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WASHINGTON, March 10, 2006 – Al Qaeda is still the biggest short-term threat facing the United States, President Bush said here today, adding that North Korea and Iran pose equal security threats to the U.S. "They would like to attack us again," Bush said of al Qaeda at the National Newspaper Association's Government Affairs Conference. "I think about al Qaeda and their potential to attack all the time." The president also recalled his "axis of evil" remark in his 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he said North Korea, Iraq and Iran were threats to the United States....

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects facing life in prison can be extradited, overturning a 4-year-old ban that had prevented many of the country's most notorious criminals from being sent to the United States. A 1978 treaty with the United States allows Mexico to deny extradition if a person faces the death penalty - a restriction that still stands under Tuesday's ruling. In 2001, the Supreme Court also blocked extradition of suspects facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. Capital punishment has been banned by Mexico's constitution since June and was only rarely applied...

New Orleans criminal justice system facing severe money woes 10/7/2005, 5:34 p.m. CT By MELINDA DESLATTE The Associated Press ST. GABRIEL, La. (AP) — Struggling to restart New Orleans' crippled criminal justice system, the parish district attorney and chief criminal judge said money problems from Hurricane Katrina have forced layoffs and threaten to stymie court proceedings. The cash shortage compounds problems for a system that already was troubled with prosecutors trying to track down witnesses who scattered as evacuees, a clerk of court's office assessing whether flooding and mold damaged evidence and a criminal court temporarily holding limited proceedings at...

CONCORD, N.H. - A member of the powerful state Executive Council is facing calls to resign for hiring a campaign aide he knew was a convicted child sex offender, but he said Tuesday he has no intention of stepping down. "I don't plan to resign. There's too much work yet to be done," Raymond Burton told The Associated Press in a phone interview. The aide, Mark Seidensticker, 45, was arrested last month and accused of inappropriate contact with teenage boys. Based on that arrest, Burton said he no longer will employ Seidensticker, who is being held on $50,000 bail at...

Gov. Schwarzenegger has his work cut out for him in November if he wants to get voters to pass his government-overhaul initiatives, a new poll indicates. Today's poll by the nonpartisan Field Institute, prepared for The Press-Enterprise and other California media subscribers, shows that more voters surveyed, 47 percent, would vote against the governor's proposal to cut spending when state revenues fall. And 44 percent of voters told pollsters they would cast ballots against Schwarzenegger's idea of using retired judges to redraw the state's legislative and congressional districts. "That's not a good sign," said Mark DiCamillo, the poll director. "Field...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Hundreds of bills, including measures to allow gay marriages, set up a universal health care system and authorize doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, face a make-it-or-break-it deadline this week in the California Legislature. Most bills must be approved by their first house by Friday to have a chance to be signed into law this year. That means both the Senate and Assembly plan long floor sessions in a week shortened by the Memorial Day holiday today. Measures needing to move to the other house by Friday include:| • A bill by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco,...

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Coliseum fan who threw a cup of beer at Yankees slugger Jason Giambi will face multiple criminal charges, officials said Sunday. Eric Anduri of Lafayette, Calif., spent Saturday night in jail after pelting Giambi with the beer when the former Oakland Athletics star returned to the New York dugout after flying out in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 15-6 win. Anduri, whose age wasn't available, was arrested and charged with battery, public intoxication and throwing objects on the field, said David Rinetti, the A's vice president of stadium operations. A spokesman for the Oakland Police...

FRAMINGHAM -- Two Framingham High seniors arrested in January after they were ordered off high school property because they were building a snow fort were found guilty yesterday of trespassing. Jenna Schroeder and Jason Osorio, both 18, now face a maximum of 30 days in jail after the two-day trial in Framingham District Court. The jury of three men and three women deliberated for about three hours before they reached a verdict. Judge Douglas Stoddart will sentence the pair May 16. Although punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail, according to Massachusetts General Law, an offender can also...

Conflict-of-interest allegations already are flying against the committee overseeing California's $3 billion stem cell initiative even though the group isn't close to giving out a dime. The Center for Genetics and Society, an advocacy group, said yesterday that seven of the committee's 29 members have "significant business connections with companies connected with stem cell research." The center said committee members should be free of ties to the biotechnology industry to erase the specter of possible conflict. Leaders of the stem cell effort said that would be overkill. "The center wants to remove any possibility for the occasion of conflict and...

A Santa Clara County criminal grand jury will begin an inquiry next month to determine if San Jose Councilman Terry Gregory should be indicted for allegedly coercing gifts and contributions from local businessmen and others, according to a subpoena obtained by the Mercury News. The document also reveals, for the first time, that investigators intend to examine loans made to the councilman during the past two years. Gregory has been under fire since May for allegedly pressuring businesses and individuals for contributions and gifts -- accusations he has denied. Last week, the city council held a censure hearing and formally...

Two looming deadlines have created a "perfect storm" for Los Angeles Unified officials, who face the prospect of proposing teacher raises while officially reporting that the district's finances are uncertain. If the LAUSD board doesn't pinpoint $137 million in potential budget cuts by Wednesday, it will have to submit a "qualified" rating for the first time in district history. That qualified rating, down from "positive," could cost the district higher interest rates on billions of dollars in school construction bonds as well as more oversight by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The board also is grappling with a...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Barring a last-minute change of strategy and fundraising fortunes, Republican Bill Jones could become the first major candidate in more than four decades to wage a U.S. Senate campaign in California without airing a single television ad — the equivalent of jumping into a gun battle without bullets. Jones' lack of ads also could make history nationally. Political historians could recall no other senate or gubernatorial race nationwide in which one of the major party candidates did not turn to the politician's favorite weapon, the 30-second spot, since television ads began dominating campaigns in the early 1960s. "It sounds like...

Every presidential wannabe knows there could come a moment when he must accept the fact the game is over. For Sen. John Kerry, whom the Democratic establishment considered a shoo-in for the 2004 nomination, that moment might have arrived this week with the release of a poll that finds him trailing the Rev. Al Sharpton. In a Newsweek survey of registered Democrats and other voters leaning Democratic, Mr. Kerry got 6 percent. The Rev. Sharpton got 7 percent. Not that it matters. Former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont leads the field with 26 percent. Let's speak plainly: The last...

As baby boomers head into their 40s and 50s, the bill for their glory days is coming due. Musicians and their fans are discovering that their ears don't work as well as they used to, and the loud rock music they reveled in is at least partly to blame. It's a frightening prospect. Once you've battered some of the thousands of inner-ear hair cells that transmit sounds to the brain, they are lost forever. And the only remedy for most people is hearing aids. Bill Clinton owned up to his rock 'n' roll past when he was fitted with hearing...

<p>With about 2,300 arrests after days of civil unrest, San Francisco prosecutors plan to charge about 18 anti-war protesters with felonies and force about 1,800 others to each pay $96 fines.</p> <p>Most of the protesters arrested for blocking traffic or ignoring police -- including about 120 at demonstrations Monday -- will have their charges dropped from misdemeanors to infractions and end up in the city's traffic court or a community court.</p>