A key component of U.S. President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare bill began on Tuesday, despite the shutdown of the federal government, which was sparked by conservative Republicans trying to derail law designed to extend insurance coverage to millions of America.
With the law funding thousands of routine government activities set to expire at midnight, U.S. Senate Democrats rejected a proposal by the Republican-led House of Representatives to delay Obamacare for a year in return for temporary funding of the federal government beyond Monday.
Embattled former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's decision to order five ministers from his People of Freedom Party to resign from the newly-formed coalition of Enrico Letta's cabinet has plunged Italy into political chaos, leaving the euro-zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a law suit North Carolina for alleged racial discrimination over new voting laws, The Associated Press reported. Calling the laws "restrictive," Attorney General Eric Holder argued that the state took "extremely aggressive steps to curtail the voting rights of African-Americans. This is an intentional step to break a system that was working and it defies common sense," he said at a press conference on Monday.
