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British military officers have held secret talks with leaders of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, according to the country's president. Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said British officers played a key role in talks between his government and insurgent groups President Jalal Talabani was a Kurdish guerrilla leader but now he fights for national unity In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, President Jalal Talabani said British officers played a key role in talks between his government and insurgent groups over reducing the sectarian violence that has torn the country apart. The parties were now on the verge of an historic...

By Spc. Rick Rzepka124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Two Iraqi 4th Army Division Soldiers stand guard outside FOB Dagger prior to their division assuming security responsibility from the American 101st Airborne Division. Department of Defense photo by Spc. Rick Rzepka. TIKRIT -- The Iraqi Army took an important step forward Aug. 8 by marking the halfway point for division headquarters to take the lead for security operations throughout the country. The 4th Iraqi Army Division assumed control of their area of responsibility, encompassing regions spanning three of Iraq’s northern provinces, Salah Ad Din, Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk provinces. Its area...

Are there really more hurricanes? 06 June 2006 NewScientist.com news service AS THE season for hurricanes cranks up, so do the arguments about what is causing them. Now a meteorologist claims that the apparent increase in recent years - blamed on global warming - is an illusion. The supposed rise in hurricane frequency can be explained by better measurement techniques, says Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Klotzbach analysed the frequency and intensity of hurricanes over the past 20 years. The study that linked hurricanes to global warming used data going back over 35 years, but he...

SOUTH BEND -- Santa Claus is not being dispatched from the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. And people shouldn't give donations to a possible rogue Santa telling people he has been sent by the food bank. Nick Dalton, interim president and chief executive officer of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, said he took a call from an angry local business owner earlier this week. The business owner, whom Dalton did not name, was upset because a Santa, who said he was from the food bank, did not show up for a scheduled event at his business, Dalton said. The...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — About 2,000 sailors, veterans, community leaders and guests bowed their heads Wednesday in remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor that hurled the U.S. into World War II 64 years ago. Four F-15s flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard roared above the bay, including one jet that veered off from the group to symbolize the 2,390 people killed.

A children's picture book for conservatives whose villains include Hillary Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy has become the surprise publishing hit of the year. Sales of Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! have rivalled even the latest Harry Potter novel, with the book racing up the best-seller charts after it was published two weeks ago.

Is there more than a whiff of truth about Gallic charm? By Kim Willsher in Paris (Filed: 09/10/2005) It is one of the most enduring and insulting of national stereotypes: the Frenchman as a workshy character whose unpleasant body odours owe as much to his aversion to soap as to his love of garlic and onions. The French dismiss such talk as no more than cruel caricature, dreamt up by their beer-swilling, overweight and perfidious English neighbours. Now a leading French journal has produced figures suggesting that it may be closer to the truth than anyone – except perhaps rush-hour...

How many articles are posted nowadays? I just don't have the time to keep up with all of them. Seems like there's twice as many now as last year.

The Air Out There Hugh Hewitt Fri Aug 5,12:06 PM ET Washington (The Daily Standard) - WHAT DID AL FRANKEN KNOW, and when did he know it? When Air America launched last year, it was the beneficiary of more free publicity than any radio show or network launch had ever received. So desperate was the mainstream media to find some left-leaning response to the Limbaugh-led revolution in talk radio that the many and obvious flaws in the network's offerings went largely unreported. Those of us who have been around radio studios for a few years know, though, that launch hype...

Israeli rock/folk singer Ariel Zilber, who moved to the Gaza Coast in solidarity with the Jews of Gush Katif, was a guest on Israel National Radio’s "The Beat with Ben Bresky" today. Zilber had just returned from his weekend home in Elei Sinai, a Jewish community, home to residents with a wide range of Jewish observance. “On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I live in Natat, in the Galilee,” said Zilber - “near the Hizbullah. And on Thursday I travel to Elei Sinai to spend the weekend with the people of Gush Katif.” The veteran Israeli pop-music icon is known...

EVERY other Sunday afternoon since April 2003, advocates of animal rights have gathered with bullhorns across from 279 Central Park West, near 88th Street. They are there to protest Huntingdon Life Sciences, a product-development company that does scientific tests on animals, and its chief executive, Andrew Baker, who lives in the building. Or does he? Months ago, residents heard that he had moved out. And so, they wonder, why don't the protesters stop? "Someone would first of all have to provide really good proof that he's not in the building," said Camille Hankins, who organizes the events for the group,...

I am starting a grammar thread at the behest of Xenalyte and TheMom. Post your most irritating pet peeves of grammar or usage here.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

I'm just so happy that there are no more polls to watch, I had to post this one!

To All: First of all I posted something that appeared to be in favor of our President. As far as the validity of the story, well that has to be approved or disproved. I didn’t think that by posting this story would generate such negative feelings against me. As far as the one who called me a coward I beg the differ with you My posting some of my reply’s was not to hide my comments but to reply directly to the individual without getting everyone else involved that shared other than negative opinions .I did not deserve all the...

Why there will always be a need for men By Steve Jones Professor of genetics, University College London Superhero or zero? Professor Jones says men are indispensable If the 21st Century belongs to women, could men become extinct? It's the question raised in this week's BBC Two drama documentary If... women ruled the world? Professor Steve Jones explains why, in spite of the rumours, men are biologically hard to get rid of. One of the biggest questions in biology is: what is the point of men? Why do women let them get away with it? All they do is force...

<p>THE HAGUE - Dutch mariniers in Iraq has found grenades of which the cargo is not clear. The ministry of defence in The Hague does not exclude that possibly talk is of grenades with a chemical or biological cargo.</p> <p>If that proves be this way, it the first time would be that has been found there in Iraq such weapons. It concerns ten artillery grenades which were discovered on 8 October in the province ash Samawah, the area where operate the mariniers. According to the zegsman the projectiles saw?anders there? from then normal and it concerns grenades?waarvan the cargo unclear is.</p>

It seems we have unleashed yet another bit of bastardized English; this one is "my bad".

Tonight: Audrey Pauley Doggett and Scully look for answers that will save Reyes' life after she is injured in a horrible accident.Yet Reyes is also fighting to stay alive in the Netherworld between life and death.Upcoming episodes include: Underneath Scary Monsters Improbable Jump the Shark William Release untitled 9X18 The Truth