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MINNEAPOLIS – Two Minnesota prosecutors say they won't file charges against a man who investigators say admitted posting anti-Muslim images in front of a mosque, a Somali-owned store and other spots. They say the cartoons are protected under the First Amendment. The posters put up last month in the St. Cloud area depicted images such as the Prophet Muhammad engaged in bestiality and an Islamic crescent with a swastika inside it. Some in the community say there should be legal consequences. But the chief prosecutors in both counties where the cartoons were found said they must be considered free speech.

BOSTON — A New Hampshire woman who is critically ill with gastrointestinal anthrax most likely swallowed spores while participating in a community drumming circle, state health officials said Tuesday...The woman was among some 60 people who attended the drumming session on Dec. 4 at the United Campus Ministry near the University of New Hampshire in Durham...Investigators found traces of anthrax on two African drums and an electrical outlet in the room where the event took place, Dr. Talbot said, and are theorizing that the woman swallowed spores that were aerosolized by the drumming. The state has not identified the woman...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Officials say a Somali national tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month with powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that together could have caused an explosion. The hallmarks bear chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. Police spokesman Abdulahi Hassan Barise says the suspect was arrested before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight departed. It was scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai.

Palestinian officials are confiscating merchandise produced in West Bank settlements as part of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to remove all goods made in the settlements from Palestinian markets by the end of next year. Although the government banned goods from settlements some time ago, it only launched a concerted effort to enforce the ban a few months ago. Sources in the National Economy Ministry said that NIS 651,982 worth of goods were confiscated and disposed of in the second week of December alone. The goods included Ahava cosmetics and toiletries, plastic products, long-life milk made in the Golan, Mei...

NY finally gets the picture that the idea of shoving a vaccine on nurses and doctors is a violation of their liberties! First two body paragraphs: ALBANY, N.Y. New York state health officials have suspended a ruling that would have forced health care workers across the state to get vaccinated against the swine flu by the end of November or risk losing their jobs, saying in a decision issued Thursday that they did so because the vaccine is in short supply. New York will be getting only about 23 percent of its anticipated supply of the vaccine for the swine...

Health officials on Friday predicted a shortfall in the supply of swine flu vaccine, as the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths grow to levels unprecedented for this time of year. Flu caused by the H1N1 virus is now widespread in 41 states, and flulike illnesses account for 6.1 percent of all doctor visits. “That’s high for any time, particularly for October,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-three children have died from swine flu since Aug. 30 — about the same number...

The swine flu virus is spreading rapidly throughout California, public health officials said today, citing physician reports of higher-than-normal flu illnesses for this time of year. More than 5% of patients coming into doctor's offices are presenting flu-like symptoms, which is much higher than the usual 2%, according to an estimate based on about 50 physicians across California who monitor flu activity for the state. "We are seeing a continued ramp-up of the virus activity," Dr. Mark Horton, California's public health officer, said at a news conference today. "That is very unusual for this time of year." Horton said he...

The number of children who have died from the swine flu has jumped sharply as the virus continues to spread widely around the United States, striking youngsters, teenagers, young adults and pregnant women unusually often, federal officials said Friday. The deaths of another 19 children and teenagers from the new H1N1 virus were reported in the past week around the country, including two in Maryland, pushing the total number of fatalities to 76 among those younger than age 18. It was the largest number of pediatric deaths reported in a single week since the pandemic began last spring. "These pediatric...

Top U.S. military officials may retire or resign unless President Obama quickly sets forth a clear plan on winning the war in Afghanistan, including whether to send more troop to stop insurgents, says Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican. "If he doesn't deploy a successful strategy that might happen," said Mr. Ryan, ranking member of the House Budget Committee. "The president has time to think this through, but not a lot of time because right now we have a strategy that's not working." Mr. Ryan's comments follow similar ones made recently by Republican lawmakers, include those made Wednesday by House Minority...

WASHINGTON – Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and one of his hardline lieutenants face the rare prospect of being held personally liable for alleged violations of individuals' rights in the aggressive aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. High-ranking officials usually are protected from such civil rights claims. Not necessarily in these cases. Three federal courts have left open the possibility that former Bush officials may have to reach into their own pockets to compensate people who were swept up in the law enforcement and intelligence efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama recently shared sensitive intelligence with Russia and China about Iran's newly unveiled nuclear facility to get the two countries' leaders on board with new sanctions against Tehran, senior U.S. officials revealed Friday. President Obama speaks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, left, at the Group of 20 plenary session Friday. And the strategy to build a coalition with Russia and China "has already begun to bear fruit," one senior U.S. official said.

Intelligence officials say that they have known about the facility for years and that it's designed to hold enough centrifuges to possibly provide material for a single nuclear weapon each year. Reporting from Washington - U.S. intelligence officials said today that they have known about a newly disclosed Iranian nuclear facility for several years -- possibly as early as 2006 -- and that its dimensions and design all but rule out any civilian nuclear purpose.

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<p>ACORN officials offered to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents, according to an audiotape acquired by FOXNews.com.</p>

Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the IRS and how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents. In the videotape on BigGovernment.com, made on July 24, James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named "Kenya" who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN's office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business. On the videotape,...

ISLAMABAD – A suspected missile attack early Friday destroyed a militant hideout in northwest Pakistan, killing at least seven people, two intelligence officials said. The officials said some people also were wounded when the two missiles hit a compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel, near Miran Shah in troubled tribal region of North Waziristan. ... The area is also believed to be frequented by associates of an Afghan Taliban leader, Siraj Haqqani, whose network is powerful in eastern Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged President Obama for two days to toughen his language on Iran before he did so, and then was surprised when he condemned Iran's crackdown on demonstrators last week, the Washington Times reported administration officials as saying. At his June 23 news conference, Obama said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iranian behavior and "strongly condemned" the violence against anti-government demonstrators. Up until then, Obama and other administration officials had taken a softer line, expressing "deep concern" about the situation and calling on Iran to "respect the dignity of its own people." Behind the...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Officials tried to quell growing panic over swine flu on Thursday as governments braced for a global pandemic and US Vice President Joe Biden recommended a boycott of planes and subways. A day after upping its pandemic alert level, the World Health Organisation said there was no evidence to suggest it should be raised to the maximum of six, but warned of fresh outbreaks during the southern hemisphere's winter. European ministers meanwhile rejected an EU-wide ban on travel to Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak where citizens have been told to stay at home for five...

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - What's in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu. At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the "H1N1 virus." "This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that's not what this is about," Vilsack said. Israel has already rejected the name swine...

The Pentagon is starting work on a nuclear mission statement that envisions the US maintaining its atomic weapons stockpile for the next five to 10 years, a far more cautious stance than President Barack Obama's dream of a nuclear-free future.

(IsraelNN.com) United States officials have confirmed that Israel Air Force warplanes bombed a truck convoy in Sudan in January. The trucks were carrying arms that would be smuggled into Gaza for use against Israel, the officials said, according to a report in the New York Times.

As China's Communists gather, luxury sales soar By David Barboza Saturday, March 14, 2009 BEIJING: A week ago, a finely dressed Chinese man walked into Louis Vuitton's flagship store here trailed by a bodyguard and said he wanted to purchase a gift for a government official. "This is for a very senior official," the man told a clerk. "I tell you, he is at the top. So what kind of handbag do you think is suitable for him?" Sales clerks at Louis Vuitton and other luxury stores in Beijing offer an intriguing explanation for the appearance of such customers: every...

A top economic adviser to US President Barack Obama, along with nine former senior officials, is calling on the American leader to launch a dialogue with Hamas, the The Boston Globe reported Saturday. SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World According to the report, Paul A. Volcker and other members of the bipartisan group - including former national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski - have sent a letter to Obama urging him to engage Hamas in order to coax the terrorist organization to disarm and join a peaceful Palestinian unity government.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's top economic officials on Tuesday vigorously defended tax hikes in the administration's $3.6 trillion budget against Republican claims that they would affect nearly all Americans. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, in separate appearances on Capitol Hill, stuck to the administration line that the president's budget would benefit 95 percent of working Americans. Higher taxes for affluent Americans would not come until 2011 once "we are safely into recovery," Geithner told the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "I'm confident this is the right path for the country," Geithner said.

Despite a ban on nonessential travel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top administrative officials charged taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for airfare, hotel stays and meals with virtually no oversight, according to a published report. Expense reports and calendars for 10 high-ranking staff members from Southern California — including three cabinet members — show many of the expenses were incurred after the governor issued an executive order a year ago requiring state agencies to reduce travel costs due to California's budget crisis, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site late Friday. ....Carrie Lopez, the director of the Department of...

Reporting from Sacramento -- John Cruz, the appointments secretary for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, lives hundreds of miles from the state Capitol, where his staff scrutinizes candidates for California's many boards and commissions. When Cruz works there, he goes by plane. He has charged taxpayers for his flights and for hotel bills of up to $382 a night on regular trips between his Orange County home and Sacramento, records show. Carrie Lopez, director of the Department of Consumer Affairs, charged taxpayers to fly from Sacramento, where she works, to Los Angeles, where she lives, to attend a Justin Timberlake concert with...

Corruption Chronicles Only half of the members in the U.S. Senate committee that screens among the most important presidential cabinet nominees—Secretary of Homeland Security—bothered to show up for confirmation hearings this week and only two Republicans participated. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee senators evidently had more important things to do than assure the right candidate will head the crucial agency that keeps the nation safe from foreign threats. Only nine of the panel’s 17 members found the time to ask Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary pick—Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano—questions, making the so-called confirmation hearing somewhat laughable. This is embarrassing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday named four former Clinton administration officials to top defense positions, including former Pentagon comptroller William Lynn as deputy defense secretary. The four officials will form a senior policy team under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has agreed to stay on as Pentagon chief in the Obama administration. ... "I am confident that these distinguished individuals have the expertise and commitment needed to help me implement a sustainable national security strategy," Obama said in a statement.

A middle school in Marin City will not be renamed after President-elect Barack Obama. Sausalito Marin City School District officials nixed the idea of renaming the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy Thursday after dozens of community members voiced opposition to the idea at a meeting.

In Mexico's worst case of drug-related corruption in a decade, a drug cartel infiltrated the highest levels of Mexico's Attorney General's Office, paying as much as $450,000 a month to get sensitive information about anti-drug activities, Mexican officials said on Monday. The cartel even seemingly placed a mole inside the U.S. Embassy that fed the drug lords information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a copy of an arrest warrant seen by The Wall Street Journal and obtained by Mexican newspaper El Universal. A DEA spokesman said: "We are currently investigating this issue along with our Mexican counterparts."...

WASHINGTON - School budgets have seemed to defy gravity in recent years — going up steadily without ever coming down. But school board members from across the country say that's likely to change soon, and they're bracing for leaner times forced by the nation's economic downturn. Board members in Washington last week for an annual conference said shortfalls in state budgets coupled with pessimistic predictions about local revenues are forcing them to look for ways to trim next year's budgets, which they are working on now. About half of the states are facing projected budget shortfalls, according to the Center...

TIJUANA – With cross-border visits showing marked declines, business and Baja California tourism officials are going into full-scale damage control in hopes of regaining ground lost over the past year. “The image of the security problem has hit the state very badly,” said Baja California's tourism secretary, Oscar Escobedo Carignan. At a news conference Wednesday at state government offices in Tijuana, Escobedo described a new program aimed at luring visitors back to the region's tourist spots. The program, called “Get Your Passport,” offers discounts at hotels, restaurants bars and shops to those holding a U.S. passport. On the promotional posters...

CAMP TAJI — A senior leader of the Iraqi Army (IA) along with Government of Iraq officials from eight ministries; Sunni and Shia tribal sheiks and other leaders met with the people of Sab Al Bor recently to discuss and highlight resettlement initiatives and progress as a result of sustained security throughout the city. IA Lt. Gen. Abud Qanbar, commander, Baghdad operations command; Dr. Ahmed Challabi, Operation Fahrd Al Qanoon (OFAQ) Services Committee chairman; Saabar Nabact Al Asaway, deputy governor of Baghdad; Ahmed Abdul Ameer Abd, the deputy Minister of Oil; Maeen Al Kathamy, head of the Provincial Council; and...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi government officials, Iraqi national police leadership and concerned citizens from the Mada’in Qada met at the 1st National Police Headquarters at Forward Operating Base Volunteer in the International Zone, Oct. 9, to discuss coordinating their efforts to bring more security to the qada. “Today was a great day to see the Iraqi government, Iraqi security forces and concerned citizens come together to secure the future of the Mada’in Qada,” said Lt. Col. Ryan J. Kuhn from Clarks, Neb., the deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 3rd Infantry Division. Maj. Gen. Riadh, the 9th National...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A suspected senior commander of the Fatah Islam militant group was captured by Palestinian refugees and turned over to the Lebanese military Monday after he spent weeks in hiding, an official said. Nasser Ismail was among a number of militant leaders who fled the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared before Lebanese troops overran it earlier this month, ending a fierce three-month battle with Fatah Islam fighters barricaded inside. Ismail appeared to be suffering from exhaustion from weeks of hiding in nearby forests when he was overpowered by Palestinian refugees as he tried to sneak into the...

WASHINGTON - President Bush will tell the nation this week he plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by about 30,000 by next summer, but will condition those and further cuts on continued progress, The Associated Press has learned. In a prime-time television address, probably Thursday, Bush will endorse the recommendations of his top general and top diplomat in Iraq, following their appearance at two days of hearings in Congress, administration officials said. The White House plans to issue a written status report on the so-called "surge" on Friday, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity...

WASHINGTON – Immigration officials sharpened their message a day after being coy about whether they would agree to halt enforcement raids during the 2010 census. “We won't entertain any request to scale back our efforts,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Kelly Nantel said Friday. Census officials had planned to speak with immigration agents about curbing enforcement during the population count, the Census Bureau's second-ranking official said in an interview earlier this week. Raids during the population count would make an already distrustful group even less likely to cooperate with government workers who are supposed to include them in the headcount,...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger portrays himself as a global environmental leader, but that image was tarnished Friday as two former state air pollution officials testified about an administration they said is working to weaken global warming initiatives. Schwarzenegger's top aides have meddled in the day-to-day affairs of the state Air Resources Board, compromising its independence and integrity even as the Republican governor was traveling the world promoting the state's landmark global warming law, according to its former chairman, Robert Sawyer, and past executive director Catherine Witherspoon. "To say it was schizophrenic is to be kind. It was absolutely appalling,"...

Customs and border patrol officers said they discovered 20 suspected illegal immigrants stuffed into a recreational vehicle in San Ysidro. According to officials, they were hidden in various areas of a California-plated RV that entered the United States Tuesday morning through the San Ysidro border station. Officials said they arrested a 54-year-old man who was driving the RV. He was a U.S. citizen with a California driver's license who lives in Tijuana, according to border officials. A canine was used to screen the 1978 Dodge motor home, and the dog alerted agents to conduct a further search. Inside, officers said...

By the time Andrew Speaker and his wife returned from Europe late last month, government officials and news reports had already branded him as a runaway tuberculosis patient who had deliberately evaded health officials and knowingly put other people at risk by traveling on crowded airplanes. “This is what we’re hearing on the news when we land,” Mr. Speaker said on Thursday from his hospital room in Denver. He called The New York Times in response to repeated requests for an interview. “My wife and I look at each other, and I said, ‘They’re going for our throats here.’ ”...

Al-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister, the U.S. commander and the American ambassador flew to the blistering western Iraqi desert Saturday in a rare joint outing to highlight progress in the fight against insurgents in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province. Once the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the country, Anbar — which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi — has grown calmer in recent months with the flowering of a new alliance among Sunni tribal leaders, the Iraqi government and U.S. led forces. However, al-Qaida in Iraq is still active in the province and continues...

Not every harassment against Muslims comes out of Islamophobia. Secular, nationalistic, but not religious are the Quebecers. The founder of CAIR-CAN reflects on how the nature, culture, and history of Quebec make it hard for Muslims to live normally in the province.The latest high-profile incident involved the expulsion of five Muslim girls, aged 10 to 14, from a Tae kwon do tournament, by Quebec sports officials who ruled their hijab to be against regulations of the sport, in spite of the fact that hijab-clad Muslim women have competed worldwide in this martial art without any incident. In the neighboring province...

Outrage over luxury junket by public auditors May 16, 2007 As anger quickly grew over news that a group of government-appointed auditors are en route to South America using funds received from the state-run corporations they audit, the Ministry of Planning and Budget yesterday launched an investigation into the junket. “We confirmed that a total of 21 auditors went on a trip to South American countries using corporate funds,” said Yoo Sung-kull, a public policy official at the Ministry of Planning and Budget. “We are going to look into this trip to see whether there is any violation of the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Joined by Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines, business leaders from the newly formed Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform (CAHR) today called for passage of market-based healthcare reforms to fix California and the nation's broken healthcare system. The group of business leaders said now is the time to bring all stakeholders together to achieve meaningful results that not only solve the cost and coverage problem, but build a healthier California. Launched at a press conference on Capitol Hill earlier this week, CAHR...

NEW YORK - The backlash has built up even before the official release of former CIA Director George Tenet's memoir, with criticism about his version of the run-up to the Iraq war, interrogation techniques and other events. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday disputed Tenet's claim that the Bush administration, before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, never had a serious debate about whether Iraq posed an imminent threat or whether to tighten existing sanctions. "The president started a discussion practically on the day that he took power about how to enhance sanctions against Iraq," she said. "You may...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Government officials and lawmakers say they are fed up with what they feel are unnecessary searches by American troops and private security contractors in the Green Zone and persuaded President Jalal Talabani to take action, his office said Tuesday. The president, a Kurd, set up a committee to develop new security rules and then meet with U.S. officials to agree on a new relationship between American-led coalition forces and all Iraqis, not just government officials and lawmakers. The statement gave no other details, but Shiite legislator, Bassem Sharif, who attended the session at which the committee was...

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department unveiled legislation Tuesday to spur construction of a national nuclear waste dump in Nevada and increase its capacity. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., immediately vowed to block the bill. That could spell more problems for the troubled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, already years behind schedule. The Energy Department official who heads the project warned that without new funding that's part of the bill, a 2017 goal for opening the dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas could not be met. "If we don't have that we are certainly not...

The California Highway Patrol has a higher average suicide rate than other police agencies, a newspaper reported. Fifteen workers have taken their lives since September 2003, including 13 men and two women. The suicides ranged from the North Coast to the Inland Empire and included five in the Sacramento area, according to a report in The Sacramento Bee. Last month an officer was found dead in his Folsom home. Experts say police suicides often are related to job pressures and the availability of guns. "We ask our people to work very odd and unusual shifts," CHP Commissioner Mike Brown said....

NORTH COUNTY ---- Offering a first glimpse at how state transportation bond money might be spent, the California Transportation Commission's staff on Friday recommended that the powerful panel award $304 million for road projects in San Diego County and $38 million for a project in Southwest Riverside County. The recommended San Diego County projects include the proposed retrofit of the Interstate 15 express lanes in the Miramar area to match the expansion under way to the north, as well as car-pool lane extensions on Interstates 5 and 805. The Southwest Riverside County project is the planned widening of Interstate 215...

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