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WASHINGTON - Federal employees charged millions of dollars for Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, lavish dinners and other questionable expenses to their government credit cards over a 15-month period, congressional auditors say. A report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, examined spending controls across the federal government following reports of credit-card abuse at departments including Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow...

Listening to the media you would think hey, being a prostitute like “Kirsten” is fine and dandy. Get involved with a married, important figure and wow, the money starts rolling in. The message from the media? Be a Prostitute and make millions! Where's the stigma of being a prostitute? The media likes to use “high paid call girl” on occasion. Is that to soften the blow? The amount of pictures, videos and song snippets would lead you to believe that we are talking about a movie star, not a prostitute.

The Clintons have long kept hidden the identities of the donors to their foundation, and now we know why. The New York Times finally got a look at the books, and they discovered millions of dollars coming from people with a lot to lose during the Clinton administration. Shockingly, the pace of donations has accelerated as Hillary comes closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination: But an examination of the foundation demonstrates how its fund-raising has at times fostered the potential for conflict.The New York Times has compiled the first comprehensive list of 97 donors who gave or pledged a...

Millions face famine as crop disease rages Scientists say wheat blight that ravaged Africa is set on a course for Asia Robin McKie and Xan Rice Sunday April 22, 2007 The Observer (UK) Scientists say millions of people face starvation following an outbreak of a deadly new strain of crop disease which is spreading across the wheat fields of Africa and Asia. The disease, known as black stem rust, has already destroyed harvests in Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. Now researchers report that stem rust spores have blown across the Red Sea into the Arabian peninsula and infected wheat fields in...

LOS ANGELES — A jury ordered the Los Angeles Unified School District to pay $7.6 million to the family of an epileptic boy who suffered a seizure at school and is now paralyzed in a minimally conscious state. Steve Martinez's family claimed the district was liable for the boy's injuries, saying the response to his April 18, 2005, seizure was inadequate. The district argued that adults responded almost immediately and tried to save the fourth-grader, but good-faith efforts to administer CPR were unsuccessful. "These are really, really hard cases," said Kenneth Reed, general counsel for the district. "Any time a...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has ordered the transfer of about 86 million dollars in aid to strengthen security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, the White House said. Confirmation of the US aid came a day after an Islamic militant carried out the first suicide bombing inside Israel in nine months and as Abbas' Fatah party is locked in a violent power struggle with the Islamist movement Hamas. The aid is part of a broader US push to revive peace negotiations between Abbas and Israel and comes ahead of a meeting here Friday of the...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Rising temperatures will leave millions more people hungry by 2080 and cause critical water shortages in China and Australia, as well as parts of Europe and the United States, according to a new global climate report. By the end of the century, climate change will bring water scarcity to between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people as temperatures rise by 2 to 3 Celsius (3.6 to 4.8 Fahrenheit), a leaked draft of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report said. The report, due for release in April but detailed in The Age newspaper, said an additional 200...

Virulent TB in South Africa may imperil millions By MICHAEL WINES Published: January 27, 2007 JOHANNESBURG: More than a year after a virulent strain of tuberculosis killed 52 of 53 infected patients in a rural South African hospital, experts here and abroad say the disease has most likely spread to neighboring countries, and some say urgent action is essential to halt its advance. Several expressed concern at what they called South Africa's sluggish response to a health emergency that, left unchecked, could prove hugely expensive to contain and could threaten millions across sub-Saharan Africa. The director of the government's tuberculosis...

Three million will flee Britain to retire abroad By Karyn Miller, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:14am GMT 10/12/2006 For those now starting their working lives, retirement may seem a long way off. They could be more right than they know – when they reach pension age it may well take them hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This is because more than three million British pensioners will have left the UK and be living abroad by the year 2050, according to a study. The number of expatriate pensioners is expected to soar to one in five in a phenomenon...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2006 – The advance of freedom will help protect the U.S. homeland, defeat terrorism and bring hope to people around the world, President Bush said yesterday. “Freedom has brought hope to millions, and it's helped foster the development of young democracies from Baghdad to Beirut,” Bush said in his weekly radio address to the nation. The recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding in the Middle East, he said. The president said it was not a coincidence that the two nations that are building...

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California has awarded $702 million in low-interest home loans to executives, faculty and staffers, including some to employees who did not qualify under university policy. There are nearly 2,000 active university-issued loans, most carrying interest rates of 3% to 4%, but some with much lower rates, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday. Officials with the 10-campus system refused to reveal who received the money, citing employee confidentiality. But they released some details, including an unidentified UC Berkeley professor who was given a $250,000 home loan with an interest rate of 0.5% a year. An...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Congress and their aides took free trips worth nearly $50 million paid for by corporations, trade associations and other private groups between January 2000 and June 2005, according to a study released on Monday. Some of the 23,000 trips featured $500-a-night hotel rooms, $25,000 corporate jet rides and visits to popular spots such as Paris, Hawaii and Colorado ski resorts, said the study, by the Center for Public Integrity, American Public Media and Northwestern University's Medill News Service. "In many instances, trip sponsors appeared to be buying access to elected officials or their...

MEXICO CITY - Millions of illegal immigrants in the United States never jumped the U.S.-Mexico border where Congress wants to erect impenetrable walls and President Bush is sending National Guard troops to patrol. They never sneaked in at all. The little-acknowledged reality is that nearly half the estimated 12 million undocumented foreigners in the United States entered on bona fide U.S. visas — and simply never left. Authorities call them "overstays" who have been largely overlooked in the vitriolic debate on immigration. "The southwestern border gets all the attention, but it's staggering the number of people who come and overstay...

USA Citizens Day - July 1st Immigration Control Rally Nationwide Rally on Saturday, July 1st, at noon, at your City HallMay 1st - Million of Illegal Aliens Marched in our StreetsTwelve million illegal aliens demonstrated their political power, and declared May 1st to be A Day Without Undocumented Workers ( illegal aliens ). They boycotted the USA, all US businesses and institutions. Millions of them marched in our streets, carried Mexican flags, shouted "Si se puede!", and demanded new laws from our Congress. July 1st - U.S. Citizens Nationwide Rally for Immigration ControlRally to stop our continuous invasion by...

Clinton 'will make tens of millions' working for funds tycoon By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 24/04/2006) Bill Clinton stands to make "tens of millions" of dollars by working for a billionaire friend who made his fortune in supermarkets. The former president will share in the profits of investment funds run by Ron Burkle. In return, he offers Mr Burkle advice and lends his reputation to the funds. He has no day-to-day role and has invested little of his own money. Bill Clinton: troubled history with personal investments There is no suggestion that Mr Clinton is doing anything wrong but...

SACRAMENTO – The settlement of a landmark lawsuit two years ago created a $200 million state fund for emergency repairs in low-performing schools throughout California, but little of the money has been spent. Leaky roofs, broken toilets and other problems requiring urgent repair were cited in the suit. Only $247,000 has been spent from the fund – far less than the $30 million paid to attorneys in the suit. Some lawmakers think the fund, which is scheduled to grow by $200 million a year and reach $800 million by 2008, is not being used because school districts with tight budgets...

In one of the largest sums ever donated to charity by a U.S. public official, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research. According to income tax information released by the White House on Friday, the Cheneys' adjusted gross income in 2005 was $8,819,006. The sum was largely the result of Mr. Cheney's stock options from Halliburton and royalties from three books written by Mrs. Cheney. The Cheneys gave more than three-quarters of their income - $6,869,655 - to several charities, including George Washington University's...

LINCOLN, Neb. - Eight workers at a Nebraska meat processing plant claimed the record $365 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday, giving each about $15.5 million after taxes. The seven men and one woman all work at a ConAgra ham processing plant near the U-Stop convenience store where they bought the winning ticket last week for Saturday’s lottery. They ended up with the biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

Child safety advocate Patty Wetterling announced today she will run for Congress in the 6th District. The move comes two weeks after Wetterling bowed out of the U.S. Senate race after a lackluster performance in terms of key endorsements and fundraising. "Everything has changed. The world has changed. I have changed,'' Wetterling said. Last April Wetterling said she would not win in the district. "That was really dumb,'' she of that statement. Wetterling will challenge former state transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg for the Democratic nomination. Tinklenberg criticized Wetterling's entry into the race because she had previously reassured him she would...

Millions Get First Tap Water in Eight Years Iraqi workers completed repairs to two water treatment plants in south Baghdad. By Norris Jones Gulf Region Central District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 18, 2005 — Despite insurgent activity, Iraqi workers completed repairs to two water treatment plants in south Baghdad after nearly four months of work. Due to their skill and bravery, an estimated one million Baghdad residents will benefit from the renovations that continued regardless of insurgent attacks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Central (GRC), provided oversight for the restoration project. Local...