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Hijabbed security guard frisks nun (thanks to all who sent this in). Of course there should be random searches, and no one should be exempt -- if any group is exempt, its dress will soon be adopted by the terrorists. But there is an absurdity to this photo. And a hint that maybe we would do better devoting our resources to searching those who are more likely to be threats -- were that not so politically incorrect.

BEIJING (AP) -- U.S.-based toy giant Mattel issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified. The gesture by Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, at which Li upbraided the company for maintaining weak safety controls. Toy inquiry reveals more recalls to come Video More video India's infrastructure has undergone dramatic change in the last few years. Fortune takes you inside this country's sudden...

Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday. John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them. "Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians...

16 September 2007Cameron loses room to Muslims By Nigel Nelson David Cameron has been forced to give up a Parliament room so Muslims can pray in it. Commons officials took Conference Room H off the Tory leader, who used it for secret MP briefings. The move angered secretaries in the next-door office. One said: "We work on a lot of confidential material and we don't know who will be going in there." The room will be used by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Kahn said it was an "excellent" idea, and joked: "David is...

The story of the week wasn't Gen. David Petraeus' testimony on Iraq, although it dominated the headlines. The story of the week wasn't the sixth return of Sept. 11 since the jihad atrocity of 2001, although it inspired many public statements and ceremonies. The week's biggest story garnered little press and few comments. But, in a significant way, this overlooked story -- an outrageous display of police force in Brussels on Sept. 11, 2007 -- symbolizes the missing link in our flawed comprehension of both Iraq and Sept. 11. There, in the so-called capital of Europe, 200 people marked the...

Police Brutality Videotaped at Belgian 9/11 Peaceful Demonstration Against "Islamization of Europe" Pro-life, pro-family politicians of Flemish independence party especially targetted By John-Henry Westen BRUSSELS, September 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A September 11 demonstration against the "Islamization of Europe", where protesters planned a moment of silence to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy in the United States, was banned by the Socialist mayor of Brussels Freddy Thielemans claiming he feared "chaos and security threats".  Despite the ban, over 200 Belgians went ahead with a peaceful demonstration and joining them were the several prominent pro-life politicians. What then transpired is something reminiscent of...

Senate Republicans don't seem to know how to declare victory and walk away from the table. If they continue to hold up the budget -- especially for non-budget issues -- after getting what they asked for in vetoes, the process implodes, negotiations will start from scratch, and we will likely lose the billions of dollars in reductions contained in the bill passed by the Assembly. Schwarzenegger has worked very well with Republicans on such issues as reforming workers' compensation, cutting the car tax, building prisons, increasing the water supply and protecting the "three strikes" law. He has worked equally well...

Hostage Crisis: It's hard to say what was more troubling about the latest ordeal — Iran's immoral and illegal seizure of 15 British sailors or the fond farewells the ex-hostages bid their captors. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize, particularly someone who's been through a grueling ordeal. And that certainly describes what Britain's sailors went through. That said, the reactions of those sailors — and indeed, of the British government — during the whole crisis was distressing. Is this all that's left of Britain's once-famous martial spirit? Let's hope not.

JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet on Monday approved the removal of 27 Israeli roadblocks in the occupied West Bank, a move officials said was meant to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has been under U.S. and European pressure to take steps that could help strengthen Abbas of Fatah after he called early elections against his Hamas rivals. Israel says its checkpoints and unmanned roadblocks -- usually piles of rubble on roads linking towns or villages in the West Bank -- are meant to prevent militants from launching attacks, while Palestinians call them collective punishment....

Many in the West are congratulating Pope Benedict XVI’s recent trip to Turkey, where in the Blue Mosque he prayed facing Mecca and made other gestures meant to salve the wounds raised by his references to Islam’s history of violence. Personally, I found the whole scene a depressing exhibit of the West’s terminal failure of nerve, one particularly distressing given this Pope’s documented understanding that what we call the “war on terror” is in fact the latest episode in the centuries-long struggle with a militant Islam. In the Pope’s visit and the media response to it, we once again witnessed...

PM meets with youths in Nahariya, explains why Israel ended war before kidnapped soldiers were returned, says 'better they sit in captivity a little longer than more dead soldiers' Ronny Sofer Published: 12.04.06, 19:16 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sat down on Monday with high-school students from the northern city of Nahariya and answered some tough questions about the war. "We didn't know if they were alive and it is preferable that they spend a little more time in captivity than having more soldiers die," said Olmert when asked why Israel ended the war without receiving kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and...

On the morning after the mid-term elections, a humbled President George W Bush called it "a thumping".But yesterday he described the disastrous result for the Republicans, when Congress turned from Republican red to Democrat blue, as a "great opportunity". His aides were briefing that he now had the chance to build a domestic policy legacy and use his final two years in the White House to prove that politicians could get things done in Washington. After a White House coffee meeting yesterday, Mr Bush chuckled as Senator Dick Durbin, part of the new Democratic leadership in the Senate, joked: "I...

The neighborhood already is predominantly Islamic. From Detroit News:The Islamic Center of North Detroit has a purchase agreement with the Archdiocese of Detroit for Our Lady Help of Christians' five buildings, which tentatively are planned to be used for an Islamic community center, larger worship space and possibly a school. The conversion of the Detroit buildings, on the Hamtramck border, from church to Muslim center underscores how much the community's makeup has changed. Long-entrenched Catholic churches have had to downsize as their congregations moved to the suburbs and other immigrant groups moved in. Hamtramck and nearby Detroit neighborhoods flourished...

Chuck Noe, NewsMax.com Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 Bill Clinton ignored repeated opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist allies and is responsible for the spread of terrorism, one of the ex-president's own top aides charges. Mansoor Ijaz, who negotiated with Sudan on behalf of Clinton from 1996 to 1998, paints a portrait of a White House plagued by incompetence, focused on appearances rather than action, and heedless of profound threats to national security. Ijaz also claims Clinton passed on an opportunity to have Osama bin Laden arrested. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, hoping to have terrorism sanctions...

We've all known brave soldiers who fought courageously in multiple conflicts only to succumb to lingering and debilitating illnesses years later. Likewise, history tells us of nations that never lost a battle in combat only to die because they lost their sense of purpose, their will to survive. I think that's what is happening in Israel today. I think the Jewish state is terminally ill. Israel may have won three major wars in its 60-year history, but it will be lucky to survive another decade of morally bankrupt leadership. It's not just former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who is comatose....

Sat Aug 12, 9:55 AM ET CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush welcomed a U.N. resolution on Saturday aimed at stopping the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, saying the guerrilla group and its sponsors Iran and Syria had brought an "unwanted" war to the region. The fighting continued on Saturday, with the Israeli army saying it had started broadening its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday calling for a "cessation of hostilities" in the war between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah militia that has killed about 1,000 Lebanese and 123 Israelis and...

<p>President Bush welcomed a U.N. resolution on Saturday aimed at stopping the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, saying the guerrilla group and its sponsors Iran and Syria had brought an "unwanted" war to the region.</p> <p>The fighting continued on Saturday, with the Israeli army saying it had started broadening its ground offensive in southern Lebanon.</p>

People have very short memories. Most Israelis do not even recall the events that have led up to the rain of Katyushas and other missiles on Israeli civilians this past week. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon after a long wave of terror attacks on Israel. At first, the announced Israeli goal was to advance 40 kilometers inside Lebanon and drive all the rocket shooters from range of Israel. The operation, called "Peace for Galilee", enjoyed over 90% support from the Israeli public, including Israeli Arabs. The army actually advanced more than 40 kilometers. It eventually took most of Beirut and...

NEW YORK - Members of the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers, which is meeting at the United Nations in New York, agreed Tuesday to back a "temporary international mechanism" to channel aid to the Palestinians for a trial period to ease the financial squeeze on the new government following the election of Hamas. The Quartet members - the European Union, United Nations, U.S. and Russia - reached a "silent agreement" to establish a trust fund that will pay the salaries of Palestinian civil servants through the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Advertisement The group issued a statement...

G8 Summit: Russia to Propose Europe a Capitulation Simon Araloff, AIA European section At the July G8 Summit the Kremlin is going to present its "particular initiative of energy security". It refers to a proposal to create a vast Russian-German-Italian gas corporate group which will help Moscow to establish a "new order" in Europe. On the other hand, Russia hopes to finally bury the Polish idea of creating an "Energy NATO". The US reaction to such a demarche can be a breakdown of the G8... According to the information simultaneously received from sources in Warsaw and Bucharest, Moscow plans to...