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Plane hole 'not due to corrosion' Engineers have begun inspecting the damaged plane in Manila Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has denied corrosion caused a hole in the body of the plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Manila.Safety engineers have begun examining the plane to establish the cause. More than 360 people were on board the flight when it was forced to land. They have since arrived back in Australia. Possible causes include corrosion or accidental external damage but Mr Dixon said preliminary checks showed corrosion was not the problem. The Qantas chief executive said he...

Safety concerns were raised as long ago as February about the Qantas aircraft that had to make an emergency landing after a 9ft hole opened up in its fuselage at 29,000 feet, it has emerged.

Heading home from an overseas trip aimed at strengthening his foreign policy credentials, Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday he's not counting on an immediate political boost and thinks it's just as likely he'll experience a short-term dip in polls simply because he's been out of the country for nine days."The reason that I thought this trip was important was I am convinced that many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad," Obama said, speaking outside 10 Downing Street after his private meeting with Prime Minister...

McCain Campaign on Barack Obama's Cancelled Troop VisitsContact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Va., July 26 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today, retired Lt. Colonel Joe Repya issued the following statement on Barack Obama's cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:"The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next....

Today, retired Lt. Colonel Joe Repya issued the following statement on Barack Obama’s cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl: “The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next. Several explanations were offered, none was convincing and each was at odds with the statements of American military...

"There's clearly nothing more important in the country for Congress to deal with ... than the price of gas at the pump," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). The minority leader said his party would continue to hold up business on the Senate floor until Democrats allowed them to offer a series of amendments on expanded offshore drilling, oil-shale development, nuclear power and other energy alternatives. Republicans have been trying to use a swell of public support for increased petroleum production -- including areas currently closed on the Outer Continental Shelf -- to break Democrats' opposition to lifting a decades-old...

A 10-mile area over downtown Denver will be a no-go area for pilots during the Democratic National Convention, and a larger area will have limited access that essentially will shut down many small aviation businesses during the event. The U.S. Secret Service and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on July 2 issued the final flight guidelines for the Aug. 25-28 convention at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High. No flights below 18,000 feet will be allowed within 10 miles of the facilities between 4-9 p.m., when the core business of the convention takes place. The no-fly area shrinks...

Homosexual clubs encourage teens to sexually identify themselves at an early age -- something an organization called Parents and Friends of ExGays & Gays considers dangerous. Parents and Friends of ExGays & Gays (PFOX) provides support for parents and friends of former homosexuals, also referred to as ex-"gays." Spokeswoman Regina Griggs believes schools should not be party to the homosexual propaganda campaign. "Children should never be told to identify themselves as heterosexual, gay, bi-sexual, transgender," Griggs contends. "Kids change as they mature and they go through puberty. Lots of questions that need answers come up." Research shows that individuals often go through periods of gender...

Sixteen bombs hit India's Ahmedabad, 18 killed AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - At least 16 small bombs exploded in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Saturday, killing at least 18 people and wounding 110, a day after another set of blasts in the country's IT hub, officials said. On Friday, eight bombs exploded in quick succession in the southern information technology city of Bangalore, killing at least one person and wounding six others. Saturday's blasts were in Ahmedabad's crowded old city dominated by its Muslim community. One was in a metal tiffin box, used to carry food, another apparently left on...

Most recent news of suicide bombings’ tragic harvest that shows Iraq as number 1, Pakistan number 2 and Afghanistan number 3 (In the number of attacks, Afghans are a little ahead but in number deaths Pakistan is second to Iraq): A region that once stifled renaissance is now on the verge of silencing its second chance of enlightenment. Will these lands ever come out of ignominy? Pakistan, after Iraq and Afghanistan, has become both a target and a staging ground for terrorism. Pakistan has become as blood-soaked and as dangerous as Iraq. The bombing of Jirga, funeral procession and prayer...

Today was the funeral for Army Cpl. Matthew Phillips. Phillips, 27, was just weeks from completing his 15-month tour when he and eight other soldiers were killed in a July 13 attack. They died during a three-hour battle with Taliban militants at a remote base in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. People started lining the road to his funeral at about noon. By the time his procession was passing, escorted by police and Patriot riders, there was a large crowd on both side of the road as far as I could see. I remember seeing an older lady in a car right...

Health and safety killjoys tell war veterans they are too old to hoist the Union Flag over town hall Last updated at 02:38am on 26.07.08      Up in arms: Veterans John Ireland (right) and Keith Hutchins in front of the town hall In their younger days, they risked death and injury to fight for their country against the Nazis and other enemies.  But, now, war veterans who want to fly the Union Flag proudly above their town hall are being defeated by a barrage of health and safety rules.  Royal British Legion members had scented victory after fighting...

At a morning press conference after a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London, Barack Obama got caught up in the web of lies his campaign has spun about the cancellation of his planned visit to wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on Friday.Obama stated: "We had scheduled to go, we had no problem at all in leaving, we always leave press and staff off -- that is why we left it off the schedule."Not true, Washington Post reported this morning: When Obama arrived in Germany on Thursday, a printed schedule said he would fly...

School Budget Cuts Derail English Language Program By Dean Gray and Jackie Devereaux Coachella Valley, CA – An important English reading fluency program is threatened to end due to severe budget cuts to this year’s school budget. The Valley Partnership, is at the end of a three-year program, funded by an annual grant of $329,000. Without the matching funds the program is at risk and over 20 people lose their paid volunteer positions. Fundraising efforts are still trying to raise $55,000 by August 3rd to meet the target start-up date. The sponsors are asking for donations by philanthropists and charitable...

In a move widely seen as the Silicon Valley behemoth's answer to Wikipedia, this week Google opened Knol, its own user-generated encyclopedia, to the public. Unlike Wikipedia, people who write entries on Google's encyclopedia are identified and could even earn a profit from their articles with ads. The more times the article is viewed, the more an author can get paid. Google, of course, gets a cut of the profits. "The key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every knol will have an author (or group of authors) who put their name behind their content," the company wrote on its blog...

Anyone perusing the media in recent days might have gotten the vague impression that someone named Barack Obama has been on some kind of foreign trip somewhere. Funny how that information somehow seeped through despite all the other competing stories about the presumptive Democratic candidate for president visiting Iraq and Afghanistan. And there were other distracting stories about a freshman senator from Illinois meeting with Israeli and Palestinian politicians. And a former state senator, also coincidentally from Illinois, speaking to a large crowd of Germans in Berlin for some reason. And then an African American lawyer from Chicago had a...

Early in July, OK! magazine featured a cover story about Jamie Lynn Spears and her new baby, Maddie. Newsweek reported that the magazine paid $1 million for the rights to publish photographs of the baby and mother. The young mom, now 17, is shown on the magazine's cover declaring, "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world." A good number of parents were understandably outraged.   This week, Newsweek is out with an article that questions how Hollywood is presenting teenage motherhood. The magazine reports that teen moms and their babies have become "a hot plot device lately."...

Bam! The amount of time it took to read the first word in this editorial — less than a half a second — is the amount of time a police officer has to make a life-and-death decision when confronted by an individual with a gun. We believe this is the core issue surrounding the recent controversy regarding the sale of air-powered toy and pellet guns that are designed to mimic real guns. These guns propel plastic BBs at various velocities using carbon dioxide canisters or batteries. They are intended for use in target practice and military combat simulation games. This...

Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip arrested 120 men aligned with Fatah faction on Saturday after an explosion there killed five Hamas members and a girl, the Hamas' officials and Fatah said. Friday's blast next to a car used by the armed wing of Hamas killed three members and the girl, and two others later died of their wounds in hospital, Reuters said. "The Fatah movement has no link whatsovever with these internal disputes within Hamas," a statement by Fatah said. "The claim that Fatah carried out these explosions aims to cover up the fact that there are disputes...

ALGIERS (AFP) - The price of oil could drop to between 70 and 80 dollars a barrel if the dollar strengthens and concerns over Iran are reduced, OPEC chief Chakib Khelil said Saturday.

By Burt Prelutsky It seems to me that when it comes to foreign policy, the U.S. has two separate problems. To begin with, there are those two billion foreigners in places like China, Russia, North Korea, and all the various Islamic nations that give America and much of the rest of the world non-stop migraines. But compounding the problem for us are the millions of illegal aliens who have been flooding across our southern border for the past 25 years or so. It’s bad enough that they’ve placed a terrible burden on our schools, our prisons, and our health care...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn underwent tests Friday for what was described as an irregular heartbeat. His office told news outlets that the 60-year-old Oklahoma Republican was expected to return to work at the Senate over the weekend. An aide said Coburn was at a hospital for the tests for "common arrhythmia.'' He was not admitted to the hospital, the aide said. Coburn's office would not comment further. A physician, Coburn describes himself as a two-time cancer survivor. In 2003, just months before deciding to run for the Senate, he confirmed that he had undergone surgery and treatment for...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senate lawmakers on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a broad package of housing legislation, hoping to send a calming message to financial markets and voters amid the ongoing deterioration of the housing market and a growing number of bank failures. Meeting in a rare weekend session, the Senate voted 72-13 in favor of the bill, which includes tax breaks for homeowners, a $300 billion program to refinance loans for struggling borrowers, and a dramatic rescue plan for embattled mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Other provisions include an increase in the federal debt limit to $10.6 trillion...

Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters A Beverly Hills hotel security guard told FOXNews.com he intervened this week between a man he identified as former Sen. John Edwards and tabloid reporters who chased down the former presidential hopeful after what they're calling a rendezvous with his mistress and love child. The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men's room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door. "What are they...

Liberals say Iraq is another Vietnam; conservatives say Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter redux. ABBA's a mega-hit and Elton John's going to be performing at Madison Square Garden. Had enough of these '70s flashbacks? Brace yourself for another: the return of the national speed limit, courtesy of one of the country's most venerable politicians. Senator John Warner (R-VA) — elected in 1978 — recently expressed interest in the idea of a national speed limit to conserve gasoline. Warner, who is not running for re-election this year, wrote to U.S. Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman, asking "at what speed is the...

Civil rights organization fights elitists and racists By John Bender With the Heller decision only hours old, the National rifle Association, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, filed suit against Chicago and San Francisco seeking to overturn obviously unconstitutional laws those cities have on the books. In the case of Chicago, their anti-civil right law mirrors the Washington, D.C. law the court struck down. In San Francisco the anti-civil rights law being challenged is different, but also absolutely unconstitutional on its face. In fact the San Francisco law is elitist and racist and the federal government should have insisted it...

As you may have heard, the National Enquirer claims to have ambushed former presidential candidate John Edwards in the Beverly Hilton the other night, where he was allegedly ronday-voo'ing with his alleged mistress and their alleged love child. Alleged alleged alleged alleged alleged! The newspaper reports that its team confronted Edwards about it, and he ran away and hid in a men's room until security forced the reporters away. The paper says it had a photographer present; I want to see pictures. Still, the Enquirer, as sleazy as its tactics strike many people, has a better reputation on stories like...

For the week of July 26, 2008: Senator McCain discussed this week's debate on the critical issue of energy. Regaining control over the cost and supply of energy in America will not be easy, and it will not happen quickly. But no challenge to our economy and security is more urgent. Audio at link

WITH gestures that ranged from a wink to a sneer, most anyone you met here this week volunteered the view that Barack Obama’s visit to Europe caused unprecedented frenzy. But it’s been hard for me to find a European, aside from two Harvard-educated friends in Paris, who confessed to excitement — not just about the visit, but the prospect of an Obama presidency. It is true that Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly, featured Mr. Obama on its cover, topped by the words “Germany Meets the Superstar” — but the cover was satire, and nasty satire at that. The editors managed...

Brothers Defend Brooklyn Bodega With Machetes, Large Carving Knives; Fight Off Would-Be Thieves Video Shows Owners Confronting Suspects Until Police Arrive NEW YORK (CBS) Some storeowners in Brooklyn who were fed up with thieves took matters into their own hands. The episode of vigilante justice was caught on tape, as two brothers used machetes and large knives to fend off three criminals, who also had weapons of their own. As the camera rolled, the lines between good and evil were drawn. "You never know. This is a business. There's always someone trying to rip us off," Mohammed Othman said Thursday...

Gerard Baker reads his 'He He ventured forth to bring light to the world' Video at link

British couples should have no more than two children to save the world from global warming, according to a green think tank. Campaigners from the Optimum Population Trust said limiting family size was the 'simplest and biggest' contribution people could make to saving the planet. While Britain need not follow the example of China and ban large families, having more than two children should be frowned upon in the same way as using a patio heater or driving a gas guzzling car. But critics said doctors and governments had no right to tell parents how many children to have -...

The upcoming joint appearance by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain at Rick Warren's evangelical Saddleback Church is co-sponsored by a left-leaning group led by a Unitarian-Universalist minister who once headed her denomination's homosexual advocacy office. Meg Riley is the board president of Faith in Public Life, whose board members include other theological liberals, including a pro-abortion Muslim leader and a Jewish rabbi, reported OneNewsNow. The group's stated vision hints at its challenge to the influence of the so-called religious right, saying it "envisions a country in which diverse religious voices for justice and the common good consistently impact public...

(Updated) Mayor John DeStefano, offering new details about a dirt bike-van collision that led to a crowd beating a driver and a 15 year-old boy losing his life, renewed a call to tackle the challenge of “disconnected” teens. DeStefano made the remarks at an unrelated City Hall press event in the wake of a Wednesday afternoon incident that has shocked the city. The incident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Wednesday. A 15 year-old boy racing a stolen Honda dirt bike up and down Shepard Street ran into the back of a van. A crowd of his friends subsequently beat...

From No smoking hot spot in the Australian.The evidence is not there:1. The greenhouse signature is missing. We have been looking and measuring for years, and cannot find it. Each possible cause of global warming has a different pattern of where in the planet the warming occurs first and the most. The signature of an increased greenhouse effect is a hot spot about 10km up in the atmosphere over the tropics. We have been measuring the atmosphere for decades using radiosondes: weather balloons with thermometers that radio back the temperature as the balloon ascends through the atmosphere. They show no...

NEW YORK — Painfully high vehicle- and jet-fuel prices are propelling popular demands for extracting the estimated 18 billion barrels of petroleum beneath America's coastal waters. After rescinding previous executive-branch objections, President Bush said July 14, "The only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." Capitol Hill Democrats claim offshore drilling poses unacceptable ecological risks. This is yet another overblown worry. Democrats and other environmental naysayers cite the 80,000 barrels that spilled six miles off of Santa Barbara, inundating beaches and aquatic life. This hydrocarbon Hindenburg haunts the memories of...

An Ohio man is in jail for posing as an underwear researcher and examining children. Ken Hawkins is accused of arranging meetings this Spring with parents of at least three children to conduct a marketing research survey involving children's underwear and razors. While at the house of an eight-year-old girl, he instructed her to try on several pair of underwear while he took notes. Hawkins then took several measurements of the victim while she wore only the underwear. Prosecutors said Hawkins also ran his fingers around the waistband and looked at the rear of the panties to check out the...

Interesting TNR article here. The thing is about how the Obama campaign's hubris is starting to piss off the media. In particular an incident with a NYT reporter is written about in some length. When you get lefty rags like TNR openly making admissions like the quote below, and whining about how closed and controlling the Obama campaign is, it sounds to me like the campaign's honeymoon is just about over....The press certainly helped Obama get so far so fast; the question is, how far can he get if his campaign alienates them?... ...But, as Obama ascended from underdog to...

Uighur group claims China bus attacks, threatens Olympics Sat Jul 26, 3:14 AM ET A Uighur separatist group has taken credit for a deadly bus bombing in Shanghai in May and warned of new attacks in China during the Olympics, a group monitoring threats by extremists on the Internet said. In a video statement, Commander Seyfullah of the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed credit for several attacks, including the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing which killed three; another Shanghai attack; an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractor; a bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on...

Listen to one of the great shows. Roger was the best sub for Limbaugh. ROGER HEDGECOCK LIVE ONLINE

Seven bombs hit Ahmedabad, two killed Enlarge Photo By Rupam Jain Nair AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - At least seven small bombs exploded in Ahmedabad on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding 55, just a day after another set of blasts in the country's southern IT hub, officials said. On Friday, eight bombs exploded in quick succession in Bangalore, killing at least one person and wounding six others. Saturday's blasts were in the Ahmedabad's crowded old city dominated by its Muslim community. One was left in a metal tiffin box, used to carry food, another apparently left on a...

On March 27, 2008, the U.S. Department of State's International Information Programs in Washington D.C., the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center jointly held an international videoconference seminar focusing on Iraq. Brief biographies of the participants can be found at the end of the article. This seminar is part of the GLORIA Center's Experts Forum series. Barry Rubin: For good reasons, people are often focused on the military side of the war and the issues in Iraq, but the political side determines what will happen in terms of...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — In his seventh of month of U.S. captivity, Osama bin Laden's driver told a pair of FBI agents that it was America's fault that the al Qaida leader was alive. The message was, ''You had these opportunities, America. You didn't do anything,'' FBI agent George Crouch Jr. testified Friday at Salim Hamdan's war crimes trial. The United States could have killed bin Laden in Khartoum, Sudan, before he moved to Afghanistan in 1996, Hamdan told his interrogators. They could have killed him after al Qaida's 1998 twin bombings at the U.S. Embassy bombings in...

Gallup now has Obama ahead 47-41 and Rasmussen has Obama leading by a 46-40 percent margin. Media bias is certainly a factor but McCain is running a campaign as thrilling as watching paint dry.

Here is a report from NBC's Kelly O'Donnell on remarks by Sen. John McCain yesterday in which he characterized the decision early last year on supporting or opposing the "Surge Strategy" in Iraq as a "real-time" Commander-in-Chief test. McCain bluntly said that he passed that test and that Barack Obama failed. McCain needs to keep this a part of every speech he gives from now to November. . . (see video)

After meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, came before the microphones... SNIP But the Pentagon said that wasn't true, that Obama was more than welcome to come, it was just that he couldn't bring the media or campaign staff. So here's what Obama said about it all: "The staff was working this so I don’t know each and every detail but here is what I understand happened," Obama said. "We had scheduled to go, we had no problem at all in leaving, we always leave press and staff off -- that is why we...

At British Parliament today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with Tory Leader David Cameron. Seemingly unaware of an enormous fuzzy boom mike held by ABC News' Eric Kerchner, the two chatted casually -- and privately. "You should be on the beach," Cameron told Obama. "You need a break. Well, you need to be able to keep your head together."

Iran says oil could reach $500 on dollar, politics Sat Jul 26, 6:43 AM ET Iran's OPEC governor said world oil prices could reach as high as $500 per barrel in a few years' time if the dollar falls further and political tension worsens, an Iranian weekly said. "If the dollar's value continues to decrease and if the political crisis becomes worse, the oil price would reach up to $500," Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Shahrvand-e Emrooz in an interview published on Saturday. He was asked about predictions that oil prices could reach up to $200 per barrel in the next...

Bobby Kennedy Jr. has snatched victory - and a TV deal - from the jaws of toxic mold. For years, the environmental crusader and his wife, Mary, had battled a deadly fungus that had infested their Westchester County home. "We finally came to the conclusion that there was no way to save the house," Kennedy tells us. "We had to tear it down. We didn't feel it was conscionable to sell it to someone else." The Kennedys moved to a rental house, hoping someday to build again on their land. Now they are planning to erect a state-of-the-art green home...

Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. The search committee, now led by Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, raised Veneman's name — among others — in discussions with members of Congress, two Democrats familiar with the conversations said.