Free Republic

HOUSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to provide money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and a school, and killed 15 people. According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, FEMA said it reviewed the state's appeal to help West but decided that the explosion "is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration." The blast killed 10 first responders and brought national attention to the agricultural community. President Barack Obama traveled to the area to attend a memorial service for the...

The European Union on Monday denied a report in the Israeli media that it was delaying a decision to label products from Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, AFP reported. On Sunday, the Haaretz newspaper reported that the EU had delayed labelling the products to the end of June at the request of the United States. "Contrary to what was recently reported in the Israeli media, work on the effective enforcement of EU legislation with regard to the labelling of settlement products has not been delayed. Nor has the EU been asked to postpone such work," a statement...

The Department of Homeland Security responded Friday to questions from Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., about why the agency was allegedly planning to buy some 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next five years. DHS told Whispers it regularly fills all of its goods and services requirements at one time because it's cheaper for the agency, and that the 1.6 billion number was misleading because the language of DHS's purchase said it would need "up to" a certain amount. One solicitation by the agency—for training centers and law enforcement personnel—was for "up to" 750 million rounds of training ammunition over...

A Marine spokesperson at the Pentagon denied reports that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition in a statement to Fox News Thursday. Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told the outlet: “The ambassador and RSO (Regional Security Officer) have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed. This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB (American Embassy) Cairo.” The statement came in response to open-source reporting that U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were...

DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tuesday sharply denied saying that Israel’s ambassador to the United States had claimed Republicans are “dangerous” to Israel and accused The Washington Examiner of “deliberately” misquoting her. The Examiner’s Philip Klein reported on Tuesday that the Florida congresswoman told a training session of Jewish Democrats in Charlotte, “We know, and I’ve heard no less than Ambassador Michael Oren say this, that what the Republicans are doing is dangerous for Israel.” Wasserman Schultz pushed back against the report Tuesday evening, telling Fox News’s Shepard Smith she never said those words.

The White house has officially denied having held secret talks with Iran over a possible attack by Israel. White House spokesperson Jay Carney said the claim, made in an article published in the Hebrew-language newspaper Yediot Aharonot, was not true. “The report is false and completely incorrect,” said Carney. “And we don't talk about hypotheticals,” he added. In the report, the newspaper had claimed the White House sent a secret message to Tehran through two unidentified European intermediaries, saying the U.S. would not get involved if Israel decided to attack Iran's nuclear plants. .....

The communications director of President Obama’s reelection campaign today denied a report in the New York Times that he had sat in on weekly White House meetings on terrorism. On Tuesday the paper said that after the failed 2009 Christmas Day “underwear bombing,” David Axelrod started attending the discussions with Obama and top national security advisers. The article reads: ”David Axelrod, the president’s closest political adviser, began showing up at the ‘Terror Tuesday’ meetings, his unspeaking presence a visible reminder of what everyone understood: a successful attack would overwhelm the president’s other aspirations and achievements.”

A White House spokesman pointed Friday to an account published by the left-wing advocacy group Media Matters for America in its denial of three online claims that President Barack Obama was briefed about the failed “Operation Fast and Furious” gun-walking program in 2010. According to recently released White House visitor logs, then-Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler was admitted to the White House four times in 2010 between May 7 and May 19. The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program was at its peak during May 2010.

The White House initially denied a request by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony for a fellow Marine Corps and Afghanistan war veteran, a congressional source said. Hunter first learned last week about plans for President Obama to award former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer the Medal of Honor during a Thursday ceremony at the White House. Hunter formally requested to attend the ceremony earlier this week, but the White House said no, the congressional source said.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent Brian Newell continues to deny Operation Fast and Furious allowed for guns to be “walked” into Mexico. “Sir, in this investigation, we did not let guns walk,” Newell told House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, at a Tuesday hearing. Newell was the lead agent in ATF’s Phoenix field office throughout Operation Fast and Furious. “You’re entitled to your own opinions, not to your own facts,” Issa responded. “But, there comes a point when I go, ‘Wait a second: 730 weapons bought by a man who had no money....

(CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration has denied that its agents required a 95-year-old woman to remove her adult diaper last week before allowing her to pass a screening checkpoint at Northwest Florida Regional Airport. "While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner," the agency said Sunday night in a statement. "We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally, according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult...

(CNSNews.com) – As the son of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi crowed Wednesday that government forces would defeat rebels in their Benghazi base “within 48 hours,” the head of a U.S.-based group promoting democracy in Libya voiced frustration and regret at the international response to the crisis. He singled out for criticism the Obama administration, which he said had given “not a whimper of support” to the provisional council representing the anti-Gaddafi rebellion. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a series of interviews in Cairo Wednesday spoke of a new “urgency” and expressed the hope that the U.N. Security Council could...

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi denied a Madison School District request to force teachers back into the schools. But a lawyer for Madison Teachers Inc., the local teachers union, said in court teachers will return to school Tuesday. The district late Friday filed for a temporary restraining order to bar teachers from taking part in any further work stoppages such as teacher demonstrations that have closed schools three days this week. The filing characterizes the work stoppage as an illegal strike. Strikes by teachers are prohibited by state law.

Viacom networks MTV, BET and CMT are giving an hour of free air time to President Obama less than three weeks before the midterm elections. The so-called “A Conversation with President Obama” will be live and commercial-free on six Viacom networks at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The networks will not give equal time to a Republican before the election, according to a spokeswoman. MTV denies that the Obama hour of TV is political, despite the timing, weeks before the midterm elections.

The White House is denying allegations that President Obama's top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, broke tax privacy laws when he discussed during an August press briefing the tax status of oil giant Koch Industries, the mega-conglomerate that has bankrolled numerous Republican campaigns. The denial comes after a Treasury Department watchdog launched an investigation into the allegation at the request of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa and six other Republican senators.

WASHINGTON -- The White House is denying that first lady Michelle Obama ever described her White House life as "hell." Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, responded Thursday to a purported comment attributed to Mrs. Obama in a forthcoming book, "Carla and the Ambitious," about French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The book says Bruni-Sarkozy recalled that during a recent White House visit with her husband, the French president, she asked Mrs. Obama about her new role. According to the book, Mrs. Obama replied: "It's hell. I can't stand it."

Judge Henry Hudson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today denied the motion by the U.S. Department of Justice that Virginia’s challenge of the constitutionality of Obamacare be dismissed. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed the challenge shortly after Congress completed action on the controversial measure that includes a provision requiring every American to purchase a government-approved health insurance program. (Snip) During a conference call with journalists, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebellius minimized the significance of the ruling

The Saudi Arabia monarchy has denied a report in the French newspaper Le Figaro that King Abdullah told U.S. President Barack Obama that the countries of Iran and Israel should not exist. The king allegedly made the remark after the May 31 flotilla clash between Israeli Navy commandos and Turkish terror activists. He visited President Obama at the White House last week. The report is "untrue altogether,” an official source told the Saudi Press Agency. “The positions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are clear and declared," the source added.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahomans affected by last month's record floods will not receive help from the federal government. Gov. Brad Henry announced in a news release that the White House has denied his request for disaster assistance. This means grant programs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not be available to residents. However, the news release said that the state is working to find other ways to help Oklahomans, including attempting to secure Small Business Association low-interest loans.

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday denied any plans to grant blanket amnesty to the "entire illegal immigrant population," following claims from senators and others that the Obama administration has been holding behind-the-scenes talks to craft a gameplan for mass legalization. The concern is that DHS, in a bid to bypass Congress, would extend what is known as deferred action or parole -- actions usually taken on a case-by-case basis -- to millions of illegal immigrants at once.

WASHINGTON — Goldman Sachs' top officers denied in a letter to shareholders made public Wednesday that the company bet against investors who bought its subprime mortgage securities in 2006 and 2007 as the firm readied itself for a sharp drop in the U.S. housing market. The eight-page letter opening the firm's 2009 annual report comes as the world's most prestigious investment bank seeks to rebuild its image in the face of negative publicity over executive bonuses and two federal investigations into its subprime dealings. Goldman "did not generate enormous net revenues or profits by betting against residential mortgage-related products, as...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday denied the United States is planning to set up military bases in Colombia as part of an upgraded security agreement with the South American nation. "There have been those in the region who have been trying to play this up as part of a traditional anti-Yankee rhetoric. This is not accurate," Obama told Hispanic media reporters. Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- a persistent critic of Washington -- has said the enhanced U.S.-Colombian security plan could be a step toward war in South America. On Sunday, Chavez called on Obama not to...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey is smoothing out differences over a plan to ban bare-it-all bikini waxing. The state is reversing course on the proposal after angry salon owners complained about losing business ahead of swimsuit season.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc denied a CNBC television report on Thursday that it had convened an "emergency" meeting of top investors earlier this week, prompted by worries Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's bank rescue plan was not viable. A Goldman spokesman said the bank invited 30 private equity and hedge fund firms to a dinner Tuesday, a routine gathering for investment banking clients.

CARACAS (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday dismissed as fiction a report alleging that Iran is dodging UN sanctions by using Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria. "The newspapers of the empire have begun to invent stories that I am sending weapons to Syria from Iran through our airline Conviasa," Chavez said in a speech at the Miraflores presidential palace. The charges are part of a "permanent aggression" campaign by the "empire," as Chavez often refers to the United States, against Venezuela, he said. The Italian newspaper La Stampa, citing US and other Western intelligence agencies,...

BEIJING - China denied accusations by two U.S. lawmakers that it hacked into congressional computers, saying Thursday that as a developing country it wasn't capable of sophisticated cybercrime. "Is there any evidence? ... Do we have such advanced technology? Even I don't believe it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regularly scheduled news conference. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday that their office computers were hacked into by people working from China. Both lawmakers, longtime critics of China's human rights record, said the compromised...

The Supreme Court denied an appeal today from a conservative group that wants to run ads promoting an unflattering documentary about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Citizens United's appeal was rejected for jurisdictional reasons. Now, the group must either wait for district court action or run ads that comply with current campaign finance laws by disclosing who paid for the ads. Citizens United's lawyer said that he will be waiting for the Federal District Court to make its decision before taking any other action. "Hillary: The Movie," has had one-night shows in a handful of movie theaters and is available on DVD....

TRIPOLI (AFP) - The Kadhafi Foundation denied a report by Human Rights Watch that it was holding a Libyan political prisoner whose health was deteriorating on Monday, as AFP was allowed to visit the detainee. HRW called at the end of January for the immediate and unconditional release of opposition figure Fathi al-Jahmi, 66, who has been held since 2004 after criticising the regime of Libya's leader Moamer Kadhafi. It said he was seriously ill and needed urgent medical treatment. But Salah Abdessalem of the Foundation, a charity headed by Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, said he was "suprised" by the...

WASHINGTON - A former Paxson Communications president said Saturday he never met with John McCain about the Arizona senator writing letters to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the regulatory delay of a Pittsburgh TV station sale. Dean Goodman, who was in charge of the company's lobbying efforts in 1999, told The Associated Press he also doubts that chief executive Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson met with McCain over the issue, and said he doesn't recall such a meeting. McCain's presidential campaign said the Arizona senator and then-chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist, Vicki...

HAVANA - Ailing leader Fidel Castro on Monday denied U.S. presidential hopeful John McCain's claim that Cuban agents helped torture American prisoners of war in Vietnam in the 1960s, calling the assertion "a strange legend." "Let me remind you, Mr. McCain: the commandments of the religion you practice prohibit lying," Castro wrote in an essay published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma. "The years in prison and the wounds received because of the attacks on Hanoi do not excuse you from the moral obligation of the truth," the essay added. McCain, Republican front-runner for the November presidential contest, was a...

ABC News' Jonathan Greenberger reports: If she makes it to the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton said today her husband will take on the same responsibilities as traditional presidential spouses, with no access to National Security Council meetings. "I think he would play the role that spouses have always played for presidents," said Clinton, in an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "He will not have a formal, official role, but just as presidents rely on wives, husbands, fathers, friends of long years, he will be my close confidante and adviser as I was with him."

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday slapped down California's bid for first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, denying a request for a waiver that would have allowed those restrictions to take effect. "The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution - not a confusing patchwork of state rules - to reduce America's climate footprint from vehicles," EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said in a statement.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday Fidel Castro is "writing, and producing," denying rumors circulating on the Internet that the Cuban leader had died. Chavez, a close ally of Castro, has frequently provided information about the health of the ailing Communist leader who temporarily stepped aside after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery a year ago. "On the Internet rumors are circulating that Fidel Castro has died," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. "Fidel is producing, he is writing." Chavez said he had spoken to Castro on his 81st birthday on Monday. Rumors had surfaced on Friday...

WASHINGTON – During much of the time that Sen. Dianne Feinstein was a leader on the Senate subcommittee overseeing the Pentagon's military construction budget, her husband was heavily invested in companies holding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts generated by the subcommittee's activities. The California Democrat denied that she helped her husband's companies in any way with contracts and said the Senate ethics committee approved the arrangement. But she declined to discuss the value of the contracts or release the ethics ruling. Feinstein also declined to be interviewed on the subject, relying instead on a spokesman. These questions arose...

MIAMI - The federal judge in Jose Padilla's terrorism support trial refused to declare a mistrial Thursday after at least one juror saw one of Padilla's co-defendants in shackles outside the courtroom. Attorneys for Adham Amin Hassoun said his right to a fair trial had been jeopardized, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said after interviewing jurors that none had been "unfairly prejudiced in this matter." On Tuesday, the 16 jurors were being transported in government vans from the courthouse's basement garage to their cars. As one of the vans was leaving, three deputy U.S. marshals escorted Hassoun through the...

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...

Nassau County State Supreme Court Justice Robert Ross denied the divorce of a Manhasset couple, saying the husband did not have a valid reason under New York's strict divorce laws. The decision came Monday, two weeks after Ross refused to rule on the case until the state legislature took action on a bill that would add "irreconcilable differences" to the grounds for a divorce. New York is the only state where one spouse must accuse the other of wrongdoing, or else both must agree to a complicated separation agreement and wait one year.

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2007 – An alleged al Qaeda leader being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, denied involvement in bombings in both Indonesia and Singapore, according to a transcript of his hearing released yesterday. Riduan bin Isomuddin, known as “Hambali,” either declined to answer or said he had no involvement with the operations brought forth during his April 4 combatant status review tribunal hearing at the detention facility. The tribunal was an administrative hearing to determine only if the detainee could be designated as an enemy combatant. Hambali said that while he was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, a...

Dow Chemical denies buyout talk; shares slip Mon Apr 9, 2007 9:54 PM BST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co. (DOW.N: Quote, Profile , Research), responding to a British newspaper report that a consortium was preparing a $50 billion bid for the company, said on Monday it has had no discussion about a leveraged buyout. The statement sent Dow shares down 1.1 percent to $46.10 in after-hours trading, after they had risen 4.9 percent to $46.63 during trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Analysts, meanwhile, expressed skepticism about a possible buyout, saying a strategic joint venture was more...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe dismissed claims Friday that his rule was in its final throes while a longtime opponent renewed calls for a peaceful campaign to oust him. The government warned foreign and local correspondents about their coverage of unrest in the country, threatening action against Zimbabwean journalists and singling out CNN for what it called biased reporting. Mugabe, addressing women and youth from the ruling party in Harare, denied opposition claims that his people and forces were no longer loyal and his government was nearing its end, state television reported. He said that at his...

TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian nuclear agency official has denied claims made by a top lawmaker that the Islamic Republic had begun installing 3,000 centrifuges at an uranium enrichment plant, Iran's state-run news agency reported late Saturday. Hossein Simorgh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization public relations department, said "no new centrifuges have been installed in Natanz," referring to the nuclear facility in central Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Earlier Saturday, lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iran was currently installing the 3,000 centrifuges, underlining that the country would continue to develop its disputed nuclear program despite U.N. sanctions....

China denies reports of North Korean apology Jonathan Watts in Beijing Tuesday October 24, 2006 Guardian Unlimited The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, with soldiers of the People’s army. Photograph: AP Kim Jong-il has reserved the right to escalate the nuclear crisis, China said today, refuting earlier reports that the North Korean leader apologised for this month’s atomic weapons test. The denial dashes hopes for an early resumption of negotiations, which were raised last week when a senior Chinese envoy, Tang Jiaxuan, returned from Pyongyang with an upbeat message for the visiting US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Although no...

Pakistan denies helping terrorists (Filed: 28/09/2006) Seeking to defuse a row, Tony Blair has reassured Pakistan's leader that the leaked document accusing Pakistan's secret service of backing Islamist extremism did not reflect the view of the British government. Mr Blair's conciliatory words followed the leak of a report prepared for the Ministry of Defence that said Pakistan's powerful secret service was aiding terrorist groups through its support for religious organisations. Pakistan has been accused of helping Taliban fighters Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said before talks with Blair today that he planned to protest over the British think-tank report alleging that...

BAE denies imminent Airbus sale Airbus has been hit by delays to its new A380 super-jumbo Defence and aerospace group BAE Systems has described a report that it is to sell its 20% stake in Airbus later this week as "premature". BAE first announced in April that it was thinking of withdrawing from the pan-European aircraft-maker. The buyer of its share is expected to be EADS, the Franco-German group which owns the remaining 80% stake in Airbus. UK-based BAE said it could not make any decision on the sale until it had completed its own audit of Airbus. Its comments...

Former Postal Official Denies Accusations Thursday August 31, 2006 9:46 PM WASHINGTON (AP) - The former head public affairs official of the U.S. Postal Service is denying charges made by the agency's inspector general alleging improper activities ranging from overspending to excessive drinking. Azeezaly Jaffer left the agency June 30, declining at the time to discuss his reasons. A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive hotel bill at a three-day event in Washington, of bypassing the Postal Service travel agency in order to obtain travel promotional benefits, and spending extravagantly on...

Young mother denies failing to inform on her husband By Duncan Gardham (Filed: 23/08/2006) A woman with an eight-month-old child and her husband appeared in court yesterday among 11 people charged in connection with a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. Top, from left: Ibrahim Savant, Waheed Zaman, Arafat Waheed Khan, Umar Islam Bottom, l to r: Tanvir Hussain, Cossar Ali, Mehran Hussain and Ahmed Abdullah Ali Cossar Ali, 24, of Walthamstow, east London, appeared accused of failing to disclose information about her husband which could have helped prevent an act of terrorism. Ahmed Abdullah Ali, also known as Abdullah...

A federal judge Wednesday denied bond to six men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower and conspiring to help al-Qaida blow up several federal buildings in Los Angeles and other cities. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Bandstra ruled that the men posed too great a risk to the community to be released. "The charges against each of the defendants are serious charges and constitute counts of violence," Bandstra stated, adding that it was "not relevant that the plans appear to be beyond the abilities of the defendants." The six men, who have pleaded not guilty, were arrested June...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Khaled Mashaal's aides praised the capture of an Israeli soldier as a daring operation but claimed Wednesday that the Damascus-based Hamas leader played no role in it. Israel sees him as the brains behind the abduction and threatened to try to assassinate him. The accusations have placed Mashaal at the center of a debate over who runs Hamas, which has power centers in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Syrian capital — where its leadership is seen by some as the most hard-line. Mashaal has not spoken in public since Sunday's kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad...

A judge refused to declare a mistrial Tuesday in the case against a prominent University of Southern California geneticist accused of molesting the daughter of a colleague over a five-year period. Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor made the ruling after defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued against the introduction of e-mail exchanges between William French Anderson, known as the father of gene therapy, and his accuser. Anderson, 69, is charged with one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and three counts of committing a lewd act upon a child. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors claim...

WASHINGTON - Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she had been "more than fair" with embattled Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), rejecting claims to the contrary by black lawmakers and predicting the party rank and file would vote to strip him of his committee seat. "Mr. Jefferson will be dealt with," she said of the Louisiana lawmaker, ensnared in a federal corruption investigation. Democrats met in early evening to consider his fate, at a time they are attempting to make alleged Republican corruption a central theme in their campaign for control of the House. Jefferson spoke at the...