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Demonstrators plan to meet around 11:30 a.m. Monday before marching onto the Kennedy. The goal is to block both inbound and outbound traffic. several reasons: the lack of education and economic opportunities on the South and West Sides; to end the violence that grips those same neighborhoods; and to demand the departure of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson.

Many observers have warned that Putin’s military campaign in Syria may backfire at home. Russia’s 144 million people include about 20 million Muslims; the overwhelming majority are Sunnis. Some analysts believe that these Russian Sunnis will recoil from Russia’s support for Assad’s Alawite-dominated regime and its attacks on Sunni rebels, and from Russia’s effort to lead a coalition of Shiite powers, Iran, Iraq and Syria. If pundits’ predictions were true, Muslims would be more likely to choose the anti-war response and less likely to support Putin’s intervention. But that’s not exactly what we found. ...There wasn’t a consensus among any...

The moderators of the 2012 presidential and vice presidential debates have been under considerable scrutiny, perhaps more than in any other election cycle. Now, according to Time magazine, the campaigns of both GOP challenger Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have expressed concern over how CNN's Candy Crowley, the moderator of Tuesday's town hall debate in Hempstead, N.Y., is approaching her role. In an interview on the news network on Oct. 5, Crowley said she would not be afraid to ask follow-up questions if necessary. "Once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, there is then...

With Europe on the verge of economic collapse, what about all those popular predictions that the European Union would become the world's political powerhouse, giving rise to the endtimes prophecies of a world dictator known to Bible students as the Antichrist? Joel Richardson, author of a bestselling book on Bible prophecy, says atheists will have a field day mocking Christians for the incorrect interpretations about the last days. When ""The Islamic Antichrist" was released last fall, it immediately zoomed to the top of the religious charts at Amazon and the No. 1 spot among all books at Scribd – an...

Hardline Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are targeting a new type of victim with the full protection of Iraqi law, The Observer can reveal. The country is seeing a sudden escalation of brutal attacks on what are being called the 'immorals' - homosexual men and children as young as 11 who have been forced into same-sex prostitution.There is growing evidence that Shia militias have been killing men suspected of being gay and children who have been sold to criminal gangs to be sexually abused. The threat has led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Iraqi homosexuals now seeking...

There is some serious re-evaluation of priorities in parts of the U.S. and European intelligence communities as to the who now poses the greatest strategic threat to the West-al Qaeda or Hezbollah. Hezbollah has publicly emerged in recent days the premier military force in Lebanon, able to act with relative impunity while the army stands by. But perhaps more importantly, Hezbollah has now become a public target of al Qaeda, as Osama bin Laden has explicitly stated in his most recent audio tape. Bin Laden singled out by name Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, whose 2006 war against Israel boosted...

Mike Fumento was a guest on the Mike Rosen show on 850am KOA here in Denver Wednesday (Nov. 23rd) to talk about his recent October 2006 trip to Ramadi, Iraq. Mike talks about the REAL story from the one of the most dangerous places in the country. Rosen Replay 11/22/06 10-11AM (about 45 minutes, MP3) Guest: Mike Fumento, journalist for "The Weekly Standard" talks about his latest article, "Return to Ramadi."Click here for part one of the interview Rosen Replay 11/22/06 11-11:45AM (about 30 minutes, MP3) Mike Fumento continued. Click here for part two of the interview --- Mike Fumento's...

Iran could build a nuclear weapon within "days" once it completes plans to beef up its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, a State Department official said Wednesday. "Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges," Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days." Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, appeared on Iran's state-run TV network to announce plans for "industrial scale" uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at the Natanz facility, according to...

U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a secret Iraqi detention bunker run by the Ministry of Interior in central Baghdad and freed 173 Sunni prisoners who had been tortured with electric shocks and drills, Iraqi and U.S. officials said yesterday.

Pakistan's sectarian monster By Amir Mir The sectarian war between Pakistan's Shi'ites and Sunnis is bloody and deadly. Available figures indicate that between January 1989 and May 31 this year, a total of 1,784 Pakistanis were killed, and another 4,279 injured in 1,866 incidents of sectarian violence and terror across the country. This averages out to more than 100 persons per year over the past 17 years, with no end in sight. And there are some indications that the trends may worsen. Thus, 187 persons were killed and another 619 were injured in 19 incidents of sectarian violence in 2004....

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide bomber detonated his car Monday at the gate of the home of the leader of Iraq's biggest political party, killing 15 people and injuring dozens, police said. The cleric was unharmed. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq - the country's most powerful Shiite political group - was in his residence in Baghdad's Jadiriyah district when the attack occurred, said his spokesman, Haitham al-Husseini. The blast, which shook the district and sent a cloud of smoke high above the area, killed 15 people and injured at least...

Najaf (AsiaNews) - The moderate Shi'ite Imam, Sadreddin Al Kabbangi, was very clear today in his words criticism of Shi'ite fundamentalists at the Mosque of the Mausoleum of Ali in Najaf. This was his first address following the attack he suffered last Friday and the first since the formation of the new Iraqi government. The Imam was very critical of Shi'ite clerics in Iran and said "the Shi'ites of Iraq are being invaded by Baathists and Wahhabis." Raising the tone, the moderate Imam called on the Shi'ite faithful to make themselves be heard. "What is the point of your silence...

"...Fighting around Najaf U.S. forces launched a major operation in southern Iraq late Tuesday, taking over the office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Diwaniyah, a town along the Euphrates River about 40 miles east of the holy city of Najaf. It was the biggest operation against al-Sadr's militia since the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived in the region in force last week, military officials said. They said an AC-130 gunship fired 40 mm rounds on the building. The military said its reconnaissance indicated more than a dozen militia members armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades were inside. The...

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Armed men continued to besiege the home of Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Sunday giving him until Monday to leave the country or face attack, aides to the cleric claimed. The stand-off is a worrying sign of volatility and religious strife among Iraq’s majority community and raises concerns of national unity in post-war Iraq. Tensions are rising among Najaf's Shia community Kuwait-based Ayatollah Abul Qasim Dibaji accused Jimaat-E-Sadr-Thani, led by Moqdada Sadr, of trying to take control of the holy sites of Iraq. “Armed thugs and hooligans have had the house of Ayatollah Sistani under siege since...

The port of Umm-Qasr, the main Iraqi exit to the sea, has begun to evolve into some kind of symbol of resistance. For the past four days, continuous fighting has been taking place in the city. Every day has ended with an optimistic report that the city is in U.S. hands, only for it to emerge the following day that the battles there are still ongoing. Similar reports have started to come in about Nasiriyah and Basra - that "they are under control." These reports are not fictitious. Rather, they are partial. The cities are under external control but not...

‘Does this please Imam Hussein and his followers who died with him in Karbala?’ Many mourners refused to heed calls from parties and clerics to donate ­ not spill ­ blood to remember the Prophet’s grandson Some tens of thousands of Shiites re-enacted the slaying of Imam Hussein at the battle of Karbala, 13 centuries ago during bloody Ashura commemoration across the country Thursday. Ashura is the culmination of 10 days of mourning, beginning at the start of the Islamic month of Muharram, for the 7th century death of Imam Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who...