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(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration named Holly Petraeus--wife of retired Gen. David Patraeus, who resigned last week as CIA director after revealing he had had an extra-marital affair--to $187,605-per-yer job in the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

ISTANBUL—The point man for the Obama administration's financial wars on Iran, North Korea and al Qaeda, Stuart Levey, has decided to leave his senior U.S. Treasury Department post at what is turning out to be a particularly critical time. Mr. Levey's departure will leave President Barack Obama without the principal architect of Washington's economic-sanctions campaign against Tehran, just as that campaign is likely to be ramped up following the breakdown of talks among Iran, the U.S. and a bloc of global powers on Saturday. The negotiations, held in Turkey, were aimed at curtailing Iran's nuclear program. With no date set...

Obama, Hu toast 'strategic mutual trust' at state dinnerBy Christina Wilkie - 01/19/11 10:30 PM ET President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao toasted U.S. and Chinese collaboration and mutual interests on Wednesday night at a festive state dinner for 225 guests at the White House. Their toasts marked the high point of an evening notable for its strict adherence to the protocol and symbolism valued in Chinese culture, but which, at the same time, managed to fulfill the Chinese delegation's request for a thoroughly American dinner party. Guests dined on a meal of pear salad, lobster, ribeye steak and...

There is more to the story of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula than what we are told by the media. Court documents reveal that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, producer of the movie Innocence of Muslims, partnered in a scheme with Eiad Salameh, my first cousin, a Palestinian Muslim from Beit Sahour in the Palestinian district of Bethlehem. To prove my claim, I revealed Eiad Salameh long before this whole fiasco erupted—in 2008 and the first real reportage of Eiad and Nakoula was revealed on September 14th, 2012. Now do I have your attention? The narrative that circulates the media fails to answer crucial...

There is more to the story of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula than what we are told by the media. Court documents reveal that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, producer of the movie Innocence of Muslims, partnered in a scheme with Eiad Salameh, my first cousin, a Palestinian Muslim from Beit Sahour in the Palestinian district of Bethlehem. To prove my claim, I revealed Eiad Salameh long before this whole fiasco erupted—in 2008 and the first real reportage of Eiad and Nakoula was revealed on September 14th, 2012. Now do I have your attention? The narrative that circulates the media fails to answer crucial...

Zardari took 'massive secret commissions' for securing French submarine deal: Report 2011-01-15 16:00:00 Official Pakistani documents, detailing how President Asif Ali Zardari benefited from massive, secret payments connected to the sale of French submarines to Pakistan, have been seized as evidence by a Paris magistrate investigating a suspected widespread scam surrounding the deal. The documents, published by Mediapart, show that the payments to Zardari and others took place on the fringes of the sale of three Agosta-class submarines by the French defence contractor, the DCN, to Pakistan in the 1990s. The French sale, which succeeded against rival offers by Swedish...

At the urging of Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama canceled the operation to kill Osama bin Laden on three separate occasions before finally approving the May 2, 2011 Navy SEAL mission, according to an explosive new book scheduled for release August 21. The Daily Caller has seen a portion of the chapter in which the stunning revelation appears. In ”Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,“ Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the “kill” mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him...

Last week wasn't a good one for journalists in Egypt. Anderson Cooper of CNN claimed he was punched ten times in the head. Christiane Amanpour was surrounded by an angry mob. Fox News' Greg Palkot and his crew were attacked after fleeing from a Molotov cocktail tossed into their balcony. Brian Hartman of ABC News was carjacked and threatened with beheading. Lara Logan of CBS and her two-person crew were kidnapped. All of these incidents are being ascribed to pro-Mubarak forces, although that attribution may be coloured by anti-Mubarak sympathies amongst those same journalists. They went to Egypt hoping for...

According to the White House, President Obama is planning to focus on “five pillars” during his 2011 State of the Union address — innovation, education, infrastructure, deficit reduction, and reforming government. Poor choice to focus on five points and call them “pillars.” As the president surely knows, there are “five pillars” of Islam which are the foundation for the Muslim life. Is this subliminal bow to Mecca worth opening that “can of worms” at the same time he is making a head fake towards center? The president says that his focus will be “jobs” and, according to Chip Reid, the...

l-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called on France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for releasing French hostages being held by affiliates of the extremist group, according to a new audio message broadcast on an Arabic news channel Friday. "The exit of your hostages out of the hands of our brothers depends on the exit of your troops from Afghanistan," bin Laden said in the message broadcast by al-Jazeera. Bin Laden reminded the French people of President Nicolas Sarkozy's refusal in November to withdraw the French troops from Afghanistan and to negotiate with al-Qaida over the hostages.

What was billed as a memorial for victims of the Arizona shooting rampage turned into a rollicking rally, leaving some conservative commentators wondering whether President Barack Obama's speech was a scripted political event. Not so, insisted the White House and host University of Arizona. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday he and other aides didn't expect the president's remarks at the school's basketball arena to receive as much rousing applause as it did. Gibbs said the crowd's response, at times cheering and shouting, was understandable.

Chavez, Clinton briefly meet in BrazilSun Jan 2, 2011 3:56PM Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have held a brief conversation at Brazil's presidential inauguration ceremony. "We greeted each other. (Clinton), I think, was entering the room. She had a very spontaneous smile and I greeted her with the same effusiveness. ... It was a pleasant moment. We spoke about two or three specific things," Chavez told VTV. The two were in Brazil for the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff, the country's first female president, where they were seen shaking and chatting in a friendly encounter....

The U.S. isn't the only place that's facing a major pension fund crisis. The Christian Science Monitor has this alarming report: People’s retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don’t want to reduce spending or make privatizations. As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends. In recent weeks I have noted five such attempts: Three situations concern private personal savings; two...

The AP said more than 1000 birds fell from the sky, but CNN put the number at up to 5000.