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Teams of American special forces have been authorised to conduct spying missions intended to pave the way for a military strike on Iran in case President Obama orders one, US government sources have confirmed. The military units would penetrate Iranian territory to reconnoitre potential nuclear targets and make contact with friendly dissident groups, according to a secret directive written by General David Petraeus. The document’s existence was disclosed for the first time yesterday. It authorises an expansion in the use of US special forces throughout the Middle East, US officials said. However, it is the possibility of American troops operating...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama called for first-ever mileage and emissions standards for big rig and work trucks Friday, seeking to limit pollution from the large vehicles that contribute a big share of it. With a presidential memorandum signed in the Rose Garden, Obama also ordered federal agencies that have already brought out new standards for cars and light trucks for the 2012-2016 model years to begin work on even stronger rules for 2017 and beyond.

Executive Order 13511 Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Executive Order, the functions of the ... BARACK OBAMA THE WHITE HOUSE,September 29, 2009. Notes ... 6 KB (587 words) - 13:27, 9 October 2009 Executive Order 13512 Executive Order 13390 of November 1, 2005, as amended, is further ... BARACK OBAMA THE WHITE HOUSE,September 29, 2009. Executive orders of Barack Obama ... 1 KB (163 words) - 13:28, 9 October 2009 Executive Order 13504 Executive Order 13390 of November 1, 2005, as amended, is further amended by ... BARACK OBAMA THE WHITE HOUSE,February 20, 2009. ... 1 KB (170 words)...

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's top military officer says 16,000 troops have received their orders for Afghanistan since President Barack Obama announced his new war strategy. Adm. Mike Mullen said at a news conference Thursday that the first to go — a battalion of Marines — will arrive in southern Afghanistan next week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said tens of thousands of tons of construction materials, winter gear and other equipment also are in the pipeline. Officials are moving to get the bulk of the 30,000 additional troops into the war zone by summer.

NYSE Open Disrupted By Flood Of Orders On 2:44 pm EDT, Friday October 30, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters) - A huge influx of orders prevented the New York Stock Exchange from disseminating quotes shortly after the start of trading on Friday. (NYSE:NYX - News; Paris:NYX.PA - News), the parent of the exchange, said the delays followed "an inordinate influx" of orders received as Friday's session got under way. Later in the session, the company had to temporarily transfer quote processing to a backup system. The exchange's quote delays caused some tickers to be locked, but an NYSE spokesman said "trades...

Maybe Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus should put a gag order on Douglas Elmendorf too. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office director told Mr. Baucus's committee that its plan to cut $123 billion from Medicare Advantage—the program that gives almost one-fourth of seniors private health-insurance options—will result in lower benefits and some 2.7 million people losing this coverage.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has ordered his national security team to investigate reports that U.S. allies were responsible for the deaths of as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war in Afghanistan. Obama told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday that if the United States violated international norms, he wants to know about it. He also says he will make a decision how to proceed after he has all the facts

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20090526.htm#head6 Book says young women attracted to orders whose members wear habits DENVER (CNS) -- While the last 40 years have seen an overall drop in the numbers of women entering religious life, a new book released by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious says orders that are more visibly countercultural seem to be flourishing. The council represents the superiors of more than 100 religious communities of sisters whose members wear an identifiable religious habit. A canonically approved organization founded in 1992 to promote religious life in the United States, the council notes that the average age of...

SEATTLE -- Boeing had only six commercial airplane orders in March, compared with 99 in the same month last year. For the first three months of this year, Boeing has received orders for 28 planes but customers canceled or changed 32 orders resulting in a net loss of four. Boeing also reports it delivered 121 jetliners in the first quarter, up 5 percent from the first quarter of last year. Boeing has said it expects to deliver 480 to 485 airplanes this year, up from 375 last year. Boeing also reports on a Web page that it has cut 1,200...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the United States to release a prisoner from the Guantanamo detention center who said he fears for his life after informing against senior al-Qaida leaders. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle issued a one-page judgment ordering the release of Yasin Muhammed Basardh, a 33-year-old from Yemen. The judge didn't say in the ruling why Basardh should be let go, but she said it was explained during a closed hearing in her courtroom earlier in the day.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a series of executive orders Friday that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management. Obama also used the occasion at the White House to announce formally a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans. He named Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman. Union officials say the new orders by Obama will undo Bush administration policies that favored employers over workers.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - With California's cash dwindling and legislators still debating a new budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated 22,000 part-time and temporary state positions Thursday and ordered that 200,000 state workers receive the federal minimum wage. His signing of the executive order had been expected since last week but stood as a stark illustration of the cash problem facing the nation's most populous state. Schwarzenegger apologized to state workers but said he had no choice. "Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full-blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," Schwarzenegger said. "This is not an action...

HOUSTON -- A college student’s trip to Wal-Mart last month ended with her in handcuffs and a two-day stay in the Harris County jail. Nitra Gipson was charged with felony forgery after the Meyer Park Wal-Mart manager accused her of passing bogus money orders. Thing is, the money orders were legit and had been purchased at Wal-Mart to begin with. The cash-strapped college student had just sold her car to pay for her last two semesters at Texas Southern University, where she is studying criminal justice. She was paid with Wal-Mart money orders, which the giant retailer advertises as “good...

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) today called on President Bush to exercise his authority to repeal the Executive Order banning energy production on America’s outer continental shelf (OCS) Since the Congress has made it clear - year after year - that it does not have the courage to take decisive action, President Bush should take the first step. He has the authority to tear up one of the two bans on offshore energy production that form a wall between American consumers and affordable energy. We’re asking the president to tear down that wall.”

Japans closely watched machinery orders fell for the first time in five years in 2007, official data showed Friday, sparking fears that a US slowdown may pull Asias largest economy down. The data raised renewed concern about Japans economic recovery, which has been based on exports, and contributed to a 1.44 per cent fall on the Tokyo Stock Exchange despite a positive lead from Wall Street. The private sectors core machinery orders, which exclude particularly volatile demand from power companies and for ships, fell 4.0 per cent in 2007 from the previous year, with orders in December alone tumbling 3.2...

In what will be seen by many in the industry as a stinging rebuke for Airbus and its planned A350 jetliner, its biggest customer is expected to place an order for as many as 50 of The Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliners at next week's Paris Air Show, an industry source confirmed Tuesday night. ...SNIP.... ....Steve Udvar-Hazy, its founder and chief executive, told the P-I last week at an industry conference in Vancouver, B.C., that he has not been given enough details about the A350 to decide whether he wants the plane. Instead, Hazy will order additional 787s, the industry source...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2007 – When Chef Robert Irvine discovered his “mission” was to feed 850 Marines after they’d completed 30 days of desert warfare training at Camp Pendleton, Calif., his reaction was what one might expect. Chef Robert Irvine, host of Food Network’s “Dinner Impossible” and a former chief petty officer cook in the British Royal Navy, shows he can keep up with the 850 Marines he faced at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Photo Courtesy of Food Network  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Shock and, gasp, horror,” Irvine, host of Food Network’s “Dinner Impossible,” and a former chief...

This scam was particularly funny. I'm sorry I delete the original email but the gist of the whole thing  is a person claiming to be "Denise Green Secretary to William Grant Of Costa Coffee " sent me an email from a yahoo account denise.arttss@yahoo.com . (It does work but it will be gone as soon as I report it to yahoo) well this individual claimed that they had funds that they needed to process for some reason and that they'd send money orders. (The classic money order scam) This person then asked for my information so I provide some information...

2 Major Homebuilders See Drop in Fourth-Quarter Orders, Profits PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In a sign of a deepening housing slump, two major homebuilders on Tuesday reported steep declines in new orders and weaker fourth-quarter results. Luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. of Horsham, Pa., said home-building revenue fell by 10 percent and signed contracts were down by 55 percent compared with a year ago. The company, which released its quarterly outlook ahead of earnings, also said it will incur a hefty charge against profits as it pares down the number of lots it controls. Beazer Homes USA Inc. of Atlanta...

Sudan orders African troops out of Darfur By David Blair, Africa Correspondent (Filed: 04/09/2006) Sudan's regime sought to remove the only international military presence in Darfur yesterday when it demanded the withdrawal of all African Union troops from the war-torn region. The AU, an alliance of all 53 African countries, has 5,000 troops and 2,000 civilian staff in Darfur. Crippled by incompetence and lack of resources, the mission has largely failed to protect the population.But it has recorded numerous attacks on civilian targets mounted by Sudanese government forces and their allies from the notorious Janjaweed militia. Violence, starvation and disease...