USNews | Hottest News Headlines from USA and The World

[NewsCaster]

(From: NY Times)An old artist, a new discovery:  the work of Albert Houthuesen- who can work the brush and compose striking and beautiful paintings- is slowly being discovered as a new treasure.More...

Contemporary Art Works of Often Subtle Beauty, Albert Houthuesen's Paintings

[NewsCaster]

All over the world, parks are some of the most beloved city spaces.  After all, it's only human to crave some real greenery in a world of concrete!From Lyon to Lima, we found some of the most beautiful city parks on the planet.  Yet we know there's plenty more where these came from: What's your favorite urban park?More...

9 Greenest & Most Relaxing City Parks (PHOTOS)

[NewsCaster]

"Always know sometimes think it's me/but you know I know and it's a dream."--John LennonJohn Lennon was not just a great musician and songwriter. He was a dream-weaver who dared to imagine a world where human beings would put down their arms, stop warring and live in peace. "You may say I'm a dreamer," Lennon sings in "Imagine," "but I'm not the only one."

               http://www.youtube.com/v/V_4E5LTSsvg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

John Lennon's Dream: His 10 Best Songs (VIDEOS)

[NewsCaster]

When the Texas Board of Education passed a resolution late last month decrying the "pro-Islamic/anti-Christian bias [that] has tainted... Texas Social Studies textbooks," indicating that they would "look to reject [such] prejudicial textbooks" in the future, they were basing their criticism on a biased anti-Arab review. In doing so, they took a dangerous step backward that threatens to widen the knowledge gap that has put the U.S. at risk in the Arab and Muslim worlds.America has enormous interests in that region. In the past 30 years, we've spent more money, sold more weapons, sent more troops, fought more wars, lost more lives, had more economic and political interests at stake, and expended more diplomatic capital in the broader Middle East than anywhere else on the globe. And yet recent polling shows that two-thirds of all Americans can't point to Iraq on a map, just as many don't know the year that Israel declared its independence, the same number don't realize that Iran and Pakistan aren't Arab countries, and about one-half share prejudicial and stereotypical views of Arabs as angry, backward, violent fanatics.More...

Our Ignorance and Our Interests: Why We Need to Learn More, Not Less, About Islam and the Arab World

[NewsCaster]

A video showing a group of four young men performing a street-corner dance on a rainy day in Oakland, CA has gone viral on YouTube, and with good reason.The four dancers in the video are part of an Oakland-based dance group called Turf Feinz. The group's Facebook page boasts that it "organizes dance battles [and] young people" in order to "provide a safe space for entertainment and continue the advancement of turf dancing."More...

Incredible Urban Dancing Video In Rainy Oakland Goes Viral (VIDEO)

[NewsCaster]

On Sunday, Sep. 26, many Christian churches around the world heard the story of the rich man and Lazarus from the gospel of Luke 16:19-31.  As I reflected on this story, I was reminded once again of our Christian responsibility to heal the world of all divisions. The rich man in this story is not condemned because he is wealthy, nor is he condemned because of what he did with his wealth. He is condemned because of what he did not do. He is condemned because he did not spend his time, talents and treasures to bridge the gap between Lazarus and himself. The chasm that existed between the rich man and Lazarus is symbolic of the different chasms we have created and maintained in our society.What are those chasms and who are the Lazaruses? There are several divisions that exist in our society: the rich and the poor, those who dine sumptuously and those who go hungry, gay and straight, whites and people of color, Christians and other religions like Islam. Our Lazaruses are the marginalized or those who are disadvantaged because of the side of the divide where they find themselves. In our society, these are the poor, the hungry, gays, people of color, and Muslims. These are the least of our brothers and sisters that Jesus Christ expects Christians to care for. We cannot ignore them, deride them or pretend that they do not exist. Christians not only have a responsibility to help them, but they must fight to tear down the structures of inequality in our society. Christians cannot sit passively when the rights of Muslims are being violated just because they belong to a different religious tradition. They must act because we all have a common origin. The same God created Muslims and Christians (and people of other faiths).  I was not created by a black God or a white God.  The God who created gay people is not different from the God who created straight people.  The poor are also created by the same God who creates the rich. We all are created by one God. We all share the image and the likeness of one God.More...

The Christian Responsibility to Heal the World of Divisions

[NewsCaster]

Short and Tweet, our weekly series, brings you the newsiest, most buzzworthy tweets of the past seven days. What's in store this week? John McCain endorses a contest on Dancing with the Stars (but not the one you'd think), 50 Cent defends an offensive tweet, and more.About Short And Tweet: Some tweets make news, and some of those tweets break news. HuffPost Tech's new weekly feature of the top newsmaking tweets of the week will showcase both.More...

SHORT AND TWEET: The Top 5 Tweets Of The Week From The Fringe And Famous (PICTURES)

[NewsCaster]

No time to page through thousands of eBay listings? Then just sneak a peek at my weekly eBay roundup of top vintage clothing finds.This eclectic mix of designer and non-designer vintage clothing and accessories caught my discerning eye because of their uniqueness, contemporary feel or highly collectible nature.More...

Weekly eBay Roundup of Vintage Clothing Finds

[NewsCaster]

Five years ago, MicroCredit Enterprises was born.  Simple in conception, difficult to birth, and now wonderfully successful at reducing poverty for some of the poorest people in the world.More...

How to Make Everything From Nothing

[NewsCaster]

We've heard you. And, after much thought, Gap will keep its classic blue box logo.While last week I mentioned that we'd be tapping into the outpouring of passion from customers for design ideas and feedback, we realized this wasn't going to work. It wasn't the right project for crowd sourcing. In fact, all roads were leading us to the classic blue box.More...

Gap: Sticking With a Classic