Free Republic

Who knew? Ally Bank is running all those TV ads belittling the “fine print” used by other banks. But as the Wall Street Journal detailed on Tuesday, the ads do not disclose that Ally is a unit of troubled GMAC  Financial Services, the former financing arm of GM, now seeking its third multi-billion taxpayer  bailout.Ally had been offering some of the highest CD interest rates in the nation until federal bank regulators pressured Ally to reduce them. Lower rates are one thing but there is another compelling consideration when shopping CD rates. When you deposit your money with Ally, you...

The Dow Jones reached a significant milestone yesterday, and news outlets were abuzz with excitement. Olympia Snowe's vote for the Baucus bill was plenty fodder for the 24-hour news cycles. But, for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in the United States, an epochal event transpired at the White House afternoon that should not slip notice. Lead me from Untruth to Truth. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality. (from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad -- I.iii.28) As the ethereal sounds of a Hindu priest's chanting of this Sanskrit prayer from ancient Hindu scripture filled the East Room,...

Hey, let's face it. Much of the world still prefers its Jews ghetto style, groveling Uncle Abes instead of Uncle Toms (note: the very word "ghetto" was originally coined for the Jewish experience). Ironically, of all world leaders, the current American president should be tuned in to this problem the most; Instead, he's among the worst offenders when it comes to this. Recently the Obama White House rebuked Israel because it refuses to prostrate itself and say, "whatever you say, boss!" On September 4th, Associated Press writer Matthew Lee reported that, "the White House said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's...

Israel must survive but American Jews are “over it.” AIPAC sold out for a glass of lemonade in the Oval Office and J Street is as pro-Israel as David Duke. It is time to wake up and realize the menu in the White House has changed. However, the financial dynamic has also changed and a healthy bottom line trumps political propaganda any day of the week. The Golden Rule is alive and well and “him with the gold is still making the rules.” Some believe the enormous buyouts of American companies by Arab investors is proof of the growing fear...

Since its creation, Israel has been one of America’s greatest allies and visa-versa. America has provided Israel with much of their defenses and armory. In return Israel has provided America with a place for democracy in the Middle East. In the past, there have been instances where the relationship has been tested. For instance, Jimmy Carter blamed the Israelis (Jews especially) for every single problem in the Middle East and that Israel should be two states with a Muslim Majority. Carter even went as far as to write a book called ‘Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid’ which, as you may have...

U.S. Intelligence Official about Israel: "This is just the beginning". U.S. Intelligence official "breaks silence" on Israel situation"Homeland Security 31 December 2008: Northeast Intelligence Network director Doug Hagmann interviewed a highly-placed U.S. intelligence official late yesterday who not only confirmed rumors about escalated and more intensive Israeli military operations against the Muslim terrorists in Gaza, [but] warned of the increasing probability of abandonment of Israel by the U.S. and other Western countries based on what he termed "malicious intelligence.""Remember that term," advised this well-placed intelligence official, "you'll be hearing it again." "This is just the beginning," stated this intelligence official,...

BAGHDAD – The Lithuanian armed forces contingent officially brought its mission in Iraq to a close Dec. 16 during a ceremony at Al Faw Palace. The Lithuanians have provided an infantry platoon and multiple staff officers in support of Multi-National Force – Iraq, Multi-National Corps – Iraq, Multi-National, Division – South East and Multi-National Division – Central South since 2003. The contingent, with the use of its infantry platoon deployed to Forward Operating Bases Delta and Echo, has provided security and a quick reaction force in support of U.S. and coalition forces. They also provided essential training to members of...

Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and 447th Air Expeditionary Group Airmen pose for one last photo together on the flightline at Sather Air Base on the west side of Baghdad International Airport, Dec. 8, 2008. After the photo was taken, the Japanese C-130 Hercules transport aircraft made its final departure from theater, concluding the Japanese military mission here. Photo by Master Sgt. Brian Davidson, 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force held an end of mission ceremony at Al Faw Palace to commemorate the conclusion of their operations in Iraq with Coalition forces, Dec. 6....

Video Available: Japanese Defense Forces End-of-Mission Ceremony  CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – B-Roll of the Japanese End-of- Mission Ceremony at Camp Victory is now available. Video includes footage of the Deputy Commanding General of Multi-National Corps – Iraq Maj. Gen. Michael Ferriter speaking about the contributions of the Japanese Defense Forces to the coalition. The video also includes the presentations of awards for the Japanese soldiers by Ferriter. The video entitled “Japanese End-of-Mission Ceremony� is located on the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System website at: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=50839 or http://www.dvidshub.net/ keywords “Japanese End of Mission�. For the broadcast quality version of this video, please contact the...

Charles Krauthammer: The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military- and strategic-cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States. They must not pass unnoted. They were certainly noted by Iran, which fought fiercely to undermine the agreements. Tehran understood how a formal U.S.-Iraqi alliance endorsed by a broad Iraqi consensus expressed in a freely elected parliament changes the strategic balance in the region. For the United States, it represents the single most important geopolitical advance in the region since Henry Kissinger turned Egypt from a Soviet client...

Marine Maj. Gen. Paul Lefebvre (center left) and Macedonian Soldiers come together one last time for an end of mission ceremony at the Schoolcraft Pavilion, Nov. 26, 2008. Photo by Maj. Allen Hing, 2nd Stryker Brigade 25th Infantry Division. CAMP TAJI — After eleven rotations since the beginning months of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Macedonian Soldiers are ending their part of the Coalition forces mission here. The end-of-mission ceremony was “bittersweet� for Coalition forces, as this longtime partner was closing a chapter on its partnership in Iraq.“Around 450 troops have passed through this mission, and a lot of experience has...

WASHINGTON — A growing al Qaida -backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army's reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America's key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment. A U.S. official who participated in drafting the top secret National Intelligence Estimate said it portrays the situation in Pakistan as "very bad." Another official called the draft "very bleak," and said it describes Pakistan as being "on the edge."

Leadership: If anything shows how Democrats are beneath their office, it's how they snubbed the visiting leader of Colombia on his current trip. Sarah Palin, by contrast, shows respect.Based on their treatment of President Alvaro Uribe, who is here to plead for a free trade pact, it's almost as if Democrats don't want the U.S. to have allies. Uribe made a rare visit to Washington, and shamefully few Democrats agreed to meet him. Uribe didn't come asking for much — only that Congress keep its word on an agreement that will drop tariffs on American goods sold in Colombia and...

This truck (BELOW) came through the intersection proudly displaying the American Flag and a 9/11 Remembrance Flag. The list of 8 Patriots getting wet to support our troops were: Legionnaire Glenn (USMC - WWII), Dave (Army - WWII), Frank (Army - Korea), FReepers and Lurkers - Lurker Bill, Cindy_True_Supporter, Eager, Sensei Ern, [Mrs] Trooprally, aka [Mrs] T, and myself, [Mr] T. Pics are by [Mrs] T BELOW LEFT: Cindy_True_Supporter and Eager. BELOW RIGHT: Sensei Ern, Dave and Frank BELOW LEFT: Glenn, Frank and Dave. BELOW RIGHT: Lurker Bill BELOW LEFT: Cindy_True_Supporter BELOW RIGHT: Me BELOW: And the Clueless Moonbats got...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2008 – President Bush today pledged the United States will support the former Soviet republic of Georgia in its time of need, as Russian troops still occupy parts of the country. Video “The United States and our allies stand with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government,” Bush said at the White House. “Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory,” Bush declared, noting the United States is working closely with its European allies and other members of the G-7...

A girl looks out from the Numaniyah, Iraq, Handicap Association's new facility, soon after it opened, Aug. 8. Photo by Sgt. Daniel West. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — The Numaniyah Handicapped Association celebrated the opening of a new facility, Aug. 8. The facility, which was built with coalition funds, will be used by the association for administrative purposes, and will also have rooms dedicated to therapy.Soldiers of El Salvador’s Battalion Cuscatlán supervised construction of the 200 square meter building, which cost about $200,000.“It’s good that it will be open to help people with special needs,� said Ahmed, a local citizen...

SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for peace concessions that would compromise its security. Hailing Israel as a "miracle," he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank. Obama, seeking to allay wariness among some U.S. Jewish voters about his policy towards Israel, flew to Sderot, a town hit by rockets fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying he hoped to bring peace but would not dictate the terms of...

5 years on, Iraq as an ally?Posted By Uncle Jimbo One of the themes that Pete Hegseth has been pointing out is that while Iraqis have killed many US service members, Iraq is not our enemy. As a matter of fact we need to start looking at them as a developing ally. The left, and far too many who have drunk the poison being published and broadcast, focus on the casualties in Iraq and the fact that we have been there for 5 years as the salient facts. Sadly no, those factors certainly matter but they fail to take a...

JOHN Howard says he has left Australia with a stronger, less ambiguous sense of national pride than before the Coalition won government in 1996. "I think we were having a pointless debate about our identity in the early 1990s," the former prime minister said after a speech to Harvard University students yesterday. "I think we've shed that. We have now got a very positive view of Australian history and Australian achievement. I think our sense of national pride is stronger now than it was in the 1990s and less ambiguous. And that's tremendously important." Mr Howard, who in Washington last...

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Former Indonesian President Suharto, the U.S. Cold War ally who led one of the 20th century's most brutal dictatorships over 32 years that saw up to a million political opponents killed, died Sunday. He was 86. Suharto had been ailing in a hospital in the capital, Jakarta, since Jan. 4 when he was admitted with failing kidneys, heart and lungs. Finally toppled by mass street protests in 1998, Suharto's departure opened the way for democracy in this predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million people and he withdrew from public life, rarely venturing from his comfortable villa on...

In the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the view was that the French had let America down and that there should be consequences. In cafeterias on Capitol Hill, French fries became "freedom fries" - and French misfortunes like the riots on the streets of Paris were celebrated with grim satisfaction. Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly was one of those to revel in the discomfort of then President Jacques Chirac. "For nearly two weeks Chirac has allowed the insurrection to build in ferocity, refusing to use his military, allowing anarchy in the streets. This makes Hurricane...

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will defy international pressure on Wednesday and grant its troops permission to enter northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels based there, though it has played down expectations of any imminent attack. Washington, Ankara's NATO ally, says it understands Turkey's desire to tackle rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but fears a major incursion would wreck stability in the most peaceful part of Iraq and potentially in the wider region.

TORONTO -- In a soft voice that quivered with emotion, Afghanistan's Education Minister Mohammed Atmar told a Toronto audience on Thursday that his countrymen want to thank "every Canadian citizen for what you have been doing in Afghanistan." "You protect our people and advance the basic rights of our people," he said. "Our government is so proud to convey to you that you are our greatest ally -- an ally that we depend upon, an ally to be appreciated, an ally that we will long be grateful to." Mr. Atmar's words of praise came on the same day Canada pledged...

Only independent Kosovo can stabilize Balkans: Rice By Paul Taylor NEW YORK (Reuters) - Only independence for Kosovo can bring stability in the Balkans, and Europe should join the United States in backing statehood for the breakaway Serbian province, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday. In an interview with Reuters, she said talks brokered by the European Union, Russia and the United States had some chance of achieving an "amicable outcome" even if Kosovo and Serbia did not agree on the final status of the territory. "But there's going to be an independent Kosovo. We're dedicated to that....

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosnian Muslims celebrate 600 years of Islam in their nation Saturday with a concert of spiritual music, a prayer for peace, and a gentle reminder to Europe: not all of the continent's Muslims are of immigrant origin. "Recently we have noticed that Europe is obsessed by the immigrant Muslims from the East," said Mustafa Ceric, head of the Bosnia Islamic Community, the official institution of Bosnia's Muslims. "This is an opportunity to remind that there are indigenous Muslims in Europe." "By celebrating 600 years of Islam here we want to naturalize Islam in Europe," he said, adding that...

LONDON (Reuters) - New British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, seeking to squash speculation that London may distance itself from Washington over Iraq, has insisted the U.S. is still Britain's number one ally. Since Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair as British prime minister last month, he has been at pains to stress there is no cooling off in Anglo-American relations -- but two of his ministers offered mixed signals. Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said in a speech in Washington that while Britain stood beside the United States in fighting terrorism, isolationism did not work in an interdependent world. Then...

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, could end up swapping Downing Street for a job as the first full-time European Union president, under a plan being actively touted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Mr Sarkozy is understood to have discussed the idea with other EU leaders ahead of next week’s European summit, Mr Blair’s last major international event as prime minister. His support for Mr Blair taking on a big European job is a remarkable sign of Anglo-French rapprochement since Mr Sarkozy replaced Jacques Chirac as president last month. German diplomats say Mr Sarkozy put his plan to Angela...

The recent deal between Congress and the White House clears the way for the ratification of free-trade agreements with Panama and Peru, two American allies in Latin America. But what about Colombia? Colombia has risked the lives of its police and military and sustained huge casualties in an effort to do us a favor by keeping drugs off our streets. Our military aid to Colombia has not been frittered away on useless hardware or used to line some general’s pockets, but has paid for a military that has disarmed the drug dealers’ personal armies — 30,000 have been disarmed —...

Transition: Tony Blair is to announce on Thursday that he will step down as British prime minister at the end of June. Here's hoping for a successor as distinguished. Not that Blair's been perfect or that we haven't had our differences with him. The Third Way economic nonsense he advocated in the early years and his insistence that the U.S. tackle global warming were not well thought-out positions. But in the global war on terrorism, Blair has been an ally without peer. He has understood what so many haven't been able or willing to grasp: Islamofascism is a threat to...

  FOR COLOMBIA, A CHILL ON HILL By ROBERT D. NOVAK May 10, 2007 -- COLOMBIA'S President Alvaro Uribe re turned to Bogota this week in a state of shock. His three-day visit to Washington to win over Democrats in Congress was described by one U.S. supporter as "catastrophic." Colombian sources said Uribe was stunned by the ferocity of his Democratic opponents, and Vice President Francisco Santos publicly talked about cutting U.S.-Colombian ties. (snip) dictator Hugo Chavez can only exult in Uribe's embarrassment as he builds an anti-U.S. bloc. (snip) A truer portent of the Colombian reaction to the rebuff...

Munir Akram was the target of the fictional plot The former imam of a mosque in the US state of New York has been jailed for 15 years after being caught in a sting operation involving a fake plot.Yassin Aref was convicted in October along with Mohammed Hossain, who is still awaiting sentence. The two men had agreed to take part in the plot, which appeared to target Pakistan's ambassador to the UN. They were convicted among other things of supporting terrorism, lying to FBI agents and money laundering. In a speech before the sentencing, Aref claimed he was...

Servicemembers donate blood used in life-saving surgery at the base hospital By Combined Joint Task Force - 76 Combined Press Information Center BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, March 1, 2007 — As the life of an Afghan National Army soldier hung in the balance Feb. 25, U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines serving at Forward Operating Base Asadabad responded to his injury with an outpouring of blood. A total of 11 American servicemembers, including military policemen, embedded trainers, Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team members and artillerymen from 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, each donated a pint of blood used in life-saving surgery at...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2007 – Pakistan has proven to be a dedicated ally of the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview. “Pakistan was right there after United States and coalition forces began major combat operations in Afghanistan with substantial assistance to the United States,” Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani said Feb. 5 aboard an Air Force C-17 traveling back to Washington after an eight-day overseas trip that included stops in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. “They have been a good and strong partner...

US Vice-President Dick Cheney will travel to Australia next month to thank the nation and Australian troops for their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. A statement issued by the White House said Mr Cheney would travel to Australia and Japan during the week starting February 19. "He will meet with [Japanese] Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and [Australian] Prime Minister John Howard to discuss issues of mutual interest including Asian security and the global war on terror," it said. US President George Bush had asked his Vice-President to visit the two allied nations to thank them for their efforts in Iraq...

OGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopia sent fighter jets into Somalia and bombed several towns Sunday in a dramatic attack on Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, and Ethiopia's prime minister said his country had been "forced to enter a war." It was the first time Ethiopia acknowledged its troops were fighting in support of Somalia's U.N.-backed interim government even though witnesses had been reporting their presence for weeks in an escalating battle that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa region. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi went on television to announce that his country was at war with the Islamic movement . ....

Rome, 16 Oct. (AKI) - Should Iran continue to refuse incentives offered by six world powers in exchange for a freeze on sensitive nuclear work, punitive measures against it will be inevitable, Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema told a conference on 'Security of the Mediterranean' in Rome on Monday. "It is inevitable that the international community will issue measures" against Iran, said D'Alema, recalling how the country had ignored a UN 31 August deadline threatening it with sanctions if it did not stop uranium enrichment work that world powers fear is aimed at building nuclear weapons. The foreign minister also...

The question of whether Israel is or is not an asset to the United States is one we rarely bother to ask ourselves. Time and again, we see prominent Americans -- presidents of the United States at the forefront -- emphasizing their special relationship with Israel. In polls of American public opinion, Israel scores very high marks, while sympathy for the Palestinians, never very high, continues to drop. Why should we even ask ourselves whether Israel is an asset or a liability to the United States? Isn’t the answer obvious? Most supporters of Israel, when pressed to go a bit...

PODGORICA, Montenegro, Sept. 26, 2006 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived here today for meetings with Montenegrin leaders. This is Rumsfeld’s first visit to the country, and he’s the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Montenegro since it achieved its independence earlier this year. On the 10-hour flight here from Washington, Pentagon Press Secretary Eric Ruff said the secretary will discuss with Montenegrin leaders the role they envision for their country in fighting terrorism. “The Montenegrins have indicated that they would like to be part of the effort to fight the global war on terror,” Ruff said. “They have indicated...

PAKISTAN'S President Pervez Musharraf is supposedly a key U.S. ally in the "war on terror." But is he, in fact, more of a liability than an asset in combating Al Qaeda and the increasingly menacing Taliban forces in Afghanistan? Since 9/11, the Bush administration has been propping up Musharraf's military regime with $3.6 billion in economic aid from the U.S. and a U.S.-sponsored consortium, not to mention $900 million in military aid and the postponement of overdue debt repayments totaling $13.5 billion. But now the administration is debating whether Musharraf has become too dependent on Islamic extremist political parties in...

NEUVE-CHAPELLE, Pas-de-Calais (AFP) - Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee paid homage to the thousands of Indians killed in Europe in the First World War. Mukherjee on Sunday laid a wreath at a memorial at Neuve-Chapelle in northern France to Indian soldiers killed in the 1914-1918 conflict. Hamlaoui Mekachera, India's minister for veterans, was also present. The memorial bears the names of around 5,000 Indian soldiers killed in a 1915 Allied offensive against the Germans at Neuve-Chapelle. Around 90,000 soldiers from India, at the time a British colony, fought in World War I, with around 8,150 killed in 1914-1915 in France...

Many pundits in Washington, among them supporters of Israel, anticipated better results from the month-long war against Hizbullah. They were hoping for Israel to put Iran and Syria on the defensive by using IDF military might to eradicate Hizbullah much faster. Some have already concluded that this was an opportunity squandered. The truth is that the last month has not been "a walk in the park" for Israel. We have been fighting a ruthless, well-armed and well-trained, albeit small, army that has spent the last six years preparing for this war while we have been busy on many other fronts....

LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier killed in an operation against Taliban guerrillas in southern Afghanistan was named on Monday as Private Andrew Barrie Cutts. He was killed on Sunday during a pre-planned operation against insurgents in Musa Qualeh in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said. The latest death brings the number of NATO soldiers killed since it took over the south from the United States to eight. Seventeen British forces personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since November, 2001, five not in combat. Defence Secretary Des Browne paid tribute to Cutts, from the Royal Logistic Corp based in...

In a startling report revealing a tale of transatlantic espionage not witnessed since the glory days of 007, the London-based Financial Times recently detailed how Britain, supposedly America’s closest European ally, has been leading a multi-year European undercover ('back-door') effort within the United States to undermine U.S. climate change policy. While this is not surprising, it does smack of interference with another nation's policies. It also happens to confirm prior ITSSD research, readily accessible on its website.

Tony Blair will quit Downing Street in "a year and a bit" according to a remark attributed to Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's former press supremo. This suggests that Mr Blair will stay put until the Labour Party conference next year. He has already told his G8 colleagues, before leaving them at St Petersburg last week: "See you next year." The report will anger many Labour MPs - and probably frustrate his expected successor Chancellor Gordon Brown - who presumably would like to see him retire much earlier than that. Some Labour MPs now believe he is a liability to...

Excerpt - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced a plan on Tuesday to withdraw Japanese ground troops from the southern Iraq city of Samawah, ending their aid and reconstruction mission that started with the dispatch order issued in January 2004. At a meeting of executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party before making the announcement, Koizumi said of the Iraq mission, ''A chapter has been finished. I will announce the withdrawal today.'' Koizumi held a news conference on the withdrawal of the Ground Self-Defense Force troops after meeting with leader of the LDP's ruling coalition partner, New Komeito, as well as...

The final breakthrough in the long pursuit of the most blood-stained terrorist of them all, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, came from Jordan. The source was Ziyad Halaf al Karbouli, also known as Abu Hufeiza, one of the lowlifes Zarqawi employed to attack and rob the convoys plying Baghdad’s main supply route across the Jordanian border and murdering their Iraqi or Jordanian drivers. Foreigners riding along were taken hostage. DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals that he was picked up – not by chance, but in consequence of a well-laid Jordanian sting operation set up and executed by King Abdullah’s old unit, The Riders of Justice...

Colombians granted their Right-wing president a second four years in office yesterday, backing his assaults on the booming drugs trade. Alvaro Uribe, Washington's staunchest ally in Latin America, changed the constitution last year to allow himself to seek re-election and becomes the first Colombian president to win a second term for more than a century. His victory, with 62 per cent of the vote, halts a trend in the continent that has seen Left-wing leaders elected in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay. The Oxford-educated president campaigned on his uncompromising security policy, under which murder rates have fallen by a...

BOGOTA, Colombia - Law-and-order President Alvaro Uribe was re-elected in a landslide Sunday in Colombia's most peaceful elections in more than a decade, strengthening the U.S. ally's mandate to crack down on armed groups and drug traffickers. The Harvard-educated Uribe's win marks the first time in more than a century that an incumbent Colombian leader has been elected to a second term and bucks a trend of leftist leaders taking office across South America in recent years. With 85 percent of ballots counted, the conservative Uribe scored a stronger than expected 62 percent of the vote, easily surpassing the 50...

Speaking to the California Legislature, Mexican President Vicente Fox on Thursday applauded passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill by the U.S. Senate and said his country is willing to share in border control. "Mexico wants to be part of the solution, not part of the problem," Fox said in a 20-minute speech to a joint session of the state Senate and Assembly, marking his first official visit to California's Capitol in five years. "We are your partners in security against terrorism," Fox said. "We are your allies in the war on drugs and crime. We are your partners in...

OTTAWA -- Canada won't ignore threats from Iran and the Hamas-led Palestinian government against Israel, warns Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper made the pledge Tuesday as he spoke at a Parliament Hill ceremony in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. The prime minister said the world should never again stand by and ignore signs of trouble when they appear. "We will not ignore them when they are done by Hamas. We will not ignore them when they are from the government of Iran," Harper told several hundred people beneath the Peace Tower. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made repeated threats...