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UPDATED: Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to announce today that she will not seek a second term as governor, two sources close to the Democrat's campaign tell The News & Observer. Perdue is expected to make an announcement this afternoon, a N.C. Democratic Party spokesman said. Her campaign aides began telling top Democrats in the past 24 hours. Perdue campaign spokesman Marc Farinella could not be reached for comment.

Union County, Ill., authorities are currently looking for a fugitive from justice. In a statement released jointly by their offices, Union County Sheriff David Livesay and Union County State's Attorney Tyler R. Edmonds are seeking the public's help in apprehending Bryan T. Todd, who was last believed to be in the Anna area. The request for help from the public was put out at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23.

Washington (CNSNews.com) – If the negotiated debt bill becomes law as expected, President Obama aims to press the special congressional committee created by the deal to include tax increases as a way to achieve $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. “That committee will be charged with reducing the deficit further, by $1.5 trillion further,” Carney told reporters Monday. The 12-member committee will comprise six Democrats and six Republicans, from both Houses of Congress.

(CNSNews.com) – Congressional investigators plan to seek information from the White House National Security Council staff regarding communications about the botched gunrunning sting known as Operation Fast and Furious, which now has a publicized connection to the White House. “Very clearly, part of the problem is there has been political interference at the highest level,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told CNSNews.com during a conference call Wednesday. “We are going to be asking the National Security Council what occurred.”

A top House Democrat is urging EPA to quickly toughen regulation of natural gas drilling following a New York Times report on the discharge of dangerous pollutants into rivers that supply drinking water. The Times – citing internal documents from EPA and elsewhere – claims that chemicals and radioactive elements in wastewater from gas projects are creating “dangers to the environment and health [that] are greater than previously understood.” Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson a detailed letter Saturday calling for “immediate action.” “I am outraged that state and federal regulators were evidently well aware of the...

A Muslim advocacy group in the US is trying to build a more positive picture of its religion on the screen. After years of watching Muslims portrayed as terrorists in mainstream TV and movies, an advocacy group hopes to change that image by grooming a crop of aspiring Muslim screenwriters who can bring their stories — and perspective — to Hollywood. The Muslim Public Affairs Council is hosting a series of workshops taught by Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated veterans over the next month, an initiative that builds on the group's outreach for a more representative picture of Muslim-Americans on the screen....

After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we've got to pass Obama's agenda immediately and stop using metaphors. At least I think that's what the mainstream media are trying to tell me. Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner. Of course, to make their case, they first must demonstrate: (a) Right-wingers have called for violence against anyone, especially conservative, pro-Second Amendment...

In separate letters issued Monday, two U.S. lawmakers are looking for answers on the training and methods employed by Transportation Security Administration agents, including one congressman who wants to know why officers trailed a videographer who taped a kid stripped at the security gate. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is expected to become chairman of the House oversight subcommittee responsible for the federal workforce, wrote President Obama demanding that he initiate a probe into why TSA officers followed around Luke Tait, a Utah Valley University student who on Friday recorded a young boy having his shirt removed by his father...

NORFOLK -- They wake each morning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and chant it again before they go to sleep. They pray the rosary, spend time in contemplative prayer and gather each Sunday to discuss the Gospel. In almost every way they are like the members of other chapters of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, except they are incarcerated. The chapter, located at Norfolk State Prison, has about 35 members, 17 of whom have made their final profession in the Dominican order. It is the only Dominican chapter in a prison. Ruth Raichle, the Catholic chaplain...

CHICAGO (AP) - Days after the November 2008 election, Rod Blagojevich sent word to Barack Obama that he would name one of the president-elect's close friends to the Senate in exchange for a position in the Cabinet, the ousted governor's former chief of staff testified Wednesday. After court adjourned Wednesday, Blagojevich's attorneys filed a motion asking to see the FBI's summaries of interviews agents conducted with Obama. Jurors at Blagojevich's corruption trial heard a tape of the impeached governor telling aides that Valerie Jarrett, the person Obama wanted as his successor in the Senate, had been informed that he would...

Senate Republicans are making a last-ditch effort Wednesday to derail health care legislation by forcing Democrats to vote on a series of politically dicey matters relating to the health care "fixes" sent over by the House this week. The "fix-it" bill makes adjustments to the legislation President Obama signed into law Tuesday. Republicans are raising a series of amendments in hopes of changing any part of the "fix-it" bill to delay implementation and send it back to the House for additional votes. The Senate will vote on 20 to 25 amendments -- including ones to ban various Medicare cuts, special...

WASHINGTON — Facing voter anger over mounting budget deficits, President Barack Obama will ask Congress to freeze spending for some domestic programs for three years beginning in 2011, administration officials said Monday. Separately, Obama unveiled plans to help a middle class "under assault" pay its bills, save for retirement and care for kids and aging parents. The spending freeze would apply to a relatively small portion of the federal budget, affecting a $477 billion pot of money available for domestic agencies whose budgets are approved by Congress each year. Some of those agencies could get increases, others would have to...

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird announced Wednesday he will not seek a seventh term in Congress next year. "Serving our country and representing the people of Southwest Washington in Congress has been the highest honor and greatest responsibility of my life," the Vancouver Democrat said in a statement. "Since the time I first announced I would seek election in November of 1995, I have done my utmost to work hard, tell the truth, listen, and do what was right for our nation. I am proud of the record of achievements for our district and I am incredibly grateful to the voters...

Now that the Bush administration is no longer there to actively lobby for Israel, the situation for the Jewish state at the hands of the assorted Israel bashers and anti-Semites of the world is growing more and more grave. Currently, the top-of-the-page headline on the home page of the influential left-wing British newspaper The Guardian is “Lawyers seek arrest of Israeli defence minister in UK for alleged war crimes.”

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Hungry Hondurans scrambled through looted stores and lined up for food on Wednesday during a break in a long curfew called to halt violence that erupted with the return of the country's deposed leftist president. Troops and police ringed the Brazilian Embassy where ousted President Manuel Zelaya took shelter on Monday after returning home in a daring challenge to the interim government that threw him out of the country at gunpoint in June and that vows to arrest him if he leaves the shelter of the diplomatic mission.

The Obama administration has decided not to seek legislation to establish a new system of preventive detention to hold terrorism suspects and will instead rely on a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing military force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban to continue to detain people indefinitely and without charge, according to administration officials. Leading congressional Democrats and members of the civil rights community had signaled opposition to any new indefinite-detention regime, fearing that it would expand government powers and undermine the rule of law and U.S. legal traditions.

A group of hard-Left filmmakers and writers from around the world have been using their celebrity to try to coerce the Toronto International Film Festival into banning Israeli films. Their petition, which is filled with misstatement of facts and rewriting of history, describes Israel as "an apartheid regime." It focuses not so much on Israel's occupation of the West Bank since 1967, but rather on Israel's very existence since 1948. It characterizes Tel Aviv, a city built by the sweat of Jews largely on barren coastal land, as illegitimate.

Oh my children ! I shall Cause you to go to your knees in prayer ! To seek me out while I may be found , I shall overturn the money changers and Pharisees working for Jezebel in My church and body hindering My Breath from being spoken into words of Rhema , the Fresh Manna once hidden NOW REVEALED and I shall exchange your costly oil of sacrifice for tears of Joy ! NOW is the time to seek me out while I may be found for soon darkness and persecution Will hinder THE WORD spoken and My Testimony...

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to begin negotiations on Wednesday to draft a new arms control treaty that could slash the American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by about a third and possibly lead to even deeper reductions, according to administration officials.

Dozens of residents of Arab countries appeal to Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem in search of 'smart and beautiful' women "I'm asking for your help. I would like to meet an Israeli woman for marriage purposes," Abdullah, a resident of Saudi Arabia, said in a recent letter to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. "I have heard that the Israeli women are very smart and beautiful," he added. "I'm ready to pay a dowry of camels, herds or even money. Please help me." Dozens of such appeals are received every year by the Foreign Ministry's department for Arab media. Emails have been...

Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” John 10:22-24 Throughout Jesus’ ministry we see regular people approach Jesus and talk to him. They saw him preach somewhere and they just want a better vantage point to observe and evaluate. Certainly other teachers had come through before and played a good game, but this Jesus man, he was different. When He spoke, He spoke...

Amid fierce U.S. government protests over the release of a suspect in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Mexico yesterday pledged close cooperation with U.S. authorities. But Mexican officials said they have yet to receive a request for his extradition or arrest. Jesús Navarro Montes, who is suspected of drug smuggling, is accused by U.S. authorities of driving a sport utility vehicle over agent Luis Aguilar in January near the U.S.-Mexico border west of Yuma. Navarro was released from a Mexicali prison earlier this month after Judge Laura Serrano Alderete, of the Baja California 12th District, cleared him...

Single parents will be made to seek jobs By Graeme Wilson, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 2:59am BST 19/07/2007 Single parents will be forced to start looking for a job once their youngest child turns seven, with those who cannot find work being placed on United States-style workfare schemes. Peter Hain claimed Labour had made progress in getting lone parents back to work Peter Hain, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced yesterday that the age at which lone parents will be expected to start seeking work will be cut from 16 to 12 next year. In 2010, it will be reduced...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), enmeshed in a congressional corruption scandal, abruptly abandoned his race for re-election Monday after months of prodding from Republican leaders worried about losing his seat this fall. Ney said in a statement he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and had acted for the sake of his family. "I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," he said. The six-term lawmaker has long been involved in the influence-peddling investigation spawned by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and is the second congressman to announce his...

More Britons seek new life abroad More Britons than ever before want to turn their dreams of a new life abroad into reality, according to a poll. The number of people hoping to emigrate in the near future has doubled in three years. The survey for the BBC News website found 13% of people wanted to emigrate soon, compared to 7% of those questioned for a similar poll in 2003 by ICM. The figure is even higher among young people, with a quarter of 18-to-25-year-olds saying they would move to another country if they could. More than a third of...

Archaeologists seek hints on 4000-year-old civilization in Tekirdað Wednesday, July 19, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists working on an ancient Thracian site in Tekirdað said on Monday they have unveiled part of an ancient city named Heraion Teichos, which is thought to date back to 2000 B.C. The excavation team of Mimar Sinan University's Archaeology Department has been working to unearth the ancient city, located near Tekirdað's Karaevli village, for the last six years. Head of the excavations, Associate Professor Neþe Atik, told the Doðan News Agency on Monday that they were the first team to conduct the...

Afghan clerics seek return of anti-alcohol police By Our Foreign Staff (Filed: 18/07/2006) Afghan police have destroyed 3,000 cans of beer and 630 bottles of alcohol confiscated from foreign "guest houses" in the capital Kabul during a recent crackdown. The alcohol, which is banned in Islamic Afghanistan, was seized in raids on guest houses during which seven foreign women were arrested on charges of prostitution. The interior ministry said they would be deported. The raids were part of a government campaign against alcohol. Although alcohol is banned in Afghanistan, expatriates living there can buy it in certain shops, where they...

MEXICO CITY - Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on a huge crowd of supporters Saturday to keep peacefully protesting as he goes to court to challenge what he called his fraudulent electoral defeat. The fiery former Mexico City mayor said he would present fraud allegations to Mexico's electoral court on Sunday and formally request that all 41 million votes be recounted. The ruling party's Felipe Calderon can't be declared president-elect until the electoral court weighs allegations of fraud or unfair campaign practices. The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a winner. "We are going to ask...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Hamas' leaders in Syria insist they have nothing to do with the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier and hold no influence over his captors. Still, they have been changing homes and stopped using cell phones because of Israeli threats to target them. Israel has accused the Islamic militant group's top leader, Khaled Mashaal, of being the brains behind the June 25 kidnapping and indicated he was a possible target for assassination. "We take the Israeli threats seriously, and we know the occupation will not pass up the opportunity to get the movement's leadership," Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative...

WASHINGTON - House leaders from both parties asked a federal judge Wednesday to declare the late-night search of Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record)'s office unconstitutional, a move that could undermine part of a lengthy bribery investigation of the Louisiana Democrat. In a 43-page court filing, the House leaders accused the FBI and Justice Department of conducting a heavy-handed search of Jefferson's office May 20-21 and threatening the balance of power in government in the process. The FBI raid violated "more than 200 years of comity and respect for a coordinated branch of government" when agents showed up unannounced...

EL ARISH, Egypt - Egyptian police captured six Sudanese, including a one-year-old boy, who were trying to cross into Israel early Friday to seek asylum, a security official said. The six were arrested at dawn as they tried to get over the coil of barbed wire that marks the border in Egypt's northeast Sinai desert, said Brig. Gen. Adel Fawzi, the chief of the North Sinai criminal investigation department.

JORDANIAN BORDER, Iraq (April 29, 2006) -- Near the Iraqi-Jordanian border, key leaders from the Iraqi Government and the United Nations met to figure out the fate of a growing number of Iraqis of Palestinian heritage who are trying to leave Iraq due to recent violence in Baghdad. The meeting between the two organizations came after more than 200 Iraqi men, women and children took up residence along the border here weeks ago, after being denied passage into Jordan by Jordanian border officials. The Iraqis left Baghdad to escape “violence and persecution” by insurgents, who targeted hundreds of Iraqi families...

WASHINGTON - Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texan touched by a lobbying scandal that ensnared some of his former top aides and cost the congressman to his leadership post, won't seek re-election to Congress, a Republican official said Monday. DeLay was expected to disclose the plans Tuesday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the DeLay had not publicly disclosed his plans.

If you've ever dreamed of sailing the skies in a World War II bomber, there may be no time like the present in Tucson. But it'll cost ya. Four vintage bombers will touch down in the city in April, offering rides at about $400 a pop. The events are sponsored by two nonprofit foundations that use the money to help keep the rare old warplanes running. The Old Pueblo has become a favorite stopover for such outfits because our warm-weather city has all the attributes they look for. "Tucson is a hot spot because it has so many retirees and...

Japanese seek family of bandsman Fenton By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (Filed: 09/03/2006) Researchers in Japan have appealed to readers of The Daily Telegraph to help shed light on the fate of the British soldier who gave the country its national anthem. Toshio Akiyama, a conductor and head of the Japanese Band Directors' Association, has spent more than a decade trying to find out what became of John William Fenton. But the trail ends after the soldier left a teaching post with the Army in Scotland in 1883. Fenton arrived in Japan in 1868 as bandmaster of the 10th Regiment...

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 27, 2006 – More than 400 middle school, high school and college students from across Texas flocked to student expositions at Huston-Tillotson University here Feb. 25 seeking information about military service and civilian jobs in the Defense Department. The expositions were part of the two-day National African American History Month observance sponsored by DoD and Huston-Tillotson in conjunction with historically black colleges and universities. The students were provided information about appointments at the service academies, entry into ROTC programs and civilian career opportunities in DoD, including how to participate in civilian intern programs. Missy Adunbarin, 18, a...

ROME - Italy's highest court ruled Friday that a man who raped the 14-year-old daughter of his girlfriend can seek to have his sentenced reduced because the girl was sexually active, news reports said. The ruling provoked an outcry across Italy, was condemned by UNICEF and prompted other justices on the court to issue a statement saying the ruling was wrong and in the future would be cited as a bad example of a high court decision, the ANSA news agency reported. The case goes back to 2001, when a court in Sardinia convicted Marco T. of sexual violence and...

Radio station sale forces Air America to seek new home Laura Newpoff The Business Journal From the January 20, 2006 print edition One of the first things Bob Christy did when he found out his liberal talk radio station's format was changing to religious broadcasting was to offer his worried staff an exit strategy. "I told them I'd give two-weeks pay to anyone who wanted to leave that day," Christy said. "But nobody did." Christy is general manager of KXXT 1010-AM in Phoenix, home of the Air America Radio format since September 2004. The station was acquired in October, part...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and police are conducting a house-to-house search for American freelance journalist Jill Carroll, who was taken hostage in the Baghdad area Jan. 7, a senior Iraqi military officer said on U.S. television today. "We isolate areas in cooperation with the police and go house to house searching for Jill," Lt. Gen. Nasser Abadi told Fox News Channel. "We've done three areas now, and tomorrow we'll finish one big district." Abadi, the deputy commanding general of Iraqi Joint Forces, expressed hope that his soldiers would soon find the 28-year-old woman who'd been filing Iraq-based...

The Voices of Medhold, a singing group from the Medical Hold Company at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., entertain the audience while judges tally the results of the Army’s 2006 Margaret “Skippy” Lynn Stars of Tomorrow Talent Contest Jan. 21 at Fort Belvoir, Va. From left to right: Sgt. Jonathan Oliver, Sgt. Carl Oliver, Staff Sgt. Michael Green, Staff Sgt. Alan Drew, Sgt. Michael Walcott, Sgt. 1st Class Samuel Lampkins and Sgt. 1st Class Brenda Goodson. • Printer-friendly version • E-mail this article • Voices of Medhold seeks to soothe injured SoldiersBy Tim Hipps January 26,...

Same source: Persistent themes in art suggest an evolutionary adaptation. We, as well as the ancient Greeks, admire the Hermes of Praxiteles, above Hardwired to seek beauty Denis Dutton January 13, 2006 THROUGHOUT history and across cultures, the arts of homo sapiens have demonstrated universal features. These aesthetic inclinations and patterns have evolved as part of our hardwired psychological nature, ingrained in the human species over the 80,000 generations lived out by our ancestors in the 1.6 million years of the Pleistocene. The existence of a universal aesthetic psychology has been suggested, not only experimentally, but by the fact that...

MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 12, 2005 – Whether the key to a bright future for a country is to educate the children of the present will be tested in northern Iraq over the next generation, based on the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region North. The 324 schools renovated in Iraq's seven northern provinces under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund will benefit 42,000 students. All but nine of the schools are completed, and only one of those will not be finished by the end of January, officials said. Officials also noted that under the Commanders Emergency...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Nov. 3, 2005) -- The Marine Corps is searching for a larger, more capable combat transport to replace the Humvee. The Fires and Maneuver Integration Division of Marine Corps Combat Development Command is outlining the requirements for its future vehicle, dubbed the Combat Tactical Vehicle, with the goal of fielding the first CTVs in 2011. Kevin M. McConnell, deputy director of the Fires and Maneuver Integration Division, said the Humvee, while a battle-proven tactical vehicle, is beginning to show its limitations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The Humvee A2 is a great vehicle, [but] it has...

GULFPORT, Miss. (NNS) -- The Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) aboard Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport hosted a Job Fair with local community employers in the Navy Exchange (NEX) plaza on base Oct. 31. Information about hundreds of hourly and salary positions available in the Gulf Coast was available for military personnel and their families looking for employment. Pam Phillips, a Work and Family Life consultant with the Gulfport FFSC, arranged for 25 businesses and organizations to come out to the base for the day to showcase their employment opportunities. “When I started calling area employers, I found...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano isn't going to ask President Bush to bring Arizona's National Guard troops back from the Middle East. The governor said Wednesday that she read the request that was delivered to her office Monday by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan said Arizona could find itself at a disadvantage during wildfires if its troops are busy battling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Napolitano said she doesn't intend to do that. "The deployments from Arizona have been managed in such a fashion that I have never felt that we were left with inadequate resources here," ........

Nine seek seats on CalPERS board http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/13651572p-14493894c.html (EXCERPT) Nine candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for a pair of at-large seats on the 13-member governing board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund. The open seats are for four-year terms starting in mid-January. Overall, six of the 13 trustees are elected by members. The governor appoints two representatives. The Assembly speaker and Senate Rules Committee jointly name one trustee, and the state Personnel Board selects one. The state treasurer, controller and director of the Department of Personnel Administration also serve on the board overseeing...

Native Hawaiians Seek Self-governing Body Sen. Akaka quote: Bill Could Mean Eventual Independence for Hawaiians By National Public Radio, 8/17/2005 8:22:38 AM Editor's Note: Here is the complete National Public Radio transcript from Aug. 16, 2005 with Anchor Steve Inskeep, Reporter Martin Kaste and various guests. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Congress is considering legislation that would give native Hawaiians their own government. It would essentially grant them political status similar to that of Native American tribes. Here's NPR's Martin Kaste. (Soundbite of surf; birds) MARTIN KASTE reporting: You'll find no more potent symbol of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two California House members from opposite parties are asking a federal elections panel for permission to raise unlimited money to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, are seeking an advisory opinion from the Federal Election Commission that would allow them to collect "soft money" from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose ballot measures in the Nov. 8 special election. Both oppose Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. Berman's chief of staff, Gene Smith, said the request was motivated by their desire to raise money to fight it. Schwarzenegger's...

Scientists seek fresh chance to dig up Stonehenge's secrets Robin McKie, science editor Sunday July 24, 2005 The Observer (UK) Stonehenge has always mystified. Julius Caesar thought it was the work of druids, medieval scholars believed it was the handiwork of Merlin, while local folk tales simply blamed the devil. Now scientists are demanding a full-scale research programme be launched to update our knowledge of the monument and discover precisely who built it and its burial barrow graves. This is the key recommendation of Stonehenge: an Archaeological Research Framework, edited by Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University, soon to be published...

LONDON - Britain's Muslim leaders demanded a judicial inquiry Wednesday into what motivated the four "homegrown" suicide bombers who targeted London, as Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism. The government said all 56 people known to have died in the bombings of three subway trains and a bus have now been identified, but Home Secretary Charles Clarke warned the number could rise. Twenty-seven people remained hospitalized, several in critical condition. Police also have not ruled out the possibility of finding more bodies in the mangled wreckage of a train that is still in...