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LOS ANGELES — Firefighters are battling a wildfire that has burned about 130 acres in the Angeles National Forest northwest of Los Angeles. Forest spokeswoman Dee Dechert says the fire was burning Sunday afternoon in the Little Tujunga Canyon area. She says it is 60 percent contained, with full containment expected Sunday night. Officials say there have been no injuries or evacuations. Moderate winds in the area are pushing the fire away from any structures. The blaze is burning near the site of October's Marek fire, which burned more than 4,800 acres.

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BARACK Obama will have few traffic problems getting to the Kremlin for his first summit with Russian president Dmitri Medvedev on Monday – the Obamamania that has swept much of the rest of the world is absent from Moscow; there will be no adoring crowds to greet him. A recent poll by Russia's Levada Centre found only 23 per cent of citizens believe the US president will "do the right thing in world affairs", with many doubting his promise of change will heal antagonisms between Russia and the West. A long listADVERTISEMENTof issues – from Nato's eastward expansion, to missile...

Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 46. The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city as churchgoers were attending Mass. Two people were killed instantly in the attack and three others, including a militiaman, later died in hospitals, military officials said. Among the wounded were six soldiers and militiamen who were in an army van that passed by the cathedral when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded, Cotabato city Mayor Muslimin Sema said. The improvised explosive, which...

Honduras says Nicaragua has troops moving on border 05 Jul 2009 20:20:26 GMT Source: Reuters TEGUCIGALPA, July 5 (Reuters) - Honduras' interim President Roberto Micheletti said on Sunday Nicaraguan troops were moving to the mutual frontier and urged Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to respect Honduran sovereignty. He gave no further details about troop movements in Nicaragua which shares a border with Honduras to the southeast of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' exiled president took off for home in a Venezuelan jet in a high-stakes attempt to return to power, even as the interim government told its military to turn away the plane. Zelaya won wide international support after his ouster a week ago by the military, but the only prominent escort aboard his plane was the U.N. General Assembly president after Latin American leaders backed out, citing security concerns. Honduras' civil aviation director said Zelaya's plane was being redirected to El Salvador.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the Obama administration would not stand in Israel's way should the latter chooses to take military action to eliminate Iran's nuclear threat. Israel has the right to determine its own course of action with regard to the Iranian nuclear threat regardless of what the Obama administration chooses to do, Biden told ABC reporter George Stephanopoulos. When asked whether the Obama administration would restrain Israeli military action against Iran, Biden responded: "Israel can determine for itself - it's a sovereign nation - what's in their interest and what they decide to do...

The interim government in Honduras says it will block any attempt by ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return. Mr Zelaya, who was removed by troops a week ago, has promised to fly home to the Central American nation later on Sunday. But Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez said that any plane carrying Mr Zelaya would not be allowed to land. The stand-off comes a day after the top regional body, the OAS, suspended Honduras over the crisis. Supporters of the ousted leader were said to be gathering in the capital, Tegucigalpa, in order to meet him at the airport. The BBC's...

The Talk Shows Sunday, July 5th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and John Boehner, R-Ohio.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Pre-empted by coverage of Wimbledon tennis.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Adm.Mullen; Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y. THIS WEEK (ABC): Vice President Joe Biden. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Adm.Mullen; Queen Noor of Jordan..

The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their...

Reporting from Washington -- A day after Alaska Gov. Sara Palin resigned, a federal official in her home state dismissed one potential explanation for her sudden and unexpected resignation -- a rumored FBI investigation into the former Wasilla mayor on public corruption charges. Despite rumors of a looming controversy after Palin's surprise announcement Friday that she will leave office this month, some of them published in the blogosphere, the FBI's Alaska spokesman said the bureau had no investigation into Palin for her activities as governor, as mayor or in any other capacity. "There is absolutely no truth to those rumors,...

MOSCOW, July 4 (RIA Novosti) - The speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house said Saturday the United States could give up its plans to deploy a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Organization of American States is meeting in Washington to consider suspending Honduras' membership because of the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The group's assistant secretary-general, Albert Ramdin, said Zelaya planned to attend Saturday's emergency meeting. Zelaya is expected to address foreign ministers Ramdin says the OAS does not regard the current Honduran government as legitimate — so it can't withdraw from the OAS. Ministers agreed Tuesday on a 72-hour ultimatum for the Honduran government to reinstate Zelaya or face an OAS suspension. But Honduras' interim president calls the OAS "a political organization, not a...

Honduras rebuffed demands by the international community to reinstate President Manuel Zelaya and pulled out of the Organization of American States

North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day. The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday, a fourth around noon...

Are you ready for a FReepathon? This is going to be a great quarter for us! First a nationwide Independence Day Tea Party, then we'll be caravanning across country on the Tea Party Express culminating at the 9-12 March on Washington and National Tea Party in DC, then the First Annual Free Republic National Convention! It's time we stand up and loudly say NO to the Marxist B. Hussein Obama before he completely destroys our country and replaces freedom with socialism! The guy thinks he's a dictator and he's running amok without even seeking the approval of the congress or...

WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands. The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among...

Senate bill fines people refusing health coverageBy RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR – 58 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Senate aides said the penalties would be modeled on the approach taken by Massachusetts, which now imposes a fine of about $1,000 a year on individuals who refuse to get coverage....

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Thursday that he remains confident the economy will turn around in the short term and the nation will prosper in the long term despite another dose of bad unemployment news. "And I'm absolutely confident that we can, at this period of difficulty, prove, once again, what this nation can achieve when challenged," Obama said in the Rose Garden after a meeting with executives from energy companies. Earlier, the government reported that employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Obama called that report...

WASHINGTON -- Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy's road to recovery will be a bumpy one. Economists had expected 363,000 job cuts last months, and that the jobless rate would rise to 9.6 percent from 9.4 percent in May. If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994. Out-of-work with no place to land, the...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military said today that insurgents have capture an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan. Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier went missing Tuesday.

SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea test-fired a pair of what appears to be short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday, a South Korean official said. "One was fired at 5:20 p.m. and the other at 6:00 p.m. from Sinsang-ni" near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, South Korean defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. government voiced concern on Wednesday over actions taken by Niger's President Mamadou Tandja to extend his rule in the West African country. "These decisions undermine Niger's efforts over the last ten years to advance good governance and the rule of law," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. Tandja responded to the rejection by Niger's highest court of his plan to seek at least another three years in power by sacking the judges and naming a new Cabinet. ....U.S. concern about the situation in Niger comes at a time when Washington...

U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces moved into Taliban-infested villages Wednesday evening in one of the Obama administration's first major military operations in the previously forgotten war in Afghanistan. The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. local time in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. More than 4,000 Marines and an estimated 650 Afghan soldiers and police sought to clear insurgents from towns and villages along the Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election. Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's newest...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California governor's office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state's budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks. But the National Park Service warned in a letter to Schwarzenegger that six of those parks are on former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if they are not kept open as parks.

Are you ready for a FReepathon? This is going to be a great quarter for us! First a nationwide Independence Day Tea Party, then we'll be caravanning across country on the Tea Party Express culminating at the 9-12 March on Washington and National Tea Party in DC, then the First Annual Free Republic National Convention! It's time we stand up and loudly say NO to the Marxist B. Hussein Obama before he completely destroys our country and replaces freedom with socialism! The guy thinks he's a dictator and he's running amok without even seeking the approval of the congress or...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A powerful House committee chairman with a central role in President Barack Obama's global warming and health care legislation has been hospitalized. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was not feeling well Tuesday and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for "routine testing," spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot said Wednesday.

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - U.S. private employers cut 473,000 jobs in June, more than expected but down from the 485,000 jobs lost in May, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.

California's lawmakers failed to agree on a balanced budget by the start of its new fiscal year Wednesday morning, clearing the way to suspend payments owed to the state's vendors and local agencies, who instead will get "IOU" notes promising payment. The notes will mark the first time in 17 years the most populous U.S. state's government will have to resort to the unusual and dramatic measure. Democrats who control the legislature could not convince Republicans late Tuesday night to back their plans to tackle a $24.3 billion budget shortfall or a stopgap effort to ward off the IOUs. The...

As the Iranian authorities warned the opposition on Tuesday that they would tolerate no further protests over the disputed June 12 presidential elections, a report emerged of the hangings of six supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Speaking after Iran's top legislative body upheld the election victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources in Iran told this reporter in a telephone interview that the hangings took place in the holy city of Mashhad on Monday. There was no independent confirmation of the report.

After a "Buy American" provision in the stimulus bill triggered a tit-for-tat with Canada, President Obama is warning fellow Democrats to think twice about another "protectionist" measure in the House-passed climate change bill. The climate bill that passed the House last week on a 219-212 vote includes a provision to impose tariffs -- starting in 2020 -- on imports from countries that don't have a system for limiting global warming pollution. The provision was pushed as a way to keep the U.S. competitive with other countries that haven't imposed rules to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean energy.

Defying a coup and bolstered by international support, ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he will return to Honduras on Thursday to serve out the rest of his term. He said he would be accompanied by the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents, and the U.N. General Assembly and Organization of American States chiefs. But the interim government -- set up after the army bundled Zelaya out of the Central American country on Sunday -- said it would arrest him if he tried to re-enter Honduras.

BOGOTA – The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States. "Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," its foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, told CNN en Espanol. "We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it," he added. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne in...

President Obama announced tougher energy efficiency requirements for certain types of fluorescent and incandescent lighting on Monday, the latest step in the administration’s push to cut the country’s energy use. The new rule , scheduled to take effect in 2012, will cut the amount of electricity used by affected lamps by 15 to 25 percent and save $1 billion to $4 billion a year for consumers, the White House said. “Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy,” Mr. Obama said, “but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is...

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations marshaled an unusually broad effort on Tuesday to condemn the military seizure of power in Honduras, turning over the podium of the General Assembly to its ousted president and quickly passing a resolution sponsored by countries often at loggerheads, including the United States and Venezuela. The deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, said the “brutal” coup, including what he called a threat by soldiers to shoot him dead if he did not stop talking on his cell phone, was a blow against democracy. He called it “an act of aggression attacking the democratic will of the...

With the recent narrow passage of the controversial Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” bill in the House and the ongoing debate over global warming, one should expect balanced coverage of both sides of the issue. However, much of the media has neglected to report on the alleged “hush up” of an EPA research analyst whose report on global warming prompted his supervisor to warn it could have had a “very negative impact on this office.” At 8:45 a.m. EDT on the June 30 edition of "Fox and Friends," EPA Senior Operations Research Analyst Alan Carlin, told interviewer Steve Doocy that his...

7 Students shot leaving Summer school

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A reading on U.S. consumer confidence relapsed in June, falling to 49.3 from a slightly downwardly revised 54.8 in May, as worries grew about jobs and the economy, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. Following a large confidence jump in May, consumers grew more pessimistic in June about their present and future. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the June result to hit 55.5, continuing recent confidence gains. "On balance, this was a disappointing report as it has clearly bucked the trend of improving consumer sentiments in the past few months," wrote Millan L. B. Mulraine, economics strategist...

Al Franken confirmed to MN senate by MN supreme court.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says that Iran still supports and trains militants who carry out attacks _ mostly with mortars and sophisticated roadside bombs _ inside Iraq. Gen. Ray Odierno says the attacks have been reduced but are still a problem. He spoke on Tuesday at his base outside of Baghdad, as Iraqi forces took control of security in the Iraqi capital and other urban areas. June 30 was the deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraqi cities under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact. The pullout was completed on Monday. Odiero says Tehran is "still supporting,...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 31% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-three percent (33%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That matches the lowest level yet recorded

As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye! Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view. White House photographers have captured the "evil eye" in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombia's Alvaro Uribev. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commander's malocchio last week in the Oval office. And at least one White House reporter has been on the receiving end of the daggers during a press...

CLEVELAND -- Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora on Monday accused the U.S. Department of Justice of launching its local public corruption probe two years ago in a conspiracy with Republicans to undermine the Democratic turnout for Barack Obama. • Earlier version of story.Dimora said he and his lawyers will ask the Justice Department and Congress to investigate the motives behind the corruption probe, which became public last July when FBI agents raided the commissioner's home and office and the home and office of political ally Frank Russo, the county auditor. "This is a Republican-driven prosecution," Dimora said during a late-afternoon...

Yemeni airliner crashes in Indian Ocean 150 people reportedly on board; fate unknown BREAKING NEWS o MORONI, Comoros - An airliner belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean with 150 people on board, a senior government official said Tuesday. "We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," a senior government official told Reuters.

* Zelaya invited to come and speak 'as soon as possible' * Assembly president urges U.N. body to denounce coup * U.S. envoy joins OAS in demanding Zelaya restoration (Recasts with Zelaya to address General Assembly on Tuesday) By Patrick Worsnip UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday at the invitation of the Assembly president, officials said on Monday. Assembly spokesman Enrique Yeves said Zelaya was expected to speak before the 192-nation body at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). The Honduran military seized Zelaya and flew...

Pelosi Won't Give Public a Week to Review Text of Health-Care Bill Before House Votes on It SNIPPET: "At her press briefing on Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether the health-care bill would be handled differently than the stimulus bill, which came up in February. The 1,071-page final text of that bill was posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s Web site late on a Thursday night and then voted on the next day. “When the stimulus bill came out earlier this year, members and citizens had less than two days to review the final version that came out of the conference...

MIAMI — Speaking via telephone from his home in Tegucigalpa on Monday, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti again defended the actions of Honduran military officials in booting President Manuel Zelaya from power. ''We can't allow that this government take us to communism or socialism,'' Micheletti told a group of reporters at a telephone press conference organized by Honduran Unity, a Miami-based group of Honduran activists who support Micheletti.

<p>The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Manuel Zelaya's ouster, said a senior U.S. official. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Barack Obama wouldn't support any nondemocratic transfer of power in the Central American country.</p>

(WXYZ) - Action News has learned that Monica Conyers has resigned from Detroit City Council. She submitted her resignation letter to Wayne County Clerk Janice Winfrey. Her resignation will take effect July 6. Conyers' staff will be on the payroll until December 31. They will reportedly be available to assist other Council members until then. Conyers' resignation comes on the heals of a call by Council President Ken Cockrel, Jr. for Conyers to step down. He said she had forfeited her office by pleading guilty to corruption charges on Friday. Stay with Action News and WXYZ.com for the latest on...

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