Politics

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Democratic party vice secretary Enrico Letta talks to media at the Democratic Party press center in Rome, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. The prospect of political paralysis hung over Italy on Monday as partial official results in crucial elections showed an upstart protest campaign led by a comedian making stunning inroads, and mainstream forces of center-left and center-right wrestling for control of Parliament's two houses. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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A Free Syrian Army fighter walks on rubble of a base destroyed from a Syrian forces airstrike, at Jabal al-Zaweya village of Sarjeh, in Idlib, Syria, Monday Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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Israeli explosives experts stand by an rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip that landed near the coastal city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. It was the first such projectile from the Palestinian territory to hit Israel since Israel-Gaza hostilities last November. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

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Travelers walk along the main concourse at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (Andrew S. Geraci/The Washington Times)

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Rep. Edward J. Markey (left) is still favored to win the the Democratic runoff election for a Senate seat against Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, which will decide who moves on to the June 25 special election. (Associated Press)

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associated press “This is an independent organization,” White House press secretary Jay Carney says of the newly formed Organizing for Action nonprofit group.

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the washington times The D.C. Council reprimanded member Jim Graham on Monday for “affecting adversely the confidence in the public in the integrity of the government” by using his positions on the council and Metro board to influence the city’s lottery contract.

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Fidel Castro (left) and his brother, Raul, have been the only two rulers Cuba has known since 1959. Raul, the current Cuban president, said Sunday that he will relinquish power by the end of his recently begun five-year term. The U.S. State Department met the news with a lukewarm reaction. (Associated Press)