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The US federal government shutdown could have direct repercussions on the transfer of US aid to Israel, US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. "The impact of the shutdown could threaten our ability to provide foreign military financing to Israel and other important allies," Harf said. (Snip) In 2007, the two countries agreed on a 10-year, $30-billion military aid package covering the 2009-18 fiscal years. Total US foreign military funding was about $5.5 billion for more than 80 countries in 2011, according to State Department data. Harf said the State Department had not had to

The Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups has revived old fears about the agency’s vast taxing and auditing powers, so easy to abuse. But the IRS isn’t alone in holding those powers. Across the country, states and municipalities have endowed thousands of revenue and audit bureaucracies with similar capabilities. Critics complain that officials use these entities to harass enemies and help allies. The evidence makes clear just how well-founded those concerns are—especially since these agencies typically receive far less scrutiny than the IRS does. Under the administration of Democratic governor Bill Richardson, New Mexico’s labor department sparked controversy in...

The State Department review of the Benghazi terror attack let senior officials off the hook for the policy decisions that led to sub-standard security at the U.S. compound in eastern Libya, according to a draft House committee report obtained by Fox News. The nearly 100-page report concludes that the State Department’s internal review board -- called the Accountability Review Board, or ARB -- was flawed. The report by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee alleges the board’s probe was not comprehensive, its interviews were not thorough, and the investigation itself may have been damaged by conflicts of...

The living tissue inside an animal has been regressed back into an embryonic state for the first time, Spanish researchers say. They believe it could lead to new ways of repairing the body, for example after a heart attack. However, the study published in the journal Nature, showed the technique led to tumours forming in mice. Stem cell experts said it was a "cool" study, but would need to be much more controlled before leading to therapies.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki did not directly deny to reporters Wednesday that Benghazi survivors were being withheld from testifying before Congress, suggesting instead that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is mistaken to assume any of the survivors do want to testify. Psaki went on the defensive Wednesday when Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asserted that she was giving contradictory statements concerning the Benghazi survivors. Psaki said these survivors were still involved in the criminal investigation surrounding the attacks which happened a year ago Wednesday, and it would endanger the lives of the survivors and their families to reveal...

A law firm that champions religious freedom is standing firm with a Florida town threatened over its city seal by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The atheist group Americans United complains that the seal used by DeLand, Florida, happens to contain a cross. Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver tells OneNewsNow the complaint really illustrates the absurdity of groups like Americans United. Staver, Mat (Liberty Counsel)“This seal is part of the very founding seal of the city of DeLand. It's 131 years old,” says Staver. “No one has ever complained for 131 years until the Americans United for...

Los Angeles’ new mayor has vowed to help stanch the flow of film and TV production jobs out of Hollywood, starting with the appointment of a film czar at City Hall. But to make a real difference, Eric Garcetti needs to convince skeptical state pols to combat the lure of rich tax incentives from outside California. Two days after this year’s Oscars, Hollywood’s councilman Eric Garcetti, then running for mayor of Los Angeles, staged a media event at Sunset Gower Studios. Only a smattering of reporters and photographers showed up, perhaps because the gathering was to address “runaway production,” a...

Everyone knows by now, a mastery of social media is a necessity if you want to maintain a successful political campaign or career. Seemingly, social etiquette is absent in some social media as recent months have shown how a miss use of it can draw negative attention to yourself. Former U.S. Congressman, Anthony Wiener, is the most notorious example of how it can ruin a career. In 2011 he resigned his position after sexually suggestive tweets, sent to a 21 year-old woman, became viral and the targets of media fodder. And again, earlier this summer, while campaigning for mayor of...

This week, the State Department announced that, in "an important symbol of our enduring friendship with Benin," construction has begun on a new $178 million embassy complex in the small West African nation, a neighbor of Togo and Nigeria. As is often the case in the construction of new U.S. diplomatic facilities, the plans include a number of "sustainable" features including solar panels, rainwater harvesting, wastewater reuse, and LED lighting. The complex will cover 8.8 acres, and will include: a chancery/office building, a support annex, a residence for the U.S. Marine detachment, a warehouse, a utility building, a recreational facility,...

After the news that the four State Department employees who had been superficially and symbolically ‘held accountable’ following last September’s terrorist attack in Benghazi are now back at work at the State Department, House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa issued the appropriately scathing statement: “Obama administration officials repeatedly promised the families of victims and the American people that officials responsible for security failures would be held accountable. Instead of accountability, the State Department offered a charade that included false reports of firings and resignations and now ends in a game of musical chairs where no one misses a single day on...

The State Department is insisting that secretary of state John Kerry’s decision to reinstate four employees put on administrative leave in the wake of of last year’s Benghazi attack was the right call. A spokeswoman said that Kerry, after revewing the Accountability Review Board’s report on the attack and the “totality of the careers” of the four employees, determined that the the action taken against them was “not warranted.” “These are people with real lives, real careers,” deputy press secretary Marie Harf told reporters on Tuesday?. Asked who should be held accountable for the attack that resulted in the deaths...

The State Department issued a new travel warning Thursday afternoon calling on U.S. citizens to leave Egypt as soon as possible because of the military’s bloody crackdown in the country that has taken the lives of 638 people. Americans who choose to stay should avoid all demonstrations in Egypt, the State Department said, “as even peaceful ones can quickly become violent, and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse.” The U.S. embassy near Tahrir Square in Cairo was closed to the public Thursday after the Egyptian government Wednesday declared a nationwide state of emergency and imposed night-time...

The State Department could not say Tuesday whether the Obama administration considers the prisoners it has pressured Israel to release are guilty of any wrongdoing. Israel is set to release 26 Palestinians Tuesday who have been serving jail sentences for murder and terrorism. Asked whether the administration considers the prisoners to be terrorists, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “I do not have a position on that.” Asked whether the administration objects to the Palestinian Authority officially designating the murderers and terrorists as “freedom fighters” and “political prisoners,” the State Department spokeswoman answered repeatedly, “I don’t have a position on...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Fair on Monday imposed a lifetime ban on a rodeo clown whose depiction of President Barack Obama getting charged by a bull was widely criticized by Democratic and Republican officials alike. The rodeo clown won't be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again. Fair officials say they're also reviewing whether to take any action against the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for Saturday's event. The entertainment during the bull riding contest featured a clown wearing a mask of Obama with an upside down broomstick attached to his backside....

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki issued a press release denouncing the "enemies of Islam " following car bombings in Baghdad that appear to have been timed to target Shi'ite "festivities marking the end of Ramadan." Reuters reported that the bombings consisted of "twelve separate blasts targeting markets, busy shopping streets, and parks." The explosions killed almost 80 people. The August 10 press release on the State Department website reads: The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly attacks... in Baghdad. These attacks were aimed at families celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the...

The State Department on Tuesday ordered non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to leave the country following the threat by al-Qaida that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa. The department said in a travel warning that it had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Yemen "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks" and said U.S. citizens in Yemen should leave immediately because of an "extremely high" security threat level. "As staff levels at the Embassy are restricted, our ability to assist U.S. citizens in an...

The Muslim Brotherhood announced that it held a meeting with an American delegation on Saturday, including the U.S. ambassador reviled among the Tamarod movement for cozying up with the Islamists. “At the invitation of the Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, and in the presence of the U.S. Ambassador in Egypt and the European Union special representative Bernardino León, a meeting with the Anti-Coup, Pro-Democracy National Alliance was held in the Four Seasons Hotel, Cairo, at 11AM on Saturday, August 3, 2013,” Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on its official website. “We strongly reject foreign interference in Egypt’s internal affairs, and

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The 95-year-old resident of a Park Forest senior living community who died after a Friday confrontation with police was killed by the bean-bag rounds police fired at him, the Cook County medical examiner's office determined following an autopsy today. The Cook County medical examiner's office said that the cause of death of John Warna was hemoperitoneum – bleeding in the stomach area from blunt force trauma of the abdomen after he was shot with a bean bag gun.

<p>A proposal backed by several Colorado counties to form a new state called North Colorado is getting public support.</p> <p>More than four dozen people showed up Thursday at the first public meeting to discuss a proposal to form a 51st state. Nearly all of them said they support secession. The Greeley Tribune reports people from Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties are included in the discussion.</p>