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Obama started 44 minutes late, as usual. Praises Hillary, intros with talk of winding down war in Iraq and brags about killing Osama....

Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009 Memorandum for the Secretary of State By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the ``Act''), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee...

President Obama assured relatives and victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole that he is keeping an open mind about how to handle the approximately 245 detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, according to participants in an hour-long meeting yesterday at the White House. The president met with about 40 family members and victims, who hold different views on his decision to close the prison in Cuba within a year. The exchange, which was sometimes passionate but never acrimonious, left some who were deeply skeptical of the administration's decision...

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com: Charges Withdrawn Against Alleged U.S.S. Cole Bombing Mastermind [7:59 pm ET]

ABC News has learned that on Friday, President Obama will likely order the Department of Defense's Military Commission to withdraw charges against terrorist suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The charges may later be reinstated in a military commission or pursued in a civilian court. Al-Nashiri will remain in custody. The announcement will not be made until after President Obama meets with the families of victims of terrorist attacks on 9/11 and on the U.S.S. Cole, where he will assure them that this step is not being done to be lenient towards al-Nashiri. The move is being done to stop the continued...

Singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, released on Sunday a charity song whose proceeds will go towards assisting Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. The new recording of the song 'The day the world gets round', originally recorded by George Harrison, features Yusuf on vocals and Klaus Voorman, known to many as the fifth Beatle, on bass. The song can be dowloaded online at different rates and its proceeds will go towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and Save the Children to aid children and families in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA said in a statement. Yusuf...

(CNSNews.com) - Actress Susan Sarandon says that Egypt, Abu Dhabi and “the world” are impressed with the American people for selecting Barack Obama as their president. “I know just coming back from Egypt and Abu Dhabi and other places in Europe that the world is so happy that we’ve changed direction. They’re so hopeful,” Sarandon told CNSNews.com at The Creative Coalition’s post-inauguration dinner on Tuesday night. “They are as hopeful as we are, and they are really impressed with the American people that they have taken on this guy and that uh, he’s going to be – they hope, managing...

President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”. In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement. The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign statesman since taking office. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud...

An Israeli diplomat says it's unfortunate that during a time when the Jewish state is trying to defend its citizens from the terrorist organization Hamas, his government had to deal with the irresponsible behavior of former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Ambassador Reda Mansour is Consul General of Israel to the Southern United States. He says McKinney took it upon herself to commit an act of provocation when she led a small boat of supposed assistants into the combat zone to try to deliver medical supplies to Gaza. According to Mansour, McKinney endangered herself, her assistants, and the ship's crew. Her...

Former television star Roseanne Barr has denounced Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, labeling Israel a "Nazi state." .... Barr likened Hamas to "street gangs" in .... Watts, saying that Israel's military campaign is the "equivalent to Los Angeles attacking and launching war on the people of Watts to kill 'the Bloods' and 'the Crips.'"

December 30, 2008: Oh What a Day! I'm so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to write everything down because that's exactly what I did. When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me "are you afraid?" And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn't afraid; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't afraid. But little did I know that just a few hours later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself for death. When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful. I remember the time when it might have been...

Green Party presidential candidate, truther, and world-class crackpot Cynthia McKinney was attracted to the media buzz surrounding the drama in Gaza like a Kennedy is drawn to an appointed Senate seat. With the 60-foot yacht Dignity beneath her, the voluble Ms. McKinney accompanied a gaggle of Palestinian apologists and international members of the tin-foil hat-wearing, busy-body brigade on what was characterized in the compliant media as a “humanitarian mission.” As is so often the case with the confrontational American politician, her interests collided — this time with a vessel from the Israeli navy. Passengers on board the Dignity claimed that...

CNN's Christiane Amanpour has set a new standard - and not the kind a news network usually trumpets. God's Jewish Warriors, her two-hour screed against Israeli settlers and American supporters of Israel, is the most poisonously biased and factually shoddy feature to air on mainstream American television in recent memory. The August 21 broadcast was the first of God's Warriors, a three-part CNN series, ostensibly examining the role of people who want "God back in their daily lives, back to the seat of power." In actuality, the deeply false premise of the programs, established in the opening scene, is the...