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Senior Hizbullah official Mahmoud Kamati on Wednesday mocked IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and said all of Israel was within his group's fire range. "Ashkenazi's threats are baseless and are an attempt to draw attention away from the enemy's defeat in Gaza and in Lebanon," Kamati said in an interview with Al-Jazeera. He went on to boast that "all the cities and all Israeli military and industrial centers are within Hizbullah's fire range."

The plot thickens on the media’s character-lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Of the four stories ran on ESPN.com about Limbaugh’s bid for the Rams (October 6, October 12, October 15, and another October 15) none of them mention that NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith served as council to Attorney General Eric Holder and member of Barack Obama’s transition team. The October 12 article references Smith’s anti-Limbaugh email meant to garner opposition against the radio host’s bid. The report refers to Smith only as the executive director of the NFLPA. Despite the fact that Smith’s opposition was based on Limbaugh’s...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A White House official "misspoke" when he said the Obama administration would not allow the Goldstone report recommendations on Israel's conduct in the Gaza war to reach the International Criminal Court. A top White House official told Jewish organizational leaders in an off-the-record phone call Wednesday that the U.S. strategy was to "quickly" bring the report -- commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council and carried out by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone -- to its "natural conclusion" within the Human Rights Council and not to allow it to go further, Jewish participants in the call...

WASHINGTON (AP) - With negotiations on a new international climate treaty proving difficult, the Obama administration's chief climate negotiator on Thursday called on the Senate to act as soon as possible and pass legislation to control the gases blamed for global warming. Todd Stern, the State Department's special envoy for climate change, told a House panel that it was critical for the Senate to pass legislation to give the U.S. the "credibility and leverage" that it needs to convince other countries to reduce their pollution. While Stern cited progress, he said there's still a divide between developing countries worried that...

(IsraelNN.com) Elliot Abrams, who served under United States Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, took issue Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claims that there were no understandings between the Bush administration and Israel about construction for natural growth in Judea and Samaria. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Abrams said, "Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank."

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Obama administration official says the Treasury will propose the creation of a regulatory agency to protect consumers in their credit, savings and other banking transactions. The new agency is one of the central elements of President Barack Obama's overhaul of the financial regulatory system. The president is set to announce his broad plan on Wednesday.

The Service Employees International Union's highest-ranking California officer has resigned that position and two other leadership posts in the wake of an internal investigation of payments to her ex-boyfriend, it was announced today. The SEIU said its inquiry found no wrongdoing by Annelle Grajeda, who was one of six executive vice presidents of the national union as well as the head of its California council and the local that represents Los Angeles County workers. The union said Grajeda, who could not be reached for comment, had decided to become an assistant to the SEIU's secretary-treasurer in Washington, D.C. Grajeda had...

A top UK Foreign Office official has been arrested on suspicion of an anti-Semitic outburst at a gym, the Daily Mail reported Monday. Rowan Laxton, who is head of the South Asia Group at the Foreign Office, was watching TV reports of the IDF offensive in Gaza while on an exercise bike at a gym when he was allegedly heard shouting: "F**king Israelis, f**king Jews," and saying that IDF soldiers should be wiped off the face of the earth, the UK newspaper reported. His tirade reportedly continued even after he was approached by other exercisers at the London Business School's...

TAMPA — Florida Republican chairman Jim Greer said Wednesday that longtime Hillsborough state committeewoman Carol Carter may lose her position because of the racial joke she forwarded in an e-mail. "Carol Carter has been a hard-working, loyal Republican for many years, but this action I have no tolerance for, regardless of the circumstances or intent," a furious Greer said of Carter's e-mail. Concerning her future, Greer said, "I am currently considering all options, including my authority to remove her from the office of state committeewoman." The e-mail read: From: Carol Carter Friday, January 30, 9:30 AM Subject: FW: Amazing! I'm...

(IsraelNN.com) A former senior official and newspaper editor from Bangladesh told a television audience last week that Adolph Hitler should have been more thorough when it came to the Jews. The TV host seconded the opinion. As reported by the editor and publisher of the Weekly Blitz, peace activist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, Mohammad Asafuddowlah said, "My soul bleeds when I recall the recent atrocities against the people of Gaza. And if I was a young man, I would have gone to Gaza with a weapon to exterminate Israel." It is not just Israel's extermination Asafuddowlah seeks, however. "Now I...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama was in no way implicated in the federal corruption charges against the governor of his home state of Illinois, a fellow Democrat, ... "I should make clear the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Obama. ... Fiztgerald told a news conference .. he had wanted to stop a "crime spree."

Mexican authorities have been holding 35 officials since July for selling intelligence to drug cartels, for payments of up to 400,000 dollars, the federal prosecutor revealed on Monday. "Thirty-five public officials have been pulled out of the SIEDO (elite anti-organized crime unit) as well as other support staff. The process of the cleaning up and revision of staff and proceedings will continue in a permanent manner," Eduardo Medina Mora told a news conference. The investigation into the SIEDO officials began in 2004 "after thwarted operations and a formal declaration that public service officers were passing on information from the Sinaloa...

A U.S. official says American law enforcement arrested a top Mexican immigration official for carrying about 77 kilograms of marijuana. The U.S. official identified the Mexican official as Francisco Celaya-Carrillo. The official said he was stopped in Lukeville, Ariz. Sunday afternoon, as he was coming into the country in a pickup truck to do some shopping and said that a Customs and Border Protection officer inspected the vehicle and found marijuana in the gas tank and in the spare tire.

(IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres dissolved the Knesset Monday evening, a necessary step before holding new national elections. The announcement came at the beginning of the Knesset's winter session. The possibility of early elections arose when acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stepped down as head of the Kadima party and was replaced by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Livni then became Prime Minister-designate, and was charged with creating a coalition. Livni failed to create a coalition, and on Saturday night announced that she would recommend to President Peres to call for new national elections instead of attempting to create a government. On...

John McCain Selects Alaska Governor Sarah Palin As Vice Presidential Running MateARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president. Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president. She has brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration and has a record of delivering on the change and reform that we need in Washington. Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting...

BEIJING (Reuters) - It's official. Hungry foreign hordes craving a fix of diced chicken fried with chili and peanuts during the Beijing Olympics will be able to shout "kung pao chicken!" and have some hope of getting just that. As it readies for an influx of visitors for the August Games, the Chinese capital has offered restaurants an official English translation of local dishes whose exotic names and alarming translations can leave foreign visitors frustrated and famished. If officials have their way, local newspapers reported on Wednesday, English-speaking visitors will be able to order "beef and ox tripe in chili...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The top elected official in northwest Pakistan said Thursday the country should rethink its relationship with America after a U.S. airstrike that reportedly killed 11 Pakistani soldiers. The U.S. and Pakistan remained at odds in their versions of a Tuesday night clash on the Afghan border that led to American planes dropping bombs on insurgents who had staged an attack inside Afghanistan. President Bush's national security adviser said it was not clear exactly what happened and American officials "have not been able to corroborate" Pakistani troops died. The U.S. "would be very saddened" if that were true,...

NEW YORK - A former United Nations procurement official convicted of accepting bribes was sentenced Tuesday to eight years and a month in prison. Sanjaya Bahel, 57, was sentenced after a jury found he had helped a friend win $100 million in U.N. contracts in exchange for a huge discount on two luxury Manhattan apartments and cash. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa also ordered Bahel to forfeit $103,500 and his interest in the apartments, near the United Nations headquarters. Bahel was chief of the U.N.'s Commodity Procurement Section from 1999 to 2003. Before he was sentenced, Bahel apologized....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The shooting apart of a crippled U.S. spy satellite last month created no significant new space debris, with all but small bits burning on re-entry to the atmosphere, the mission commander said on Wednesday. "We thought there would be much larger pieces," Rear Admiral Alan Hicks, who heads the Pentagon's Aegis ballistic missile defense program, said in the most comprehensive report yet on the destruction of the satellite known as USA-193. In fact, none of the debris was larger than a football, he told a briefing at an annual conference of the U.S. Navy League, a booster...

Hans Janitschek, an Austrian journalist who spent years as a U.N. consultant and also served as secretary general of the Socialist International organization, died suddenly at U.N. headquarters. He was 73. His wife, Friedl, said Friday that Janitschek died last week and the cause of death was believed to be a heart attack. Janitschek became foreign editor of Austria's largest daily newspaper, Kurier, in 1959. He joined the Austrian Foreign Service in 1964 and was sent to the United States as director of the Austrian Information Service. He was appointed special assistant to Bruno Kreisky, then-chairman of the Austrian Socialist...

McLEAN, Va. - The courthouse files look like the Christmas list of a high-society fashion maven with a purse fetish: mink coats, jewelry, Faberge eggs, a Mercedes Benz and more than 100 handbags and wallets with designer names like Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. Those are among the items the FBI found at the Washington home of Harriette Walters, who until recently was an $81,000-a-year city tax official. Her salary was a pittance compared with the tens of millions of dollars prosecutors say she and at least five others stole in what may be the biggest embezzlement case in the...

HR 997 IH 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 997 To declare English as the official language of the United States, to establish a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United States, pursuant to Congress' powers to provide for the general welfare of the United States and to establish a uniform rule of naturalization under article I, section 8, of the Constitution. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 12, 2007 Mr. KING of Iowa (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. SALI, Mrs. BACHMANN, Ms....

The Daily Telegraph Letters 25 May 2007 Richard Molineux, Balls Green, Essex Back to top Nothing to wear Sir - I have been invited by Austrian family friends to a wedding in Salzburg. Proud of their traditions, they suggested that "guests might like to wear national costume". In view of the recent nationalism shown by our kilted close neighbours, I have thought long and hard of what my English wife and I might wear to augment this colourful event, but without any success. I am open to any suggestion from your readers. Andrew C. Lowings, Peterborough

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA The city of Philadelphia is planning to unveil three dozen street signs marking the ‘Gayborhood’ Wednesday. The 36 signs adorned with the internationally recognized symbol of a rainbow, also known as the ‘Freedom Flag,’ will be placed from Chestnut to Pine Streets between 11th and Broad Streets. During a brief ceremony at 13th and Locust Streets, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s chorus is expected to sing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” as confetti canons cap off the celebration. Philadelphia will join four other cities, San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto, who have dedicated permanent installations designating gay-friendly neighborhoods.

What part of "Body of Comment" underneath the "Body of Thread" when you're posting an article don't you understand? How many times have I logged onto FR and see the main page, only to be greeted with threads such as "Democrats challenge Bush on Iraq" (Thanks again cut-and-run conservatives!) or "Giuliani addresses crowd in California" (GO RUDY! THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BEAT HILLARY!)? Isn't it annoying? (Expected FReeper responses: "Then don't click on the threads then moron!" or the "Aw Geez, not this s--t again picture.") OFFICIAL USE OF PARENTHESIS IN THREAD TITLE ETIQUETTE (1) Location. Listing the...

KABUL, Afghanistan - When the deal went down in Las Vegas, the seller was introduced only as "Mr. E." In a room at Caesars Palace hotel, Mr. E exchanged a pound-and-a-half bag of heroin for $65,000 cash — unaware that the buyer was an undercover detective. The sting landed him in Nevada state prison for nearly four years. Twenty years later and Mr. E, whose real name is Izzatullah Wasifi, has a new job. He is the government of Afghanistan's anti-corruption chief. Wasifi leads a staff of 84 people charged with rooting out the endemic graft that is fueled in...

NEW YORK, March 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A jury in Manhattan federal court convicted Vladimir Kuznetsov of conspiring to commit money laundering, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia for the Southern District of New York announced today. The jury returned a guilty verdict after less than one hour of deliberation. Prior to his arrest in September 2005, Kuznetsov served as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions at the U.N. and was the highest-ranking Russian diplomat at the U.N. The evidence at trial proved that from 2000 through June 2005, Kuznetsov laundered over $300,000 in criminal proceeds obtained by...

KINSHASA, Congo - The head of Congo's atomic energy commission has been arrested on suspicion of illegally selling uranium found in the Central African mineral giant, officials said Wednesday. Fortunat Lumu, the director of the country's only nuclear center, and one of his aides were arrested Tuesday "because they were accused of having illicitly sold a quantity of uranium," Attorney General Tshimanga Mukendi said. Mukendi refused to give information on the amount of uranium or the alleged buyer, saying those details were part of an investigation. He added only that they were accused of orchestrating illicit contracts to produce and...

Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, best known for his advocacy on behalf of the military, launched a longshot bid for the presidency Thursday in this early voting state. Frequently citing Ronald Reagan, Hunter told supporters he wants to pick up on the former president's legacy. "I want to lead that policy of peace through strength," said Hunter, a strong supporter of the Iraq war. The 14-term conservative from California, who has made no secret of his White House aspirations, set up a presidential exploratory committee earlier this month. He initially announced his intentions in October, becoming the first GOP candidate to...

A former high-level State Department official was sentenced to a year in prison yesterday for keeping more than 3,500 classified documents at his Fairfax County home and concealing his relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence agent. Prosecutors said Donald W. Keyser possessed far more unauthorized classified documents than any government employee ever prosecuted by the Justice Department. Keyser, 63, is one of the nation's leading experts on China and was a top adviser to Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state. "What I was doing was to further U.S. interests," Donald Keyser said. "It was not to further Taiwan's."

WASHINGTON - U.S. criminal investigators found no evidence to support the claim of Marines charged in the deaths of unarmed Iraqi civilians that five were shot after trying to flee the scene of a roadside bombing that killed one Marine, a senior defense official said Saturday. Investigators determined that all five Iraqis were shot within arm's length of each other and no more than 18 feet from the white taxi they were ordered to exit by members of a Marine squad in the western Iraqi town of Haditha, said the official, who is familiar with reports produced by the Naval...

A former top budget official in the Reagan White House is a target of a criminal investigation into possible financial fraud at an auto parts company he headed before it collapsed into bankruptcy, a federal official told The Associated Press. David Stockman, who rose to prominence as budget director under President Reagan, is the former chairman and CEO of Michigan-based Collins & Aikman Corp. Federal investigators and prosecutors are preparing a case against Stockman and other corporate officers from Collins & Aikman and expect to soon present the findings to a grand jury in New York City, the official said....

Since elected leaders declared English the city's official language last month, Spanish no longer plays on the wall of televisions overlooking the stationary bikes, treadmills and elliptical trainers at the Farmers Branch Community Recreation Center. In public works, new trash bags being ordered for residents will have the holiday schedule for trash pickup printed only in English. But instructions on how to load the 50-gallon paper bags will be printed in both English and Spanish, because it's a safety issue. Some temporary signs in Spanish have been removed at the public library. Fliers for park and recreation activities and library...

JERUSALEM - Israel's deputy prime minister on Saturday said Israel should assassinate Hamas' leadership, ignore the moderate Palestinian president and walk away from international peace efforts, the latest in a string of hard-line positions voiced by the newest member of the Cabinet. The comments by Avigdor Lieberman came as the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, continued talks on forming a unity government. President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah hopes the coalition deal will enable him to revive peace efforts with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brought Lieberman into the government last month to shore up a shaky coalition government...

Taneytown became the first municipality in Maryland to pass a resolution declaring English its official language but stopped short last night of a proposed change to the city charter that had drawn criticism from civil rights groups and some residents. Mayor W. Robert Flickinger said the nonbinding English Language Unity resolution was preferable to a change in the charter, which would have been costly to implement and probably would have drawn lawsuits. [snip] A 2002 [State] law requires all state agencies to provide interpreters and to translate crucial documents into any language spoken by 3 percent of the population.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert will take responsibility for the unfolding page sex scandal but insist he will stay on as leader of House Republicans, a House GOP official said Thursday, as leaders of the ethics committee weighed what action to take. At a news conference in his home district in Illinois, Hastert will also ask the Ethics Committee to consider new rules so that anyone making inappropriate contact with pages be disciplined. In the case of staff, they would be fired; lawmakers would be subject to expulsion, the official said. As Hastert huddled with aides to write a...

LONDON (Reuters) - Stimulating a certain area of the brain can produce a creepy feeling that someone is watching you when no one is, scientists said Wednesday. Swiss researchers made the discovery while evaluating a young woman for surgery to treat epilepsy...When they electrically stimulated the left temporoparietal junction in her brain, which is linked to self-other distinction and self-processing, she thought someone was standing behind her. If they repeated the stimulus while she leaned forward and grabbed her knees she had an unpleasant sensation that the shadowy figure was embracing her..."Our findings may be a step toward understanding the...

SACRAMENTO - California's recent passage of a bill to curb emissions of carbon dioxide drew praise from the head of the United Nations' climate change assessment panel, who said the move will have great influence. "Clearly this will have a profound effect on the position of the federal government," said Rajendra Pachauri, director of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "And I would say even before that, perhaps it will have an effect on other states in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next year or two you see other states following similar actions. "And it will...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army and Police forces in northern Iraq are taking responsibility for more territory as a result of the continual training Coalition forces have been providing, a U.S. commander said Friday. “In an area of responsibility that exceeds 47,000 square miles, we have leveraged the full spectrum of assets in order to engage the population and neutralize the enemy,” Army Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner, commander of Multi-National Division-North, said in a news conference via satellite from Iraq. Iraqi security forces have taken the fight to the terrorists and insurgents throughout Multi-National Division-North. Numerous combined and increasingly Iraqi-only...

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...

Get your popcorn and grab your nuts. Get your beer and reach for your mutton. Whip up some chocolate moose and slice up the head cheese. Yes folks, time to find the remote and hit the TiVo button because it's movie time at the OFST!! Some of the worst movies and/or movie titles ever released will be playing here for our collective amusements.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2006 – The activities in the Hezbollah-Hamas battlespace are being manipulated by Iran, directed by Syria and executed by Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior U.S. military official, speaking on background, said today. The official also spoke about conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said three major movements are coursing through the Middle East. The first is Iran’s posturing for leadership in the region. Iran’s prominence in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the official said, points to the problem a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and world. Iran’s sponsorship of Hezbollah and its moves...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – Assessments from Helmand Province, Afghanistan, do not conclude that non-combatants were killed as a result of operations against extremists on July 12, according to coalition officials. Extremists likely fabricated reports of civilian deaths as a propaganda ploy to discredit coalition forces and the government of Afghanistan, officials said today. "We take great care to prevent and minimize any damage to property or injury to law-abiding citizens," said Col. Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman for Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "We will continue in our operations to defeat those who attempt to impose their will upon the...

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2006 – Military tribunals -- not courts-martial or civilian court procedures -- are the best way to try enemy combatants for war crimes, a senior defense official told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. Daniel J. Dell'Orto, the Defense Department's principal deputy general counsel, testified before the committee as it considers the best way to try detainees after the U.S. Supreme Court voted down the use of military tribunals under existing law. During yesterday's hearing, Dell'Orto pointed to the country's history of convening criminal tribunals other than courts-martial in wartime that dates back to the Revolutionary...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The soldier whose abduction sparked Israel's invasion of Gaza is alive and in stable condition, a Palestinian official said Saturday, and President Mahmoud Abbas warned that the coming hours were "critical, sensitive and serious" for resolving the crisis. Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire for several hours Saturday afternoon when Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed the border with Gaza and began razing farmland east of the town of Khan Younis. Militants shot an anti-tank rocket at one of the vehicles. The army responded with gunfire and a missile launched from an unmanned plane. No...

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2006 – Civil servant Ronald A. Rosenfeld demonstrated his heartfelt commitment to helping wounded troops in dramatic fashion -- he donated $150,000, the equivalent of his annual salary, to the Walter Reed Society. About two years ago, a Catholic monsignor told Rosenfeld and his wife, Patty, that war-wounded servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan were receiving outstanding medical treatment at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but that money was in short supply for certain quality-of-life items. Without hesitation, the Rosenfelds decided to help. "Through such generosity of donors like yourself, the Walter Reed Society has been able...

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2006 – The Department of Veterans Affairs is revamping its data security procedures following last month's theft of a VA laptop computer that contained personal information of veterans and military personnel still in uniform, the secretary of the VA told a congressional committee today. "We will stay focused on these problems until they are fixed," said R. James Nicholson during hearings before the House Committee on Government Reform. "We will take direct and immediate action to address and alleviate affected people's concerns. We are accountable to our nations veterans and servicemembers." On May 3, the Montgomery County,...

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2006 – Although progress has been made, the war in Iraq is complex and many challenges are still on the horizon for Iraqi and coalition forces, Iraq's deputy prime minister said today. "We are dealing with a tough war against international terrorism and the remnants of the Saddam (Hussein) regime," Barham Salih said in an interview on CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer. "We're dealing with a difficult, difficult political and security challenge." With widespread sectarian violence and insurgent attacks, an immediate challenge for the country is the selection of a permanent defense minister and interior minister,...

BAGHDAD, May 27, 2006 – The seating of the permanent Iraqi government was a "decisive moment" in the struggle in Iraq and may be "the defining moment" for the future, a senior Multinational Division Baghdad official said today. The official, speaking on background, said progress is being made in security operations across the area of operations around Baghdad. The area includes the Iraqi provinces of Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Babil. The official said that by the end of the summer security operations in Najaf and Karbala will be handled locally. In Babil, the process will go into the fall. In...