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[Israel's Minister of Economy Nir] Barkat, in an interview with the Daily Mail, warned that Israel would view an escalation in Hezbollah's actions as an attack by Iran. "The plan of Iran is to attack Israel on all fronts. If we find they intend to target Israel, we will not just retaliate to those fronts, but we will go to the head of the snake, which is Iran," he said. Barkat threatened "we are going to make sure they pay a heavy price if, God forbid, they open the northern front." "Lebanon and Hezbollah are going to pay a heavy...

The Russian military targeted the major oil refinery in the central Ukrainian city in a series of strikes, including "high-precision long-range and sea-based weapons," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told CNN. The strikes destroyed storage facilities holding gasoline and diesel fuels for Ukrainian troops in the country's eastern and central regions.

France cancels DC gala in anger over Biden sub deal: report © SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images French officials on Thursday canceled a gala at the country’s Washington D.C. embassy over the Biden administration’s decision to scrap a $40 billion nuclear submarine deal that the European nation had signed with Australia, The New York Times reported. The U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom on Wednesday announced a new trilateral security partnership in the Indo-Pacific, with the three planning to launch an 18-month review exploring how Australia could best acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

LANTANA, Fla. - An ethics panel has found probable cause against a Florida mayor accused of soliciting sex from a resident in exchange for installing speed bumps in her neighborhood. In her January complaint to the commission, Catherine Padilla said Stewart promised the speed bumps she wanted as a safety measure would be approved if she had sex with him.

Moscow is preparing a list of U.S. officials it will ban from Russia in retaliation for a White House policy to keep Russian human rights abusers out of the U.S. Russia's Foreign Ministry this week began preparing a list of officials connected to the U.S. apprehension of suspected arms dealer Viktor A. Bout and convicted drug dealer Konstantin Yaroshenko, according to reports in the Russian press. The State Department last month announced that it has a list of Russian officials connected to the 2009 slaying of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who would be denied visas to visit the United States...

The German government has accused Fiat-Chrysler of building emissions cheating technology into some vehicles... Affected vehicles deactivated their storage catalytic converters and exhaust recuperation systems after six test cycles or a 22-minute delay -- two minutes longer than the standard length of an emissions test -- resulting in NOx emissions "9 to 15 times higher than the legal limit", it said... Under EU law, each manufacturer earns approval from its national regulator, allowing it to sell vehicles Europe-wide. But critics say the system means that regulators can go easy on their own country's auto-makers. Berlin has been under pressure from...

The European Union’s financial services chief warned of tit-for-tat action if the United States pushes ahead with plans to impose extra capital requirements on foreign banks. In December, Federal Reserve Board Governor Daniel Tarullo said foreign banks should be required to hold as much capital as their U.S. counterparts, regardless of how their overseas parent companies are funded. The EU fears this will fragment global capital markets and its financial services commissioner Michel Barnier said big European banks were as well-capitalized as American banks. “I don’t want to be forced to do the same as the Americans,” Barnier told reporters...

In the aftermath of the bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, the Obama administration included an Iranian-American anti-Israel group in a White House meeting and characterized the terror attack as a “tit-for-tat” reprisal by Iran. Wednesday, officials from the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) attended a White House roundtable event for Iranian-American community leaders that featured Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s closest advisers. NIAC bills itself as an Iranian-American community organization, but its work focuses on softening U.S. policy toward Iran. It advocates removing sanctions on Iran and attempted to scuttle Dennis Ross’s promotion to an Iran...

The campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown said this morning that the Democratic candidate did not suggest calling Republican rival Meg Whitman a "whore" on a voicemail recording to the Los Angeles Police Protective League that was made public last night. Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford, however, said he didn't know who used the word in the recording. "Obviously, it's not the kind of thing people should say, and we've apologized for it," Clifford said. "It wasn't Jerry."

Buried in the details of the deal to close California's $19-billion budget deficit is a roughly $30-million tax break crafted to benefit a company owned by members of one of the state's richest and most politically influential families, according to a legislative analysis obtained by The Times. The provision, which will allow the Humboldt Redwood Co. to deduct $20 million in old losses from future taxes, is also expected to cover penalties and interest for the firm co-owned by three sons of Donald G. Fisher, founder of the Gap and Banana Republic, said company Chairman Sandy Dean. The tax break...

I never thought I’d see the day when I would be singing the praises of a cartoonist that works for a liberal pack of idiots like the ones at MSNBC. Well, strike me down but today is the day. Political cartoonist Daryl Cagle crafted this fine piece of art that depicts the Mexican flag, specifically the taco chicken in the center, as being shot to pieces. This is, of course, to reflect the fact that the drug lords are shooting up the place down there. What is truly ironic is that for once it’s not the American flag being desecrated...

Just sayin...

"Jack Hinson never planned to become a deadly sniper. A prosperous and influential plantation owner in the 1850s, Hinson was devoted to raising his growing family and working his land. Though a slaveowner, Hinson was opposed to secession. But after a unit of Union occupation troops moved in on his land and summarily captured, executed, and placed the decapitated heads of his sons on his gateposts, Hinson abandoned his quiet life for one of revenge. . ."

SHANGHAI, July 14 — China said late Friday that it was suspending imports of some chicken and pork produced in the United States after inspectors here found shipments that were contaminated with chemicals or bacteria. The government said it would immediately block imports from some of the United States’s biggest meat producers, including Tyson Foods and Cargill, and also strengthen inspections of American meat to guard against health risks. The decision appears to be a response to growing criticism in the United States of tainted Chinese goods entering the American market, including contaminated food and toothpaste...... ......China has fought back,...

John Kerry faces a basic problem in rebutting the new ads that question his Vietnam war record: the criticism in the ads sounds exactly like his own criticism from the 1970s, both his criticism of others (he had no problem smearing Vietnam veterans for political purposes in the 1970s) and the criticism he leveled at himself when asked in 1971 on Meet the Press if he had committed war atrocities.

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 10 — Democratic and Republican lawmakers criticized the Justice Department Thursday for failing to prosecute a French bank for its secret purchase of a California-based life insurance company a decade ago. Lawmakers speaking at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee also urged the Justice Department not to negotiate a lenient settlement with Credit Lyonnais, which California officials allege defrauded 300,000 insurance policyholders of the Executive Life Insurance Co. Although federal prosecutors in Los Angeles recommended indictments against Credit Lyonnais in April 2001, Justice officials apparently are in...