supreme Court is being asked to reverse a state court's decision to uphold the Montana law. Virginia-based American Tradition Partnership is asking the nation's high court to rule without a hearing because the group says the state law ... Continue reading →
WASHINGTON (AP) -- NATO's secretary-general says he's optimistic that the international community will continue to finance the Afghan security forces. "This summit is not a pledging conference, but nevertheless a number of countries have announced substantial contributions to the Afghan security forces, so I'm optimistic," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. The international community in general has a responsibility and interest in ensuring the Afghan forces take full responsibility for the country's security after 2014 to prevent terrorists from reestablishing safe havens and launching attacks against Europe and the United States, the NATO chief said. The Afghan security forces are expected to cost about $4.1 billion a year. The Afghan government will pay about $500 million of that, and the ... Continue reading →
