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WASHINGTON — Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, president Joe Biden’s nominee to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned today that Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s high-profile blockade of military appointments will force the US military to “lose talent.” Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing for his impending role, Brown said in response to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that officials are “working to mitigate the challenges associated with the holds,” on hundreds of military nominations, highlighting impacts on readiness, leadership transitions and military families. Brown also underscored concerns...

Incirlik Air Base in Turkey has been placed on lockdown. The base is used by US, UK, Saudi and Turkish forces to run airstrikes against ISIS. The power at the base was reportedly cut off after the coup attempt Saturday morning in Ankara and Istanbul. And flights are grounded.The Erdogan government believes the air base was used to launch attacks during the coup attempt last night.Now this….Turkey is holding the US military hostage at Incirlik.  

The other day it was announced that a well known, mega-company discovered a new way to destroy antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. Using nanoparticle technology – which is 50,000 times smaller than a hair’s width – the company’s researchers were able to target an electrical charge on the bacteria’s surface, bursting the membrane open to bring about its demise. According to the Wall Street Journal, “if successful, [the discovery] would offer a fresh strategy against a worrisome public-health problem of possibly deadly bacteria evolving to become impervious to antibiotics.” Nearly 19,000 people in the U.S. each year die from...

(CNSNews.com) – On Tuesday, the office of First Lady Michelle Obama sponsored several conference calls featuring administration officials discussing Mrs. Obama's “Let’s Move!” campaign to combat childhood obesity but “with listen-only lines for the media,” according to The Washington Daybook. On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama personally conducted a conference call for “online media” that was “by invitation only,” according to the Daybook. Traditionally, conference calls that public figures in Washington, D.C. hold for the media--which, obviously, are designed to get media attention for the public figure--allow the reporters who join the call to ask at least a few questions.

President Obama on Wednesday blasted Senate Republicans for using "holds," a tactic that delays considering nominees -- even though as a senator he used the technique to block several of President George W. Bush's appointments. Speaking to Senate Democrats at their annual retreat, Mr. Obama complained that Republican objections have created "a huge backlog of folks who are unanimously viewed as well qualified" but who get held up because a senator is trying to force the administration's hand on an issue. As an example, Mr. Obama said his nominee to head the General Services Administration, Martha Johnson, is being held...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican senator is blocking the nomination of a top Environmental Protection Agency official over what he calls a flawed study of the climate bill recently passed in the House. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that the hold is unrelated to the qualifications of Robert Perciasepe, nominated to become the EPA's deputy administrator. Voinovich said the EPA analysis of the House climate bill fails to thoroughly review its impact on the economy.

NAIROBI, Kenya – The government of Kenya is holding WND senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi incommunicado at the airport until he departs the country after police shut down a scheduled news conference in which he planned to announce the findings of his investigation into Barack Obama's connections in the country. Corsi, the author of the No. 1 best-selling book "The Obama Nation," was picked up by authorities at his hotel at 9:45 a.m. and detained at Nyayo House, the provincial headquarters for Nairobi. "Just as we were about to start the 10 a.m. press conference at the Grand Regency Hotel...

...A senator can frustrate the will of the Senate by using a "hold," which allows any senator to block a vote on a nominee or piece of legislation. The practice is indefensible even when asserted on behalf of a worthy cause, and even when a senator is open, as Brownback was, about his obstructionism. Rooted in tradition and Senate rules that often require unanimous consent for business to proceed, the hold undermines the principle of majority rule even more than its procedural kissing cousin, the filibuster. Brownback's hold on Michigan Appeals Court Judge Janet Neff, who was nominated for a...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 – The northwestern suburbs of Chicago will hold a Freedom Walk on Sept. 9 to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to honor the nation's veterans, past and present. "We just really feel that on this five-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, it's extremely important that we honor, in a very visible way, the victims of 9/11, … our military and our police and firefighters," Dirk Beveridge, the event's lead organizer, said. The walk will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Metra train station in downtown Barrington. The walk will be...

Lebanon holds train bomb suspect German police released security camera footage last week A second suspect in last month's alleged plot to blow up German trains has been arrested in Lebanon, prosecutors in Germany say. They say Jihad Hamad, 19, turned himself in to police in the northern city of Tripoli. The other suspect, a 21-year-old Lebanese student, was arrested in the German city of Kiel last week. Two bombs were found on trains in Dortmund and Koblenz in late July. The devices failed to go off, police said. The bombers had intended to kill large numbers of people, police...

JERUSALEM - Israel said Tuesday that it holds the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in nearly two years and debated whether to target it directly as an "enemy entity" — even though the attack was carried out by a different militant group. Monday's blast outside a packed Tel Aviv fast-food restaurant killed nine civilians and wounded dozens during the Jewish Passover holiday, and troop reinforcements were deployed across Israel for fear of more attacks. The 21-year-old bomber, a West Bank university dropout, was sent by the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group. Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, warned...

France holds human bird flu drill The bird flu drill in Lyons tested the response of medical teams Authorities in France have staged an exercise to test the ability of the emergency services to cope with an outbreak of bird flu in humans. At least 10 EU countries, including France, have reported cases of the deadly H5N1 strain in wild birds. The French drill in Lyons came as the EU agreed to launch a public awareness campaign to ease fears about the virus. French PM Dominique de Villepin says France has "one of the most sophisticated plans in Europe". In...

Hill near Evros holds story of PlotinopolisDig suggests ancient settlement Part of a building excavated at Plotinopolis, the city founded by Trajan to honor his wife Plotina. Mathaios Koutsoumanis of the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities will discuss the excavation on Monday. Ever since the 1960s, the site where the hill of Aghia Petra rises between the Evros and Erythrpotamos rivers has been identified with the city of Plotinopolis. The Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) founded the city 2 kilometers from the Evros in honor of his wife Plotina. In 1965, soldiers digging a trench in the area...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Federal court appointments are being held hostage by the abortion issue, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday in advocating a briefer, less intrusive confirmation process. Speaking to law students at the University of Alabama, Thomas said former clerks and other lawyers often tell him they're not interested in federal judgeships because of the potential for bruising confirmation battles. "I think that's a problem when the stars are beginning to say, `Thank you, but no thanks,'" said Thomas. Thomas, who opposes the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, said the fight he faced during his own confirmation...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq hanged three convicted murderers Thursday, the first executions since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, the government said. Iraqi authorities reinstated the death penalty after the end of the U.S.-led occupation in June 2004 so they would have the option of executing Saddam Hussein if he is convicted of crimes committed by his regime. Saddam is expected to stand trial soon after the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, an official said Thursday. "At 10 a.m. in Baghdad, the first executions were carried out since the fall of the regime, against three criminals," spokesman Laith Kubba said....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The attorney for three Pakistani citizens held on immigration complaints criticized federal agencies Monday for suggesting they are part of an investigation into a Lodi man suspected of training at an al-Qaida terrorist camp in Pakistan and planning attacks in the U.S. "There is not a single item of evidence that any of my three clients has ever been involved in, or in any way associated with, any terrorist activity whatsoever," Saad Ahmad said in a letter to news outlets. "Further, we dispute the government's charges that any visa violations occurred." Ahmad represents two Lodi religious leaders,...

Rather got off too easy By Al Knight Denver Post Columnist Article Published: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 An independent panel's probe of the disputed Sept. 8 "60 Minutes" report on President Bush's National Guard service allows for only one conclusion: The program segment was an example of lousy, if not biased, journalism and most of the culprits responsible, especially CBS producer Mary Mapes, deserved to be fired. However, for reasons not yet clear, CBS anchorman Dan Rather was spared a similar fate. Although Rather has resigned his anchorman position, he will continue to work for CBS on both the Sunday...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of an independent panel investigating alleged corruption in the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq (news - web sites) rejected on Tuesday a request to immediately turn over evidence that he has gathered to U.S. congressional investigators. Former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Paul Volcker instead pledged to make virtually all the evidence public at his own pace, beginning early in 2005. Volcker, who leads the Independent Inquiry Committee on the scandal-ridden U.N. relief program, had been asked by two U.S. senators for immediate access to documents and U.N. witnesses for...

BOSTON - John Kerry (news - web sites) narrowly trails President Bush (news - web sites) in the battle for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, as he makes his case at the Democratic National Convention this week to topple the Republican incumbent. Tall hurdles remain in his path, including Electoral College (news - web sites) math that favors Bush. "It's a tough, tough map. I think it's going to be a close race," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who helped plot Al Gore (news - web sites)'s state-by-state strategy in 2000 and plays the same...

WASHINGTON - Of all the lines of defense that failed to stop the Sept. 11 attacks, the final one — military jet fighters — never really came into play. As the Sept. 11 commission wraps up its work, it will look into why. The panel holds its final two-day public hearing Wednesday and Thursday. The first day will be devoted to al-Qaida and the 9/11 plot and the second to whether the Pentagon (news - web sites) and Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) could have done more to limit the damage. One of two commission staff reports that...