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Thousands of spectators and surfers are flocking to Hawaii's beaches to see the biggest waves in years crash ashore. Heavy traffic backed up for miles yesterday along roads leading to Oahu's North Shore. Some of the world's most daring surfers took on the powerful and dangerous waves, which forecasters say could reach heights of 50ft (15 metres) by tomorrow. The surf grew so large that a few beaches on Oahu and Maui were closed because lifeguards feared inexperienced sightseers could drown, according to state officials. 'After the water comes in, it can drag you back out with it,' said Eric...

Dodd's dangerLast Updated: 5:02 AM, November 14, 2009 Congressional Democrats around the country may be worrying that ObamaCare and runaway federal spend ing will hurt their re-election chances next year -- but Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut has other matters to fret about. He's in big trouble, after all, because of ethics -- or, to be precise, the lack of same. Indeed, a Quinnipiac University poll shows nearly the whole field of potential GOP Senate challengers -- regardless of how well-known they are -- doing quite well against Dodd. Leading the pack: former Rep. Rob Simmons, who outpolls Dodd, 49...

It does not take a rocket scientist to work out that we live in a very different world to our grandparents and great grandparents when in their day, a firm handshake or a word were binding contracts. In that world, most people never made a transaction without having money to cover the purchase. They preferred to live without, rather than go into enormous debt. Not so long ago, young children could walk down their street without adult supervision and be safe and people could keep their cars’ motors running while they popped into their local stores to pay their bills....

A bipartisan congressional commission, headed by some of our most experienced national security practitioners, recently concluded that a nuclear deterrent is essential to our defense for the foreseeable future. It also recommended that urgent measures be taken to keep that deterrent safe and effective. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama has adopted an agenda that runs counter to the commission's recommendations. Consider the president's declaration, in a major speech this spring in Prague, of "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." Will such a world be peaceful and secure? It is far from self-evident. In...

Telegraph reporter Stephanie Gutmann describes her reaction to Barack Obama’s appearance in Berlin: “After it was over I picked up the phone and called a friend back home. ‘It’s worse than we thought,’ I told him. ‘The guy’s actually crazy.’” Guttman was talking about candidate Obama’s agenda as he presented it that day, in which he promised to take on the terrorists in Afghanistan, take on the drug dealers, rebuild Afghanistan, eliminate the building nuclear threat, secure all loose nukes, decrease arsenals from another era, form a new global partnership that will end terror networks, redistribute wealth, save the planet,...

Time was when the sun never set on the British Empire. These days, it seems the sun never sets on a crisis. This week alone you can take your pick among the mysteries of the spreading swine flu, the drumbeat of Iranian nuclear pursuits, the conundrums of American self-flagellation over Guantanamo Bay, the wild uncertainties of the modern world's financial system or the Taliban onslaught in nuclear-armed Pakistan. You can go online and make a career out of delving into each in turn--and while you are doing that, another crisis will turn up. And yet, for the average American, how...

The first step to figuring where and how we will end up in a war due to the actions and/or lack of actions taken by President Barack Obama is to look at some of the ways wars start from past examples. Wars start in a number of circumstances and motivations. Perhaps a list of some of the most obvious ones would be appropriate. Some wars start by over-reacting to a singular event. An example was WWI, which started by a spiral of events after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. What should have...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Although the U.S. economy is expected return to growth later this year, there is a danger of a second recession if monetary easing and a weak dollar leads to increased inflation expectations, a report said on Wednesday. Massive stimulus spending and moves by the Federal Reserve to fuel economic activity is expected to jump-start the anemic U.S. economy in the last quarter of this year after it contracted 6.3 percent in fourth quarter of 2008. But the Fed's moves to boost the economy by slashing interest rates and buying up billions in government debt could have...

WASHINGTON – The Mexican government is not on the verge of collapse, the top U.S. intelligence official said Thursday, seeking to tamp down increasing alarm over the powerful and violent drug cartels operating in the country that is the United States' southern neighbor. "Mexico is in no danger of becoming a failed state," said National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair at his first news conference Thursday. Echoing the assessment of Mexico's leaders, Blair said the dramatic increase in killings in Mexico is a result of that government's crackdown on drug cartels.

MELANIE PHILLIPS, WRITING EXCLUSIVELY FOR MAIL ONLINE Worried that Britain is going bankrupt? Cheer up – we’re about to be bought up by the Islamic world. A report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan. The study says that the UK has by far the largest number of banks for Muslims of any western country. The UK now has five fully ‘sharia-compliant’ banks – providing products which prohibit interest payments and investment in alcohol or gambling firms in accordance with Islamic sharia law – while another 17 leading institutions...

(IsraelNN.com) Jews living in majority-Muslim countries are in a precarious situation as Israel fights the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza. While pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic rallies and sporadic attacks are continuing worldwide, Jews in Muslim lands face an additional danger as a vulnerable minority. In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, that nation's only synagogue was forcibly shut down and sealed. Located in an ethnic Arab neighborhood of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the synagogue became the focus of a Muslim mob last Wednesday following a "free speech forum" held in the city. The small Indonesian synagogue, without benefit of a Torah...

NCPA: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Not Worth Cost and Trouble Report Says Government Should Not Force CFLs on Consumers DALLAS (Dec. 10, 2008) - Although touted by many as the smart energy choice, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are not suitable for many common uses and should not be required by the government, according to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The Environmental Protection Agency states that CFLs will reduce energy use and will last longer than standard bulbs. However, NCPA Senior Fellow and report co-author Sterling Burnett argues: "For many uses, compact fluorescent bulbs...

<p>Doctors have expressed considerable concerns about the growing trend for heavy wooden and ornamental toilet seats after a number of male toddlers were admitted with crush injuries to their penises.</p> <p>Writing in the December issue of BJU International, Dr Joe Philip and his colleagues at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, report on four boys under the age of four, who were admitted with injuries serious enough to require an overnight stay.</p>

ANISE JENKINS Jenkins is with the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition (Free D.C). She said today: "Non-voting U.S. House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the Democratic convention Tuesday night. She is the vice-chair of the DNC Platform Committee this year as she was in 2004. "Statehood for D.C. was dropped from the Democratic Party platform in 2004 at her suggestion and continues to be absent. "Sen. Edward Kennedy was the original co-sponsor -- with former U.S. Representative Ronald Dellums of California -- of the Statehood for D.C. resolution back in 1980. Barack Obama told me personally that...

Muslims are on the March! Muslims are determined to make the US a Muslim nation, one way or another. In fact, every Muslim is required to make the nation where he or she lives an Islamic nation. They are sending copies of the Koran to American homes and are planning a door-to-door conversion campaign. They are more excited and committed that any of the other cults. They are having meetings across America with thousands attending. In those meetings, they pitch the Koran as a divinely inspired book accurate in every detail; however, they don’t tell anyone that the Koran has...

Norway's albino moose was back in the news on Friday, after some hunters threatened to shoot it.The moose, called "Albin," first sprang to attention after it was sighted in the forests south of Oslo in 2006. It since has been observed in Våler, Skiptvet, Spydeberg and Svinndal in Østfold County. The local hunting season south of Hedmark starts October 5 and will last all month. A wildlife conservation official in Østfold, Åsmund Fjellbakk, told newspaper VG that he now has heard that a hunting team in the area is keen on tracking down the rare animal and making it into...

Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called "economic justice." He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code. During his NAACP speech earlier this month, Sen. Obama repeated the term at least four times. "I've been working my entire adult life to help build an America where economic justice is being served," he said at the group's 99th annual convention in Cincinnati. [snip] n the past, such rhetoric was just that — rhetoric. But Obama's positioning himself with alarming stealth to put that rhetoric into action on a scale not seen since the birth...

These city playgrounds aren't for child's play. Black rubber mats designed to break a child's fall turn blistering hot in the summer, soaring to higher than 165 degrees, a Daily News investigation found. Doctors at two city hospital burn units reported seeing 16 to 18 young children with playground burns a year, mostly from the mats under junglegyms and sliding boards. "I have nightmares," said Anne Casson, whose toddler son, Will, ditched his shoes at Carl Schurz Park on the upper East Side one day last May.

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2008 – Setting a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq would be “dangerous,” and troop reductions there should continue to be made based on security conditions on the ground, the nation’s top military officer said today. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this week agreed to set a general “time horizon" for bringing more U.S. troops home from the war, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” but he added that to his knowledge, the agreement does not include specific dates. “I think the consequences could be very dangerous...

"Batman the Ride" at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park. According to the police and a statement from the amusement park, the boy and a friend climbed over two 6-foot fences -- the park perimeter fence and a second one surrounding the ride -- to get to the roller coaster. Park officials said there were numerous signs warning would-be intruders of the danger. The victim was decapitated when the ride struck him, police said. The youth was not identified. "The areas where the individuals entered were clearly marked with signs...

A 17-year-old South Carolina boy on an church outing was killed Saturday when he was struck by the popular "Batman the Ride" at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park.

Colin Nathaniel Custer, White, male, AGE 4 years old, HEIGHT 3 feet 00 inches, WEIGHT 35 lbs, WITH Hazel EYES AND short Blonde HAIR, WEARING grey with blue and red stripes short sleeve shirt, blue shorts pants, tan with blue stripes tennis shoes. THE CHILD IS LIKELY ABDUCTED BY Robert William Custer III, White, male, AGE 45 years old, HEIGHT 5 feet 08 inches, WEIGHT 200 lbs AND Balding Grey/Blonde HAIR. THEY MAY BE TRAVELING IN A 1988 White Chevrolet Conversion Van, LICENSE Q577ZE, FL, North towards Locust Grove, Virginia. Last seen in SC.

SUN CITY CENTER - The first lightning bolt cracked in the dark clouds a few hundred yards above John Jacob's head as he worked atop a 200-foot cellular phone tower in south Hillsborough County. With wind swirling and sheets of rain pouring over him, Jacobs kept bolting together thin steel beams while long, white cellular transmitters for AT&T, T-Mobile and Metro PCS buzzed around his head, relaying calls, text messages and Blackberry e-mails in a six-mile zone along Interstate 75. Then a second lighting bolt crashed closer, then a third even closer. That persuaded the 14-year tower veteran to tie...

A week before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989...

The future food security of millions of people is at risk because over-fishing, climate change and pollution are inflicting massive damage on the world's oceans, marine scientists warned this week. The two-thirds of the planet covered by seas provide one fifth of the world's protein -- but 75 percent of fish stocks are now fully exploited or depleted, a Hanoi conference that ended Friday was told. Warming seas are bleaching corals, feeding algal blooms and changing ocean currents that impact the weather, and rising sea levels could in future threaten coastal areas from Bangladesh to New York, experts said. "People...

A Team You Can't Trust By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, March 31, 2008 Bill Clinton made a significant admission in Corpus Christi, Texas this month - saying he had decided to pardon Puerto Rican terrorists back in 1999 "based on the stuff I was given by the staff." But Ron Kolb, the citizen whose questioning prompted the ex-president's comment, rightly pointed out that the FBI and Justice Department had opposed the pardons. The clear conclusion is that it was Clinton's political staff who pushed for clemency - with the obvious goal of helping Hillary Clinton's bid...

Ethanol fires harder to control than gasoline, require special foam Francine Sawyer February 28, 2008 - 8:52PM The nation’s drive toward alternative fuels carries a danger many communities have been slow to recognize: Ethanol fires are harder to put out than gasoline fires and require a special type of firefighting foam. Many fire departments don’t have the foam, don’t have enough of it, or are not well-trained in how to apply it. The foam is also more expensive than conventional foam. Bobby Aster, New Bern Fire and Rescue chief, said fighting ethanol fires is new to the fire service. “As...

DENVER - More than 1 billion gallons of contaminated water — enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools — is trapped in a tunnel in the mountains above the historic town of Leadville and threatening to blow. Lake County Commissioners have declared a local state of emergency for fear that this winter's above-average snowpack will melt and cause a catastrophic tidal wave. The water is backed up in abandoned mine shafts and a 2.1-mile drainage tunnel that is partially collapsed, creating the pooling of water contaminated with heavy metals. County officials have been nervously monitoring the rising water pressure inside...

VILNIUS, Lithuania, Feb. 7, 2008 – Pakistan only recently has realized that terrorists on its border with Afghanistan pose a significant threat, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during a news conference here today. Gates is participating in informal NATO defense ministerial meetings. While the ministers did not specifically discuss the situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan is a major item on the agenda, and reporters asked the secretary about the unrest in Pakistan. “It’s only been in the last few months, in my opinion, that Pakistan has come to realize that the situation along the border with Afghanistan … potentially represents...

The entire body of the Jewish people today – in Israel, in Europe, in America, in Australia and New Zealand, and throughout the world – is in grave danger. Our very existence as a people and as a faith is in jeopardy. The threat to our survival has two components to it: the external siege being waged against Israel and the Jewish people throughout the world by the international jihadist movement, its sympathizers and appeasers; and the internal siege that we Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, including the United States, are waging against ourselves.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An asteroid that exploded over Siberia a century ago, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown down trees, wasn't nearly as large as previously thought, a researcher concludes, suggesting a greater danger for Earth. According to supercomputer simulations by Sandia National Laboratories physicist Mark Boslough, the asteroid that destroyed the forest at Tunguska in Siberia in June 1908 had a blast force equivalent to one-quarter to one-third of the 10- to 20-megaton range scientists previously estimated. Better understanding of what happened at Tunguska will allow for better estimates of risk that would allow policymakers to decide...

Scamming body shops removing airbags for profit, stuffing rags and other junk in its cavities. In 2003, Damaras Gatihi was hit from behind while driving down I-5 near Seattle. After spinning a few times, her Corolla hit another car in a head on collision. This 50 year old nurses assistant died after her airbag didn’t deply, from a massive blow to the heart. This tragic accident ironically occurred on valentines day.More than just an expensive problem for auto insurance companies, air bag fraud is becoming an increasingly worrisome problem for all drivers. It is a public safety issue that has...

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back. On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers. "I don't remember anyone offering me tea," she quipped. Related links Hillary Clinton campaigns Photos Election 2008: Hillary Clinton...

Iran still dangerous, Bush says Los Angeles Times But the president may find it hard to prod other nations to keep pressuring Tehran given the finding it halted its nuclear arms program. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bush5dec05,0,7020701.story?coll=la-home-world

Detroit declared most dangerous US city By DAVID N. GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 24 minutes ago DETROIT - In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics. The study drew harsh criticism even before it came out. The American Society of Criminology launched a pre-emptive strike Friday, issuing a statement attacking it as "an irresponsible misuse" of crime data. The 14th annual "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America" was published...

Indonesia late Tuesday raised the status of a volcano on Java island to the highest alert level and recommended people evacuate the area immediately. Officials have advised residents living within a 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) radius of Mount Kelut to leave, with the Indonesian volcanology and geology disaster management centre saying the highest alert level status meant "an eruption is possible within 24 hours." The agency said on its website it raised the alert level "based on the seismic activity, deformation, visual observation and temperature of crater lake... at 17.15 WIB, 16 October 2007." Volcano monitoring post head Kristanto told a national...

Director of National Intelligence Says U.S. Didn't Connect Available Information

He's been the tough-looking guy in camouflage on your local TV news, explaining with rapid-fire delivery how the pipe bomb his team just disarmed could have torn off someone's arm. Sgt. Conrad Grayson, with 29 years on the San Diego County Sheriff's Department arson-explosives unit, is the most senior nonmilitary bomb technician in the country. And by most accounts, one of the most well-respected. Grayson, 66, closed out his 39-year law enforcement career Friday, saying it's time to let younger men take over. “I don't want to get to the point where the guys say, 'Work around the old sarge,'...

When the Democrats took control of Congress they couldn’t wait to tell America how much they were going to accomplish. That was seven months ago, and all they’ve done since is rant about the war in Iraq, talk about raising taxes, and go on a witch hunt in an attempt to find something -- anything – illegal in the firing of a handful of U. S. Attorneys who got the boot from the Justice Department when the president exercised his constitutional right to right to fire them without explanation. This provides a glimpse into their utter incompetence as lawmakers. Consider:...

The History Channel embarks upon an unparalleled adventure revealing the virtually unknown occupation of ice road trucking, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous jobs. ICE ROAD TRUCKERS charts two months in the lives of six extraordinary men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines over frozen lakes that double as roads. The livelihood of many depends on these tenuous roads, which through the years have been responsible for the deaths of dozens of men. Always prepared for the ice to give way under the weight of their trucks, these drivers put their lives and financial security of...

The History Channel embarks upon an unparalleled adventure revealing the virtually unknown occupation of ice road trucking, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous jobs. ICE ROAD TRUCKERS charts two months in the lives of six extraordinary men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines over frozen lakes that double as roads. The livelihood of many depends on these tenuous roads, which through the years have been responsible for the deaths of dozens of men. Always prepared for the ice to give way under the weight of their trucks, these drivers put their lives and financial security of...

Private equity deals getting riskier: lenders Jill Treanor in London June 7, 2007 ALARM bells have been sounded by two lenders about the way loans were being handed out to fund the booming private equity sector. Royal Bank of Scotland, in the throes of a record-breaking takeover of the Dutch bank ABN Amro, admitted there were signs the market was getting "quite toppish", while Intermediate Capital warned it was turning away deals because they were too risky. Riskier loans are being granted because banks are able to offload their exposure to rivals by forming large syndicates. Debt is a crucial...

WASHINGTON - The State Department rejected on Wednesday suggestions that some terror suspects could have easy access to the United States because of rules that do not require citizens of select countries to obtain visas. Questions about access to the U.S. by extremists from so-called visa waiver countries arose this week following the sentencing of five Britons to life prison terms after their convictions in London in a terrorist bomb plot. The ringleader was Omar Khyam, who is of Pakistani descent. The five Britons, after a yearlong trial, were convicted of plotting to attack the London targets with bombs made...

The situation with Katie has gotten worse. The DHS caseworker is moving to terminate my daughter's rights to Katie. This comes after the visitations where all went well and the reports reflect that. Thank God our lawyer has a copy of all the reports. It seems that DHS is playing Solomon by making my daughter pick between the 8 yr.old who has developed two masses in her brain and Katie. We have faxed all the reps and sen. in both states and pray that we can get some results from that. When I get done here I will be contacting...

"In the thirteenth century many priests were involved in seeking wealth and having a pleasant life. They hardly preached at all, virtually never studied, and paid for important positions so that they could get even more money. A number of priests openly lived with women, causing great scandal... Many of the people were just as bad as their leaders..."

AMERICAN presidential contender Barack Obama has dismissed an allegation by a conservative website that he was educated at a radical Islamic primary school in Indonesia. The contention that Senator Obama was educated at a radical Muslim school surfaced on Insight magazine's website, the day after he announced his 2008 presidential race. Conservative internet blogs and the Fox News Channel picked up the story and spread the charges just as his candidacy was getting off the ground. The Democrat candidate, a member of the United Church of Christ, today called the reports "scurrilous". "I think they recognise that the notion that...

<p>RICHMOND — The small beige signs bearing black Arabic script have been appearing all over town on buses and at colleges.</p> <p>Are they secret messages from terrorists, one panicked bus rider asked? Should the FBI be contacted? What do they mean?</p> <p>Actual translation: “Paper or plastic?”</p>

SIERRA VISTA — If you’re a pet owner, there are some precautions you’ll want to take during the holidays. The local animal shelter is urging residents to keep pets safe and healthy through the holiday season by following some simple guidelines. Watch out for such festive looking plants as Christmas rose, mistletoe, holly, poinsettia and philodendron, as they can be toxic to pets. If these plants are ingested, it’s recommended pet owners contact their veterinarian for medical attention. Along with plants, decorations can pose dangers for pets. Tinsel, ribbon, string, glass ornaments, foil or plastic wrappings should be kept out...