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GUNS resembling military weapons and designed to appeal to young men will be banned from being imported into Australia. The Federal Government will change import regulations to tighten controls on firearms that have a "military-style appearance". Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said handguns and paintball markers resembling guns with fully automatic firing capabilities were already subject to higher import controls. "Manufacturers have now begun developing firearms that look more like machine guns in an attempt to appeal to a younger market," he said. "These firearms could cause unnecessary fear and apprehension in the community, which is why the regulation has...

This animated video wishes all to know, God Loves You.

Senator Barack Obama will appear on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor" tonight, a Democratic source tells Politico. The move is timed to counterprogram the Republican National Convention, which is likely to drive Fox's ratings sky-high and to give Obama access to a conservative audience. It's Obama's first appearance on the widely viewed cable show, and is a sign of what Vanity Fair today reported is a "tentative truce" between Obama and News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. Obama clashed with Fox News during the primary after it aired early reports suggesting he had been a Muslim in Indonesia. The relationship warmed in...

Greetings, and Welcome to another Weekend Singles' Thread. This week is National Unmarried and Single Americans Week or National USA Week as the sponsors like to say. The official website for this week is at http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/usaweek/intro.htm . This "celebration" started on Monday and will run through the weekend. The celebration is being promoted by a group called "Unmarried America" that calls itself "an information source for the new unmarried majority." This group is trying to capture and represent the interests of all unmarried people and wants to reach out to those beyond traditional "singles" to include widows and widowers, homosexuals,...

UK women 'least likely to care what men think' By Lesley Thomas Last Updated: 9:27am BST 01/08/2007 Russian women are more worried about a man's seal of approval Frank Sinatra advised in the song Wives and Lovers: "Don't send him off, with your hair still in curlers. You may not see him again." However, it seems that British women couldn't care less after a survey showed they are the least likely to put effort into their appearance for the sake of men. They have the lowest levels of concern in the world for what husbands, boyfriends and other male observers...

I've been trying to reach Mark Steyn or his agent to discuss a personal appearance at a U.S. campus. Multiple messages sent to his published contact address for such events - http://www.steynonline.com/?option=com_facileforms&ff_name=engagements - have gone unacknowledged. Does anyone here have additional information that would enable me to contact Mr. Steyn? Thanks.

NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took the stage Sunday with her husband, the former president, at a major fundraiser that brought in over $1 million for her presidential campaign. In a Manhattan hotel ballroom filled with New York elected officials and wealthy Democratic donors, Bill Clinton introduced his wife by describing her long career in public service beginning at Yale Law School where the couple met 35 years ago. He said he had encouraged her then to pursue a career in New York or Chicago and is still amazed she followed him back to Arkansas, where he...

WASHINGTON - Senate Chaplain Barry Black has canceled his scheduled appearance at a Christian evangelical conference after he was pictured with columnist Ann Coulter and other prominent conservatives in a brochure promoting the event. Black told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., he wouldn't be addressing next month's Reclaiming America for Christ Conference because his appearance wouldn't uphold the Senate chaplain's "historic tradition of being nonpolitical, nonpartisan, nonsectarian," Meg Saunders, a spokeswoman for the chaplain, said Thursday. Saunders said Black, a Seventh-day Adventist and a former Navy chaplain, had received "a very generic invitation" in the...

California's first lady Maria Shriver is scheduled to visit the Watsonville Certified Farmers Market in the second week of July, to promote the health benefits of fresh produce and encourage more people to use their food stamps and electronic benefit cards at farmers markets across the state. Nancy Gammons, the director of Watsonville's market, said Shriver's visit has been tentatively scheduled between 4 and 6 p.m. July 14, but she added: "Anything can happen or change at the last minute in politics." The impending visit would be just another in a series of public appearances to promote California Connect, a...

Hecklers Disrupt Scalia at D.C. Appearance Tuesday February 21, 2006 11:46 PM By ELIZABETH WHITE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia grew tired of a persistent heckler Tuesday and asked organizers of a legal seminar to do something about the outbursts - gently. ``Don't use force,'' Scalia told American Enterprise Institute workers as they grabbed the young man's arm and nudged him toward the door. The workers then let go and the man walked out. It was unclear what Aaron Yule, 23, of Boston, was asking when Scalia turned to organizers and said, ``Can you,...

Saturday, February 18, 2006 Washington -- Not only are physically unattractive teenagers likely to be stay-at-homes on prom night, they're also more likely to grow up to be criminals, say two economists who tracked the life course of young people from high school through early adulthood. "We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking," say Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University. Mocan and Tekin analyzed data from a federally sponsored survey of 15,000...

So, any of you catch the hilarious op-ed in the NY Times today? The one where the author, upon hearing that Oprah has re-ignited her book club to include living authors again, basically begs to be on the show? Sounded familiar. Sadly familiar. This is me: "Please, Oprah! Pleeeeezzzzeee!" Yup. I've written to Oprah a few times. ... I've told her about following my heart to success. About putting my brother through school so he could follow his heart, too. About the sales of the book. The movie deal with Jlo and Laura Ziskin. The TV deal at Lifetime. About...

As his final American revival meeting continued Saturday, a fragile Billy Graham (search) was met onstage by former President Clinton, who honored the evangelist, calling him "a man I love." Clinton spoke briefly before Graham's sermon and recalled how the man known as America's pastor had refused to preach before a segregated audience in Arkansas decades ago when that state was in a bitter fight over school desegregation. "I was just a little boy and I'll never forget it," said Clinton, who was joined by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (search). "I've loved him ever since. God bless you,...

Elkhart, IN - An Elkhart boy who climbed into a crane machine last week has garnered national attention including an appearance on the Today Show but the media spotlight almost landed his mother in jail. According to our reporting partners at The Truth, the boy's mother, 22-year-old Danielle Manges, violated her probation Monday when she went to New York and appeared on the Today Show with her son. Manges pleaded guilty last year to a felony charge of auto theft and was sentenced last October to 18 months of probation. Her Today Show appearance was her third violation in...

If nothing else, Ted Nugent isn't going to have to relinquish his "Motor City Madman" nickname any time in the near future. In a speech given to the National Rifle Association's national convention in Houston, Nugent brandished a pair of assault rifles while urging NRA members to recruit other gun-packing nuts into the gang. He went so far as to urge NRA members not to associate with non-members, and to become "hardcore, radical extrimists." Siezed by a Second Amendment furor, Nugent then whipped up the crowd condoning shoot-to-kill vigalante justice. The spectacle, urged members to pull their heat and kill...

Why Men Prefer Pretty Faces So you think beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Think again. According to new research from the University of Exeter in Great Britain, the preference for pretty faces over ugly ones is embedded in our brains from the moment of birth and possibly prior to birth. Newborn babies come fully equipped with built-in preferences, including a preference for an attractive face, that help them make sense of their new environment, report the BBC News Online and Newsweek magazine. The Exeter researchers showed more than 100 infants two images that were placed side by...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's expected appearance before an obscure legislative committee next week presents a rare spectacle in a state Capitol where few statewide elected officials have ever found themselves so engulfed in controversy. While many lawmakers have endured scandals and some seen the insides of prison walls, Shelley has few precedents as he prepares to testify before a committee that has traditionally concerned itself with auditing humdrum issues such as grazing fees and Medi-Cal overpayments. Though the 14-member Joint Legislative Audit Committee is also making headlines with its probe of cost overruns on the Bay...

PATONG, Thailand (AFP) - A second surge of tsunami terror is hitting southern Thailand, but this time it is a wave of foreign ghosts terrifying locals in what health experts described as an outpouring of delayed mass trauma. AFP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Asian Tsunami Disaster Tales of ghost sightings in the six worst hit southern provinces have become endemic, with many locals saying they are too terrified to venture near the beach or into the ocean. Spooked volunteer body searchers on the resort areas of Phi Phi island and Khao Lak are reported to have looked for tourists heard...

I got my tickets for a presidential debate watching party with a personal appearance by the man himself after the debates. It is at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix on Wednesday October 13. Doors open at 3pm and close promptly at 6. George W will be making an appearance to speak to all of us supporters after the debates. We want to fill this place up and show the President how much support he has in Arizona! Tickets are free and available from: Bush-Cheney '04 Headquarters 4647 N. 32nd Street, Suite 125B Phoenix, AZ (32nd street and Camelback) and Northwest...

WSSU students question Blair's paid appearance Former reporter, forced to resign from N.Y. Times, will speak, answer questions By Mary Giunca JOURNAL REPORTER Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Disgraced journalist Jayson Blair will speak at Winston-Salem State University on Wednesday, and some students are asking why the university is spending $3,000 to bring him there. Ebonee Russell, a senior and a reporter for The News Argus, the school's paper, said she wonders whether Blair deserves any attention from the university at all. "What kind of role model is he? What kind of example is he setting for the students here?" she...