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Several Islamic groups in Southern California sued the FBI on Tuesday to force the agency to release more documents about the alleged surveillance of individuals and local mosques following the Sept. 11 attacks. In May 2006, 11 Muslim leaders and community groups sent the FBI a Freedom of Information Act request asking for documents about suspected surveillance of them and sued after the bureau released just four pages, one of them largely blank. The ACLU, which filed the FOIA request and lawsuit, believes the FBI did not turn over all its is withholding information. The civil rights group said in...

Article Launched:09/14/2007 06:33:21 AM PDT LAS VEGAS—O.J. Simpson was questioned about a casino hotel room break-in involving sports memorabilia, police said Friday. The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said. He said the break-in involved sports collectibles, but he declined to elaborate. Simpson was released, but is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He is believed to be in Las Vegas. "We don't believe he's going anywhere," he said. The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor had been scheduled to give a deposition Friday in Miami in a...

Good evening. In the life of all free nations, there come moments that decide the direction of a country and reveal the character of its people. We are now at such a moment. In Iraq, an ally of the United States is fighting for its survival. Terrorists and extremists who are at war with us around the world are seeking to topple Iraq's government, dominate the region, and attack us here at home. If Iraq's young democracy can turn back these enemies, it will mean a more hopeful Middle East and a more secure America. This ally has placed its...

Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources. The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides...

Wow! This story is wearing me out! The editor of NewsRound, Sinead Rocks, speaks out about the outrage from Americans to her biased 911 guide for children in her Editor Section.Basically she takes back her apology and puts the offending passage back up. The way America has got involved in conflicts in regions like the Middle East has made some people very angry, including a group called al-Qaeda - who are widely thought to have been behind the attacks. In the past, al-Qaeda leaders have declared a holy war - called a jihad - against the US. As part of...

Microsoft has begun patching files on Windows XP and Vista without users' knowledge, even when the users have turned off auto-updates. Many companies require testing of patches before they are widely installed, and businesses in this situation are objecting to the stealth patching.Files changed with no notice to users In recent days, Windows Update (WU) started altering files on users' systems without displaying any dialog box to request permission. The only files that have been reportedly altered to date are nine small executables on XP and nine on Vista that are used by WU itself. Microsoft is patching these files...

Grammy award winning producer Quincy Jones, center, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., left, and country music singer-songwriter Brett James, right, join other recording artists on stage to sing "We Are the World" at the conclusion of the GRAMMY's on the Hill Gala Dinner and performances at the Williard Inter-Continental Hotel in Washington, Wednesday evening, Sept. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)No, your eyes were not fooling you Wednesday night: That really was Sen. Ted Kennedy onstage singing the 1980s do good/feel good/sounds awful song “We Are the World” alongside legendary producer and songwriter Quincy Jones, Rep. Marsha Blackburn and John...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig asked the Senate ethics committee Wednesday to reject a complaint based on the Idaho Republican's guilty plea in a police undercover operation in an airport men's room, saying the events were ``wholly unrelated'' to official duties. ``Assertion of jurisdiction over this matter by the committee would be literally unprecedented and would create deleterious consequences for the Senate as a whole,'' the lawyers wrote. The letter was hand-delivered to the ethics committee hours after Craig served notice that he was reconsidering his weekend pledge to resign his seat. Craig pleaded guilty last month...

SEATTLE -- Former Republican U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, who represented Seattle's conservative east-side suburbs for six terms in Congress, died Wednesday after suffering a pulmonary embolism in her Virginia apartment, said a statement from her family. She was 66. Dunn, a favorite of both Bush White Houses,...

NEW ORLEANS - Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the country cannot fail New Orleans again and that as president, he would keep the city in mind every day. "The words never again cannot be another empty phrase," he said in front of one of the few rebuilt houses he saw on a brief tour of the city's Gentilly Woods section. "It cannot become another broken promise." Obama is the first of several presidential candidates from both parties who are set to visit New Orleans in connection with the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday. President Bush also is expected...

Police in New Jersey are now under orders to ask suspects they arrest for serious crimes or drunken driving this question: Are you here legally? Setting a statewide policy where none existed, Attorney General Anne Milgram yesterday made immigration checks a routine part of police procedure, requiring state and local officers to notify federal authorities when they have reason to believe a suspect is in the country illegally. At the same time, the attorney general prohibited officers from inquiring about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or persons reporting a crime, so that unauthorized immigrants can come forward without...

Arthur Bremer, who shot and paralyzed Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1972, will be released from a Maryland prison this year. "It appears at this point in time that Arthur Bremer will be leaving the Maryland Division of Corrections sometime in late 2007," said Mark Vernarelli, director of public information for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. "He has served all of the sentence for which he can be held." Bremer, who turned 57 this week, is scheduled for release on Dec. 16 from the Maryland Correctional Institute-Hagerstown, said Rae Sheeley, a case management specialist at the...

HUNTSVILLE, United States (AFP) - A convicted murderer on Wednesday was put to death by lethal injection, in Texas' 400 execution since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Johnny Conner was pronounced dead at 1820 pm (2320 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with the lethal concoction. "What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken," said the 32-year-old African American in his final statement. "At the same time, I bear witness there is no God but Allah and the Prophet Muhammed. Unto Allah, I belong, unto Allah I return. I love...

Exposed boxer shorts and thongs would be illegal in any public place in Atlanta if the City Council approves a proposed amendment to the city's indecency laws. The target is young men who wear their pants low off their hips to show off the two pairs of boxers they wear beneath their saggy pants, said Atlanta Councilman C.T. Martin, a college recruitment consultant who sponsored the ordinance. Saggy pants are an "epidemic" that are becoming a "major concern" in cities and states around the country, the ordinance reads. "Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the...

Far as I can tell, it's a children's video that teaches a lesson while making fun of old media.

Police officers in New Jersey must now notify immigration officials about any undocumented person who is arrested in connection with an indictable crime, under a directive issued Wednesday by Attorney General Anne Milgram. The need for “a uniform state policy on notification” to immigration authorities became evident after a man identified as being in the country illegally was charged in a recent triple homicide in Newark, Milgram said during a news conference. “Some counties and local police departments do it all the time, some sometimes do it, and some never,” she said. That changes “effective immediately,” Milgram said. Milgram emphasized...

FBI Seeks Identity of Two Men Seen Aboard Washington State Ferries Wednesday, August 22, 2007 The FBI released photographs of two men Monday who have been seen on Washington state ferries "exhibiting unusual behavior" and asked the public for help identifying them. The agency's Seattle field office, along with the Washington Joint Analytical Center, was still seeking the men's identities and whereabouts Wednesday as ferry service was temporarily shutdown when a suspicious package was found in a ferry bathroom and taken away by authorities. "We had various independent reports from passengers and ferry employees that these two guys were engaging...

An explosion started a fire at the Baker Hughes Training Facility in The Woodlands Tuesday afternoon. Gene Shields with Baker Hughes says nearly 150 acetylene gas tanks caught fire on the back of a flat bed-- and it started a chain reaction, catching the others on fire.

CAMP DAVID, Md. - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told President Bush Monday he shares the U.S. view that there are “duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep” in Iraq. “Our aim, like the United States is, step-by-step, to move control to the Iraqi authorities,” Brown said, joining Bush at a news conference at this mountaintop presidential retreat. Brown hinted that a decision about British troop levels was coming soon, while assuring that such a determination would be based “on the military advice of our commanders on the ground,” thus echoing language often heard from Bush....

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, hit by accusations of shoddy and dangerous exports, sent its own message to Washington on Friday by announcing it had seized and killed a shipment of 41 U.S. homing pigeons. China has faced an international outcry over lax product safety, including toxic ingredients in medicine that killed patients in Panama and toothpaste made with an industrial solvent. While acknowledging serious problems, Beijing has accused international media of alarmism and pointedly blocked U.S. and European goods it said were also substandard. China's latest messenger in this tit-for-tat was a batch of 41 live pigeons shipped from the...

Most of the major Democratic presidential contenders will participate in a forum on gay issues next month, co-sponsored by a major gay rights advocacy group and a cable channel aimed at gays and lesbians. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Chris Dodd have agreed to appear in the live, one-hour forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 9. The program is the result of a joint effort by the Human Rights Campaign and the LOGO cable channel, which will broadcast the event. LOGO will also stream the forum live on its Web site.

The parent company of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food chains sued rival Jack In The Box Inc. on Friday to stop TV ads that it says suggest Carl's Jr. and Hardee's use cow anus to make Angus beef hamburgers. CKE Restaurants Inc. sued Jack In The Box in U.S. District Court on Friday over an ad in which executives laugh hysterically at the word "Angus" and another where the chain's pingpong ball-headed mascot, Jack, is asked to point to a diagram of a cow and show where Angus meat comes from. "I'd rather not," the pointy-nosed Jack replies....

Walter M. Schirra Jr., One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead Schirra Commanded Three Missions Leading to Moon Landings By NED POTTER May 3, 2007 Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., one of America's original seven astronauts, has died at the age of 84, said NASA. Schirra, said NASA, died of natural causes. Chosen from the Navy to become one of NASA's Mercury astronauts in 1959, Schirra went on to become the first man ever to make three flights in space. Schirra was a jovial man and a serious pilot. "Levity is appropriate in a dangerous trade," he once...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco Bay Area is bracing for what promises to be a traffic nightmare for weeks or months to come. A gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Sunday. The fire created such intense heat that a stretch of highway melted and collapsed. The truck's driver walked away with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported. Authorities say the damage will cause the worst disruption for commuters since the 1989 earthquake that damaged a section of the Bay Bridge itself. Transportation officials say they've already had added trains...

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that if she is elected president, she would make her husband a roaming ambassador to the world, using his skills to repair the nations tattered image abroad. "I can't think of a better cheerleader for America than Bill Clinton, can you?"

WASHINGTON---- Air Force Two carrying Vice President Dick Cheney struck a bird as the plane neared O'Hare International Airport on Friday. The aircraft landed safely. Mechanics checked the plane while Cheney spoke at the Heritage Foundation's annual leadership conference, but the incident did not delay his departure from the airport to return to Washington. ''A bird hit the right engine of the plane upon landing,'' said Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for Cheney. ''He was told after he delivered his remarks.'' At the conference, Cheney issued a scathing report card on Democrats in Congress. ''In Iraq, above all, the Democrats' attempt...

WASHINGTON — Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich will face off next week with Sen. John Kerry in a debate over climate change. The debate is scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Looks like one soldiers’ iPod came in handy as extra body armor. Coming soon, the iPods for soldiers fund. In addition, Apple could uparmor the troops with 60 GB iPod upgrades…

A FIREFIGHTER wearing a woman's wig and a string bikini has been charged with taking a drunken afternoon romp through a park. Steven S. Cole, a 46-year-old volunteer firefighter, told an officer he was on his way to a Dayton bar to perform as a woman in a contest offering a $10,000 prize, the arrest report said. In a photo released by the Mason City Police Department Steven S. Cole is shown dressed in the bikini and wig. Cole, 46, a Wayne Township volunteer firefighter has been charged with drunken driving, public indecency and disorderly conduct after being arrested, Tuesday,...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit dismissed a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the Defense Department from allowing the Boy Scouts of America to hold its National Jamboree every four years at Fort A.P. Hill in Fredericksburg, Va. The ACLU, suing on behalf of individual named taxpayers, had argued allowing the Boy Scouts to hold the event on public property is an unconstitutional establishment of religion, because the organization's membership is limited to those who believe in God. The ACLU points out the Boy Scouts require members to swear an oath to "do...

BAGHDAD - Four British soldiers - including two women - died Thursday in an ambush that Prime Minister Tony Blair called an “act of terrorism” and suggested it may be linked to Iran, forcing him to “reflect” on Britain’s relationship with the rogue regime. The deadly attack against the British patrol in southern Iraq was the greatest loss of life for Britain this year and came as the 15 British sailors illegally seized by Iran two weeks ago in Iraqi waters were returning home. Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported eight U.S. soldiers were killed in the Baghdad area over the...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Kirk Osborn, a lead defense attorney in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, died early Sunday, a fellow defense attorney in the case said. Osborn had a massive heart attack on Friday and died shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, attorney Joe Cheshire said. Osborn represented Reade Seligmann, one of three Duke lacrosse players charged in the case stemming from a dancer's allegation she was sexually assaulted at a team party. The players were originally indicted on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping, but Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong dropped the rape charges in December after...

LONDON - Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors who had boarded a ship suspected of smuggling cars in the Persian Gulf off the Iraqi coast on Friday, officials said. The British government demanded "the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment." The British Navy personnel were "engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters," and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels, Britain's Defense Ministry said. "We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and ... the Iranian ambassador has been summoned...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded about a dozen more outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target. Cheney's spokeswoman said he was fine, and the U.S. Embassy said the vice president later met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul before leaving the country. The blast happened outside the base at Bagram, north of the capital, Kabul. There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent black activist Al Sharpton has learned he is descended from a slave who was owned by ancestors of the one-time segregationist U.S. senator, the late Strom Thurmond, the Daily News reported on Sunday. The series of revelations came to light after the newspaper offered Sharpton a chance to delve into his family history with the help of genealogy experts from Ancestry.com. Sharpton learned of the connection this week, and told the News that "nothing -- nothing -- could prepare me for this." According to the genealogists' research, Sharpton's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was a slave in...

Russians are coming again, Tories warn By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor Last Updated: 1:16am GMT 19/02/2007 The Russians are using billions of dollars of oil profits to rearm, just as British defence chiefs prepare for cuts in the summer's Government spending review, the Conservatives have warned. Liam Fox, the party's defence spokesman, sounded the alarm about "the growing and accelerating rearmament in Russia" in a House of Commons debate. He claimed that President Vladimir Putin's government is planning to spend $183 billion (£94 billion) over the next nine years — or $1.7 billion (£900 million) a month — on its...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007 – Jorge DeLeon may have lost a leg in the war, but he never lost a desire to serve his country. Two years after his military aspirations were crushed by an anti-tank mine, DeLeon is back in Army service – this time as a Department of Defense civilian. Jorge DeLeon operates a radio at the Fort Sam Houston Police Department. DeLeon is the second Department of Defense employee hired at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, under the Army Wounded Warrior Program, and the first amputee. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The former sergeant...

Fourteen members of an advisory board at the Carter Center resigned today, concluding they could "no longer in good conscience continue to serve" following publication of former President Jimmy Carter's controversial book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." "It seems that you have turned to a world of advocacy, including even malicious advocacy," the board members wrote in a letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "We can no longer endorse your strident and uncompromising position. This is not the Carter Center or Jimmy Carter we came to respect and support. Therefore it is with sadness and...

Kyodo News agency reports that a US submarine and Japanese ship have collided in the Arabian Sea, citing unidentified government official.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somalia government soldiers, joined by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, advanced toward Somalia's capital Tuesday as Islamic fighters dug in and promised a "new phase" in the war - a chilling pronouncement from a movement that has threatened suicide attacks. Somalia called on the Council of Islamic Courts militias, bloodied by a week of artillery and mortar attacks, to surrender and promised amnesty if they lay down their weapons, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. As many as 1,000 people may have been killed and 3,000 wounded in the fighting, many of them foreign radicals, Ethiopian Prime Minister...

War Of Words Erupts Over Miss USA Controversy NEW YORK -- The Miss USA partying episode has led to a war of words between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump. O'Donnell told her audience on ABC's "The View" Wednesday that Trump's news conference Tuesday with Miss USA Tara Conner had annoyed her "on a multitude of levels" and called him on his own personal misgivings. "Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America," O'Donnell said, as the audience erupted in laughter. "Donald,...

Appalachian State defeats UMass to repeat as I-AA champs Photo Wire Masshchusett's Mike Thomas (32) celebrates a touchdown with teammate Steve Baylark (5) during their 1-AA... (AP Photo/Wade Payne) · View Photo · Photo Gallery Team Stat Comparison 1st Downs 24 19 Total Yards 431 372 Passing 146 221 Rushing 285 151 Penalties 3-15 2-25 3rd Down Conversions 7-14 5-12 4th Down Conversions 2-2 1-1 Turnovers 1 2 Possession 33:10 26:50 Individual Leaders Appalachian State Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT Edwards 12/19 146 0 1 Massachusetts Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT Coen 20/33 221 1 2 Appalachian State Rushing CAR...

24-7, San Francisco. Sure, Frank Gore had an incredible game. But ... Oh, dear sweet God we're de-peaking at just the right time!

Hard pounding, gentlemen: but we shall see who can pound the longest.- Arthur Wellesley. Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo by Bill Levinson Editor's note: The difference between 400 GB and 800 GB of “bandwidth” per month at my service provider is about $10/month. GB is GIGA-bytes. A gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. An average blog/message board web page is 150 KB — 150 kilobytes. A kilobyte is 1000 bytes. So they’re saying the Democratic Party, with millions in its war chest, can’t spend $20.00 over the next two months for 5,333,333 (that’s 5.3 MILLION) page hits? Yeah,...

Seeds 200 years old breathe again By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website The unknown acacia species is now half a metre tall Seeds which have been stored away since the time of George III have been persuaded into new life. Scientists from the Millennium Seed Bank, operated by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, have induced seeds from three species to germinate. They had been brought to Britain from South Africa by a Dutch merchant in 1803, and were found in a notebook stored in the National Archives. Given this history, the team said it was surprised by...

President Hugo Chávez suggested in a recently broadcasted speech that the US Government itself planned the terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. The ruler lashed out again at Washington due to the subsequent US incursion into the Middle East in retaliation. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Women's Bank, the head of state said that the reason for the attacks is not clear yet, nor have the identity of masterminds been unveiled. The events, he stated, were "an excuse of the US empire to attack the world with more cruelty and fury,...

CAMP LIBERTY — “With unity and security, there will be prosperity,” said Col. Robert Scurlock Jr., 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division commander in a press conference Wednesday. Another way to improve prosperity is to turn once dormant factories into bustling centers of activity again. Recently the Multi-National Division – Baghdad assessment team conducted a three-day visit of seven state-owned factories in Baghdad in a continuing effort, coordinated with Coalition forces and the Iraqi government, to help improve local industry. The goal of the operation is to increase the factories’ productivity, which will hopefully lead to an increase in...

At the beginning of Jill Carroll's 82-day captivity by Al-Qaeda terrorists she recalls asking for a quick death by pistol rather than beheading. "I don't want the knife", said Carroll to her kidnappers. She feared that they would execute her when she found out they were to use her in a second propaganda video. Her pleas seemed to have confused them, because they said they didn't plan on killing her. She said in an 11-part series at the Christian Science Monitor where she is a staff writer, how terrified she was during her captivity. She says that they were very...

My chief captor had an idea about how to prod the U.S. government into action: another video. He said this one would be different, and left. I turned to the two guards sitting on cushions a few feet away and started to panic. Really, really panic. "Oh my God, oh my God, they're going to kill me, this is going to be it. I don't know when but they're going to do it," I thought. I crawled over to Abu Hassan, the one who seemed more grown-up and sympathetic. His 9mm pistol was by his side, as usual. "You're my...

Heat Waves Follow Hottest Six Months on Record With record-breaking heat around the country, fish--and the people that love to catch them--are suffering. Not only is the fun of sitting out in the summer sun on a boat, on the shore or standing in a river beginning to lose some of its appeal, but these high temperatures are also stressing out fish, prompting midday fishing bans (in Montana), bass that won't bite (in Florida), and potentially later and smaller salmon runs (in Oregon and Washington). This summer's heat is coming on the heels of an announcement in July from the...