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U.S. prosecutors have sent News Corp. a letter seeking information about possible payments made by its U.K. tabloid newspapers to British policemen, according to people familiar with the matter. The letter of request, sent last week, is part of a Justice Department investigation, these people said, into whether the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. law t hat prohibits companies from bribing foreign officials. The fact the Justice Department chose to issue a "letter of request" rather than a criminal subpoena suggests the department has opted for a less confrontational approach to the matter, legal experts say....

The income of the typical American family—long the envy of much of the world—has dropped for the third year in a row and is now roughly where it was in 1996 when adjusted for inflation. The income of a household considered to be at the statistical middle fell 2.3% to an inflation-adjusted $49,445 in 2010, which is 7.1% below its 1999 peak, the Census Bureau said. The Census Bureau's annual snapshot of living standards offered a new set of statistics to show how devastating the recession was and how disappointing the recovery has been. For a huge swath of American...

The September11 terror attacks in the US were staged to overcome disunity in al-Qa'ida, confidential computer records reveal. Alan Cullison reports on what happened after his laptop was wrecked while he was covering the combat in Afghanistan IN the autumn of 2001, I was one of scores of journalists who ventured into northern Afghanistan to write about the US-assisted war against the Taliban. After losing use of my computer in an accident, I scrawled stories by candlelight with a ballpoint pen and read dispatches to my editors at The Wall Street Journal over a satellite phone. When the Taliban's defences...

On the Trail Columnist John Fund analyzes the impact of today's downbeat economic news on the President's re-election chances(Video at link).

HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said Thursday that Israel should follow U.S. President Barack Obama's recommendation of an independent Palestinian state based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. In an interview with the Fox Business Network, Prince Alwaleed said Obama's plan, which was set out Thursday, was "straight to the point," and that for Israel "to be in peace with the Arab world, it has to abide by the roadmap Obama has established today." The Saudi royal also said that Obama's "wait-and-see" approach towards the revolts that have shaken Egypt, Libya, Syria and...

The Texas congressman announced on "Good Morning America" that he is launching an official campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. As the founding father of a libertarian movement that paved the way for the tea party, Mr. Paul thinks his odds have improved since his last campaign in 2008. He said people are finally “agreeing with much of what I’ve been saying for 30 years. The time is right.” What do you think? Could Ron Paul be the nominee?

Mitt Romney wants to become America's next president. He's been very successful, according to a number of reports, at raising millions on Wall Street. But the paper named after it, the Wall Street Journal, isn't satisfied with Romney. In a lengthy and extraordinary editorial, it calls him the worst epithet a conservative could probably think of—"Obama's Running Mate." When a political party is out of power, or at least doesn't hold the presidency, numerous dissenting voices are usually heard. It can be a fructifying time. But it can also be a time when ideological agendas are ruthlessly enforced. The Journal...

It's no secret that one of Mitt Romney's biggest vulnerabilities is the fact that he invented RomneyCare in Massachusetts, thus paving the way for the detested Obamacare. What is surprising is that the WSJ -- which you'd think might overlook that in Romney's case, given their general common ideologies -- would pulverize him on the subject. That's exactly what they've done tonight, on the eve of his big healthcare speech, basically branding him has un-credible and self-serving. They say RomneyCare has been a mess, but that really, up until recently he was bragging about its success. What's more, his new...

The sub-headline indicated )"Improvements in Security Are Cited in Renewed Push for Immigration Legislation.". Ah, ok. We know from Obama's auto-biography that in order to inoculate himself years before his run for President, he cleverly wrote that he "experimented" with cocaine. He didn't elaborate upon what constitutes "experimenting" or of what variety - but from his outrageous contention that there have been -IMPROVEMENTS- in the border and his push to bribe law breakers for votes - just as he bribes union members to the detriment of the rest of the nation, a number of things become lucidly clear: 1. The...

Yesterday, when we posted the full original letter submitted by True Finns leader Timo Soini titled "Why I Won't Support More Bailouts" as presented by the Wall Street Journal in verbatim, we were surprised that the WSJ, traditionally the bastion of various Fed interests (a topic previously dissected in "On The New York Fed's Editorial Influence Over The WSJ"), would allow such a truthy letter to appear on its pages. Today, courtesy of Karl Denninger who pointed out something glaringly disgusting, we were forced to look again at the letter as it now appears on the website of the WSJ....

Those who claim that we can disengage from Afghanistan now that the "emir" of al Qaeda is dead seem to assume the whole organization will disappear with him. It might, but it might not. President Obama has repeatedly provided superficial support for this view by claiming that our "core goal" in Afghanistan is limited to "disrupting, dismantling and defeating al Qaeda." No doubt he put the emphasize on al Qaeda because it is the terrorist group that most Americans worry about the most. But since 2001 it has never had more than a few dozen fighters at a time inside...

The Wall Street Journal, which turned down an offer to use the information gathered by Wikileaks, is launching its own venture that allows people to submit documents and databases to the paper's editors. The initiative, called Safehouse, asks the general population to help open "locked doors." "Documents and databases: They're key to modern journalism. But they're almost always hidden behind locked doors, especially when they detail wrongdoing such as fraud, abuse, pollution, insider trading, and other harms. That's why we need your help. If you have newsworthy contracts, correspondence, emails, financial records or databases from companies, government agencies or non-profits,...

Acura is paying for everyone to have complete access to the Wall Street Journal today. Enjoy.

There has been a lot of discussion concerning where the money really is on conservative blogs, the Wall Street Journal and the Rush Limbaugh show. I heard Limbaugh discuss the subject during his first hour yesterday and I thought his presentation was a bit confusing to listeners.

OPINION APRIL 10, 2011The Tea Party's First VictoryObama opposes spending cuts right up to the time he calls them historic.. This is getting to be a habit. President Obama ferociously resists tax cuts, trade agreements and spending cuts—right up to the moment he strikes a deal with Republicans and hails the tax cuts, trade agreements and spending cuts as his idea. What a difference an election makes. This is the larger political meaning of Friday's last minute budget deal for fiscal 2011 that averted a government shutdown. Mr. Obama has now agreed to a pair of tax cut and spending...

"An Open Letter to Fellow Conservatives" The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives--urged on by conservatives opposed to abortion--has voted to defund Planned Parenthood. On this issue, Republicans and conservatives are dead wrong. My grandmother was a friend and supporter of Margaret Sanger, one of America's earliest, most effective advocates of birth control. I met Sanger several times before her death in 1966 and was impressed b y her intellect and her commitment to many issues, not the least of which was enabling every woman to be "the absolute mistress of her own body" as she put it. I didn't agree...

Two decades after President George H.W. Bush abandoned his "read my lips" promise, some Republicans are chafing at their party's stand against new taxes. A few prominent GOP lawmakers believe they will have to raise some tax revenue if they are to bring Democrats along on a bipartisan compromise to address the U.S.'s long-term fiscal problems. Many Democrats want higher taxes to cover at least part of future budget gaps. That has led to clashes between Republican lawmakers and a Washington advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform, the self-appointed keeper of the party's anti-tax flame. Grover Norquist, the group's president,...

Accuracy doesn’t seem to be the media’s strong suite these days. It makes you wonder if these “journalists” are incompetent, lazy, or worse; pushing an agenda. We can only speculate the reasons, but the fact is undeniable. Take for instance, the reporting by both the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times from Governor Palin’s speech and Q&A session at the India Today Conclave today. Both of them state that the governor said the following while giving an answer to a question: “Free people that make up a free country don’t wage war on another country.” That is a direct...

The midterm elections turned into a referendum on the economy, the budget, and ObamaCare. Democrats lost their House majority and substantially weakened their Senate majority by spending the 111th Session ignoring the first, refusing to deal with the second, and spending about half of their time passing the third despite widespread opposition to the bill. Meanwhile, joblessness continued without much attention until the election rolled around, and the 9% jobless rate sealed the doom of Nancy Pelosi, if not Harry Reid.What will unemployment be at the next election, and how will it impact voters in 2012? The Wall Street Journal...

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority. Ms. Sampson got a layoff notice because the union leadership would not accept reasonable changes to their contract. Instead, they hid behind a collective-bargaining agreement that costs the taxpayers $101,091 per year for each teacher, protects a 0% contribution for health-insurance premiums, and...