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WASHINGTON – President Bush invited representatives of major industrialized and developing countries to a climate change summit in September at the same time that the United Nations is holding a similar conclave. “In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it,” Bush said in his invitation letter Friday, asking other nations to take part in discussing a long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse emissions. Under international pressure to take tough action against global warming, Bush last May had called for a meeting of nations to talk about how to reduce global greenhouse...

By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress are accusing the U.N. Development Program of firing a whistle-blower connected with the agency's North Korea program, a target of the Bush administration. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who last week sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said Artjon Shkurtaj, chief of operations in North Korea in 2005 to 2006, was dismissed for criticizing the UNDP. On Thursday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida also sent a letter to Ban, urging him to intervene to protect Shkurtaj, who she said had uncovered "significant irregularities." The Bush administration...

arack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's recent attendance of Al Sharpton's National Action Network raises some disturbing questions, especially given allegations about Clinton's past record of making anti-Semitic statements. Jews Divided on Hillary Slur reports an allegation that, in 1974, she called Bill Clinton's campaign manager Paul Fray, whom she apparently blamed for losing a Congressional race for her husband, a "f**king Jew bastard." Meanwhile, stories about Obama's attendance at a madrasa, and his connection with a Black separatist minister, take on added seriousness in light of his recent visit to Al Sharpton's racist and anti-Semitic hate group. Under standards set,...

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BRUSSELS (AFP) - The 27 EU nations were moving towards a common energy policy, agreeing on cleaner fuel targets while watering down a proposal to force the break up of the sector into production and distribution operators. "We have made a breakthrough and we have now adopted a draft energy action plan," said German Economy Minister Michael Glos, who chaired Thursday's meeting. The energy ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels that bio-fuels should constitute at least 10 percent of fuels used in new vehicles by 2020. But that 10 percent target will be subject to bio-fuels being available in...

Developing nations to test new $150 laptops 15:43 13 February 2007 NewScientist.com news service From Brazil to Pakistan, some of the world's poorest children will peer across the digital divide this month – reading electronic books, shooting digital video, creating music and chatting with classmates online. The non-profit "One Laptop per Child" project, founded by MIT academics, will roll out nearly 2500 of its $150-laptops to eight nations. The experiment is a prelude to mass production of the kid-friendly, lime-green-and-white laptops, scheduled to begin in July 2007, when five million will be built. Its technological triumphs include a hand crank...

MADRID, Spain - Emerging economies such as China are justified in holding back on fighting greenhouse gas emissions until richer polluters like the United States do more to solve the problem, former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday. The world's top climate scientists warned in a report last week that global warming was very likely caused by humanity and would last for centuries. Chinese officials said they would act after industrial countries such as the United States and others make changes themselves, Gore said, addressing a conference in Madrid on global warming. "They're right in saying that. But we have...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2007 – With only a few days left before the voting comes to a close, one troop-support group is asking for assistance in putting it as a forerunner in winning $50,000 to support the men and women of the armed forces. “Cell Phones for Soldiers” founders Brittany and Robbie Bergquist of Norwell, Mass., are in the running to win the grand prize in a Volvo-sponsored awards program that highlights the generosity of citizens throughout the nation. The deadline for voting is Feb. 4. Cell Phones for Soldiers is a member of America Supports You, a Defense...

Republicans, This Is Why You MUST Vote!Written by Doc FarmerMonday, November 6 2006ChronWatch.com Tomorrow is Election Day. The miracle provided to you by the Founding Fathers in 1776, and protected and preserved for you by the blood of our best. A miracle that most Americans, sadly, take for granted. Don't be one of those who take it for granted. Especially if you're a rep/con/tair -- my more accurate term for the so-called "right". An amalgam of the core political constructs of Republicans, conservatives and libertarians. For many, many months, you've been told that the lib/dem/soc/commies (my more accurate term for...

WASHINGTON – While several members of Congress have denied any knowledge of efforts to build "NAFTA superhighways" or move America closer to a union with Mexico and Canada, four members of the House have stepped up to sponsor a resolution opposing both initiatives. Rep. Virgil Goode Jr., R-Va., has introduced a resolution – H.R. 487 – designed to express "the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union (NAU) with Mexico and Canada." "Now that Congress is preparing...

Hope for a Middle East peace breakthrough faded on Friday when the militant group Hamas contradicted President Mahmoud Abbas's declaration that a new Palestinian unity government would recognize Israel. Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Abbas said a coalition being negotiated between his Fatah party and Hamas, the militant group that heads the Palestinian government, would recognize the Jewish state. Such a move would be a huge reversal for Hamas, which is formally dedicated to the destruction of Israel. On Friday, Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef told the Associated Press that "there won't be a national unity government if...

Jewish leaders meet with Shashi Tharoor, center left, the U.N. Undersecretary General, at an event organized by American Friends  of Lubavitch in Washington on Sept. 7.Photograph: Chabad-Lubavitch Lubavitch assumes high profile at U.N. I can speak for a movement with an energetic, ongoing presence in 73 countries,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Chabad’s envoy in Washington, who organized the Tharoor meeting and is spearheading the effort to establish a permanent Chabad presence at the United Nations.Ron Kampeas/JTA WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (JTA) - As the U.N. General Assembly opens, diplomats vying to be the world’s top peacekeeper are taking the time to consult...

HAVANA - North Korea's No. 2 leader blamed the lack of world peace on the United States Saturday at the Nonaligned Summit, saying that because of its failure to respect the sovereignty of other nations, "the international order is destroyed." Parliament leader Kim Yong Nam said desires for peace by the 118 countries in the Nonaligned Movement were "confronted with grave challenges owing to the high-handed acts and unilateralism of the superpower, which denies countries and nations the independent choice of development." The resulting imbalance in global politics constitutes "grave threats to world peace and security," he said. It was...

HAVANA - When Cuba last hosted the Nonaligned Movement summit, the Cold War still divided the world and Fidel Castro was a strapping 53-year-old inspiring armed movements in poor countries the world over. The Cuban-inspired Sandinista rebels had just triumphed in Nicaragua, the Shah of Iran had just fallen, the U.S. still controlled the Panama Canal and wars of liberation from colonial powers raged in Africa. To the leaders who gathered in Havana in August 1979, Castro was the symbol of their struggle for self-determination and freedom from U.S. domination. This time around, it's not even clear that Castro will...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2006 -- When Noel Totten arrived home to find 40 leather-clad motorcyclists pulled up at his house in Bloomington, Minn., he knew why they’d come. Universal Recording artist Rockie Lynne, co-founder of Tribute to the Troops, presents a plaque to Noel Totten Sept. 8 at Totten's home in Bloomington, Minn. About 40 members of the group visited Totten's home to pay their respects for the loss of his brother, Chief Warrant Officer Eric W. Totten, 34, an Army Chinook helicopter pilot who died May 5 when his chopper went down in Afghanistan. Photo by William Moss  '(Click...

Bibi Says Bush Will Cowboy Up On Iran Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to New York, hoping to build support in America for a bid to replace Ehud Olmert as Israel's Prime Minister. As part of that effort, he gave a speech last night in which he told the audience that George Bush has just about run out of patience with international diplomacy regarding the Iranian nuclear program: Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of an American tour repositioning himself for a return to the Israeli premiership, told an audience in New York today that President Bush is preparing to ditch the...

Islamic nations are ranked as among the world's most-corrupt and the fight to tackle the scourge could be tough due to poverty and poor governance, Malaysia's prime minister said on Monday. Taking his anti-corruption message to the rest of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) nations, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the group, said there were no quick fixes to completely eradicate the problem. "I am deeply saddened to note that Muslim countries, as a group, do not rate very highly when it comes to perceptions of corruption," he said at the opening of the group's first forum on...

Good evening, everybody. Tonight, an astonishing proposal to expand our borders to incorporate Mexico and Canada and simultaneously further diminish U.S. sovereignty. Have our political elites gone mad? Lou Dobbs on Lou Dobbs Tonight, June 9, 2005 Introduction The global elite, through the direct operations of President George Bush and his Administration, are creating a North American Union that will combine Canada, Mexico and the U.S. into a superstate called the North American Union (NAU). The NAU is roughly patterned after the European Union (EU). There is no political or economic mandate for creating the NAU, and unofficial polls of...

GENEVA -- The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday condemned Israel for "massive bombardment of Lebanese civilian populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations, and decided to send a commission to investigate. European countries, Japan and Canada voted against the resolution, primarily because it lacked balance in failing to name the Hezbollah militia. The United States, which is an observer, has no vote on the 47-member council. Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the discussions were one-sided, referring only to civilian losses in Lebanon while ignoring the deadly Hezbollah missile attacks on northern Israel. "It is painful and regrettable that the...

WASHINGTON (July 31) - City officials are moving up a nighttime curfew as they try to overcome a spike in crime that's been marked by a rise in juvenile arrests. Beginning Monday, most juveniles could be taken into police custody if they are found on the streets of the nation's capital between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The curfew used to begin at midnight. "Too often, young people are becoming involved in violent crimes," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams. "This earlier curfew hour is necessary in order to protect them from becoming victims of crime or from becoming involved in...