Making good on a campaign promise, President Barack Obama has signed into law a repeal of the military's 17-year policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

President Barack Obama praised bipartisan efforts to pass key legislation during the lame-duck session, calling it "the most productive post-election period we've had in decades" during a press conference from the White House on Wednesday.

British Police have announced the arrests of twelve people suspected of planning terrorist activity in the United Kingdom.

In spite of making retaliatory threats last week, North Korea did not act after South Korea held a military drill. The North had originally threatened action if the South went forward with planned exercises near a naval border between the two nations.

President Barack Obama has signed tax legislation that will maintain current tax rates for everyone, calling it "a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country," in remarks he made just prior to signing it into law.

The House has approved a bill to repeal the military's seventeen-year policy banning gays from openly serving in the military. The move comes less than a week after the Senate voted down a larger defense bill that included a provision to repeal the policy.

Julian Assange's release on bail has been delayed to allow Swedish authorities to contest the ruling.

Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, has died at the age of 69, after undergoing heart surgery.

A federal judge in Virginia has declared part of the nation's new health care law unconstitutional.

The Senate has voted down a repeal of the 17-year ban, in a vote of 57 to 40.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held hearing on the Pentagon's study of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is condemning the release of millions of documents by the group WikiLeaks. According to The Associated Press, WikiLeaks has begun posting documents online, and ultimately plans to release more than 250,000 documents.

President Barack Obama has announced a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal employees. He made the announcement from the White House on Monday.

The U.N. agency overseeing aviation is pushing for more cargo security to counter al-Qaida's new mail-bomb strategy, but is not calling for 100 percent screening of packages.

A retired French electrician and his wife have come forward with 271 undocumented, never-before-seen works by Pablo Picasso, estimated to be worth at least $79.35 million.

Washington is reeling after the release of a quarter of a million classified cables sent to and from the State Department. The Obama administration has been forced into damage control and politicians are criticizing the release of the documents.

According to The Associated Press, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been found guilty of money laundering.

Ireland has released a new budget plan, designed to save the country billions of dollars over the next four years. Details of the plan come days after the country applied for a multi-billion dollar rescue loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

South Korea is on a high level of alert, after a conflict with North Korea left two South Korean marines and two civilians dead.