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Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- The group of American missionaries in Haiti facing kidnapping charges for trying to take 33 children out of the country last week made an earlier, unsuccessful attempt at taking dozens of other children, a Haitian police officer said Monday. Laura Silsby, left, and two other members of her missionary group are seen after a recent court hearing in Haiti. The officer did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals. He told CNN that he had stopped the 10 Baptist missionaries, including group leader Laura Silsby, on January 26 as they tried to transport 40...

Angela Boneva, right, with her son Ryan Petrov, 7; her father, Steve Boneff, left; and her husband, Gueorgui Petrov. Angela Boneva always thought she was an American, never imagining that valued piece of her identity could be stripped away. Because her father was born in Indiana, an American consulate in Bulgaria bestowed U.S. citizenship on Boneva when she was growing up there in 1981. It granted Boneva privileges unavailable to her Bulgarian friends, allowing her to visit relatives in Chicago and then to move to the area in 1997. Boneva, now 34 and a married mother, settled into a quiet...

VIDEO OF INTERVIEW ON FOX NEWS HERE Fox News interviewing brilliant physicist Michio Kaku on a mystery object that is not a meteor, not a comet, and is about the size of the Rose Bowl. Some news organizations reporting it as a 'smashed asteroid' - but most scientists admit they are completely stumped.

The last member of a 65,000-year-old tribe has died, taking one of the world's earliest languages to the grave. Boa Sr, who died last week aged about 85, was the last native of the Andaman Islands who was fluent in Bo. Named after the tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to the pre-Neolithic period when the earliest humans walked out of Africa.Boa Sr, who died last week aged about 85, was the last native of the Andaman Islands who was fluent in Bo Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1248754/Last-member-65-000-year-old-tribe-dies-taking-worlds-earliest-languages-grave.html#ixzz0ekwV08rT Boa was the oldest...

Michelle Obama has earned accolades for making healthy living and eliminating childhood obesity a priority as first lady. But when it came down to personalizing the issue in relation to her daughters, the remarks touched a nerve with some, and praise from others. The first lady made the issue of healthy eating personal last week at an event in Alexandria, Va., where she kicked off a campaign addressing the issue of childhood obesity. "We went to our pediatrician all the time," Obama said. "I thought my kids were perfect -- they are and always will be -- but he [the...

Greek tax collectors and customs officers walked off the job on Thursday, kicking off a spate of strikes against government austerity cuts designed to halt a financial crisis caused by massive debt. Both groups embarked on a two-day walkout ahead of industrial action called by civil servants, doctors and Communist-backed workers on February 10 and a general strike called by Greece's main umbrella union on February 24. "We have already made sacrifices and will accept no more cuts," the chairman of the customs officers' union Argyris Sakellaropoulos told Flash Radio. The unions are on the warpath over a government austerity...

The charity anthem "We Are the World" has been rerecorded by 80 artists who came together in the same Hollywood studio where the original was cut 25 years ago. Pink, Natalie Cole, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Brian Wilson and others stood shoulder-to-shoulder on risers at Henson Recording studios Monday night to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief. "This one, the enthusiasm, I've never seen anything like it," said Lionel Richie, who wrote the original with Michael Jackson and oversaw the new version with music mogul Quincy Jones, 76. Jones, who produced the 1985 anthem, announced last week that...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will go before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday to unveil the Pentagon's plan for rolling back the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gay soldiers. During last week's State of the Union address, President Obama made clear he wanted a change. "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," he said to a healthy dose of partisan applause. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have been quiet on the matter...

Thousands of protesters from across Japan marched today in Tokyo to protest against U.S. military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to get rid of a marine base Washington considers crucial. Some 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, with more than half on the southern island of Okinawa. Residents have complained for years about noise, pollution and crime around the bases. Japan and the U.S. signed a pact in 2006 that called for the realignment of American troops in the country and for a Marine base on the island to be moved to a...

The U.S. Senate voted narrowly on Thursday to increase the government's borrowing authority to $14.3 trillion, which would allow the Treasury Department to continue servicing the country's spiraling national debt through most of 2010. Senate Democrats hope the 60 to 40 party-line vote will enable them to avoid another politically toxic vote on the issue before the November congressional elections. The House of Representatives will vote on the legislation next week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. It will then go to President Barack Obama and be signed into law. Congress must periodically raise the legal limit for the government's...

* Sanitary conditions deteriorate as survivors camp out * Thousands eat, sleep, wash and defecate in open camps * Health risks mount, emergency latrines needed PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A child squats to defecate yards away from a sidewalk where women press plantain into bite-sized pieces for frying and a naked toddler plays with a pile of rice on the filthy ground. Nearby, a dead body has been dumped on the street, right in front of a sea of morose people sitting on grubby mattresses, and a garbage collector uses a shovel to scoop up soggy black mounds of...

Federal immigration officials predict that up to 200,000 Haitians could apply for Temporary Protected Status, which would keep them from being deported. Applications will be accepted starting Thursday. achardy@ElNuevoHerald.com The Obama administration is preparing to handle applications from as many as 200,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants who want to live and work legally in the United States under a new immigration program unveiled last week in the aftermath of Haiti's destructive earthquake. The federal government will begin accepting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applications on Thursday, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency will process the paperwork....

Decatur, Georgia (CNN) -- Given all their country and people have been through, between political upheavals, human rights abuses, hurricanes, abject poverty and last week's earthquake, "If Haitians were constantly questioning their faith, they would all be atheists." These words came from the Rev. Eric Hill as he prepared to lead Haitian Mass Sunday at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia. Some of the 100 Haitian parishioners who gathered raised their hands to the heavens in praise, grateful their loved ones had been found. Others bowed their heads and clenched their hands for those lost, still missing...

VIDEO HERE A national police officer throws a tear gas grenade during riots Sunday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. UN peacekeepers patrolling the capital said violence is increasing. (RAMON ESPINOSA/Associated Press)

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton say the earthquake in Haiti offers a chance to put aside politics and help people in despair. Bush and Clinton appeared on five Sunday talk shows as part of their effort to lead private fundraising efforts for Haitian relief, including immediate needs and the long-term rebuilding effort. President Barack Obama asked them to lead the bipartisan effort. "I'd say now is not the time to focus on politics," Bush said in an interview taped Saturday for CBS'"Face the Nation" when the ex-presidents' visited the White House. "You've got people who are ......

Millions of Americans are outraged that bank officers get fat bonuses for making bad loans. But what is truly grotesque is how few people demand that these bankers go to jail for the crime of “reverse redlining.” “It is unthinkable that bank lending officers up and down the corporate chain of command might face criminal prosecution for ruining the lives of millions!” Wells Fargo, the biggest home mortgage lender in American banking, just paid back the federal government $25 billion in bailout money. That means Wells Fargo considers itself relieved of further obligations to the taxpayers that rescued the bank...

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1 David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J. David Muneton, an eighth grade honor student, needed reconstructive facial surgery after being savagely beaten by a gang of 11 students on Dec. 18, 2009, in Engelwood, N.J. Police said as many as 11 students beat up the eighth-grader leaving him severely injured, and he may even lose his sight. CBS 2 HD spoke with some of his friends about what led to...

<p>Prosecutors investigating Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton were prepared to seek indictments of them for their roles in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky affairs, an explosive new book about the former president's scandals charges.</p> <p>In "The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr," due out in February, author Ken Gormley also says that Lewinsky believed Bill Clinton lied about their affair during grand jury testimony about his relationship with the White House intern.</p>

President Barack Obama said the United States, China and several other countries reached an "unprecedented breakthrough" Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions - including a mechanism to verify compliance - after a frenzied day of diplomacy at the U.N. climate talks. The agreement, which also includes the developing nations of India, South Africa and Brazil, requires each country to list the actions they will take to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts, a senior Obama administration official said. The official described the deal on the condition of anonymity because specific details had not been announced. Under the agreement, the...

VIDEO HERE

WASHINGTON — A call from a flight attendant to the pilots of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis catapulted the cockpit crew from complacency to confusion. On Oct. 23, 2009 file image made from video and made available by KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., shows Northwest pilot Richard Cole at his home in Salem, Ore. Interviews with the flight crew and other documents released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board indicate the pilots were completely unaware of their predicament until the moment the intercom rang. They were unaware that they had flown their Airbus A320 with 144 passenger more...

(CNSNews.com) – Mark Lloyd, the chief diversity officer and associate counsel at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says he is not carrying out a “secret plot funded by George Soros” aimed at getting rid of conservative talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Lloyd, the keynote speaker at a Monday forum sponsored by the Media Access Project (MAP), also said that there was a “right-wing smear campaign” against him. "I am not a Czar appointed by President Obama," said Lloyd. "I am not at the FCC to restore the Fairness Doctrine through the front door or the back door, or...

Obesity is becoming more common among poor city dwellers in Africa because of easier access to cheap, high fat, high sugar foods, scientists said on Tuesday. Researchers looking at data from seven African countries found the number of people overweight or obese increased by nearly 35 percent between the early 1990s and early 2000s and the rate of increase in obesity was higher among poor people. "Given the chronic nature of most diseases associated with obesity and by extension the huge cost of treatment, the prospects look grim for the already under-funded and ill-equipped African health care systems unless urgent...

Editor's note: Silvia Henriquez is the executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, a nonprofit policy and advocacy organization based in New York and Washington that works on behalf of reproductive health interests of the nation's 15 million Latina women. When Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered her oath last summer, many women -- and especially Latinas -- felt renewed hope as a champion of women's rights took her place on the U.S. Supreme Court. With Democrats in the White House and both houses of Congress, we believed that we could stop playing defense and actually advance women's rights,...

Moments after pulling out of his driveway in the middle of the night, Tiger Woods drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree, causing injuries that sent him to the hospital to be treated. The investigation of that mysterious crash has moved much more slowly. Woods added to the suspense Saturday when for the second straight day, the world's No.1 golfer was unavailable to speak to the Florida Highway Patrol. State troopers are looking for answers about the accident in which the Windermere police chief said Woods' wife, Elin, used a golf club to smash out a...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As foreclosure casualties mount, the Obama administration is expected to announce additional steps on Monday to get long-term help for troubled borrowers. Under the new initiative, the government will provide more resources for borrowers and will partner with organizations to offer homeowners assistance, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said. The plan also calls for increased transparency and accountability on the part of loan servicers. The administration's move is its latest attempt to jumpstart its $75 billion loan modification plan, which many fear will fall far short of its goal to help up to 4 million delinquent homeowners.

The fate of healthcare reform in the U.S. Senate seems to be resting with these four women: Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. This new bipartisan gang of four could be key to removing the heavily partisan debate dogging the legislation. Even though I only agree with two of them, I'm thrilled to see women's growing power in national politics. It's something we've all wanted for some time. As the New York Times reported: When Senate Democratic leaders first went behind closed doors to complete...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama, officials said Thursday. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that Bragg's garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book promotion. He said the Army did not want the Monday event to become a platform to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief." "The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," he said....

Michael Savage is discussing the Fort Hood murders on his radio program, and told his listeners that the Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey, should be Courts-Martialed. On the Sunday talk show, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, General Casey made outrageous statements regarding the Fort Hood murders. See Video Here In defending the outrageous lapses in duty and judgment that preceded ignoring clear red flags that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had made treasonous statements, indicated he condoned the murder of US soldiers, and was capable of violence himself. On the ABC program, General Casey made this statement on national...

Washington (CNN) -- Foes of the House Democrats' health care bill rallied outside the Capitol Saturday afternoon, hours before what many of them anticipate will be a setback for their position -- approval of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill. "It may pass out of the House tonight. We do realize that," Jenny Beth Martin, event organizer for the Tea Party Patriots, said. "But there is the Senate still. And we are going to leave no stone unturned and fight the government taking over our health care." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, emerges from her offices Saturday on her way to...

Barack Obama cautioned a stunned public on Friday against drawing quick conclusions on a shooting rampage by an officer at a Texas military base that killed 13 people. The president made the comments as the commander of Fort Hood, the US’s largest base for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, quoted witnesses as saying the suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, shouted the Muslim declaration “Allahu Akbar” – God is great – as he opened fire. Speaking at the White House, Mr Obama said: “We don’t know all the answers yet, and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we...

The tale of the turbulent year since Barack Obama's historic election win is told by his evolving political theme: once he promised "Change We Can Believe In" and now he warns that "change is hard". On November 4, 2008, Obama bathed in the adoration of a crowd of tens of thousands in a Chicago park, after beating Republican John McCain to the presidency in an election that promised to reshape his nation. They chanted "Yes we can" on that clear hope-filled night in Obama's hometown, and tears streamed down thousands of cheeks as the president-elect proclaimed America was still a...

The housing market is so bad you can't even give away homes these days. Officials in suburban Barrington put three homes up for a sale at just a dollar a piece - a dollar! - and didn't get a single bidder. A dollar! Let's review: For less than the price of a CTA ride, a Starbuck's coffee, or the typical tip slipped under a stripper's G-string, you could have bought a home in Barrington. Sure, buying a house means assuming the future costs of upkeep, but a dollar! "Even if you're offering a house for a dollar, sometimes all...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says only once since Jan. 20 has White House life annoyed him. It was the Saturday in May when, trying to be a good husband, he kept a campaign promise to take his wife, Michelle, to New York after the election for one of their "date nights" - dinner and a Broadway play. Conservative commentators and Republican officials criticized him for doing so. "People made it into a political issue," Obama told The New York Times Magazine for an article about the Obamas' marriage, appearing in the Nov. 1 issue. The article was posted on...

Shortly before he took the reins of a government bleeding red ink and mired in ethical muck, Jon S. Corzine relaxed by tackling a different kind of challenge. It was Thanksgiving weekend 2005, after a hard-fought campaign and a couple of months before he would be sworn in to his new job. Corzine and the youngest of his three children went on an Aspen, Colo., getaway. But the slopes, Jeffrey Corzine recalled, were "unskiable." Yet Jon Corzine went all day, riding the toughest trails. Such determined gusto, according to his children, is typical. Jennifer Corzine-Pisani said her father would stumble...

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - Protesters brought some different songs Monday to an elementary school where students sang in praise of President Barack Obama, bringing criticism from conservative commentators who said children were being indoctrinated. About 70 protesters stood on a sidewalk across the street from the B. Bernice Young School waving flags and homemade placards, singing "God Bless America" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and chanting slogans such as "No indoctrination" and "Free children, free minds." A smaller group of counter-protesters watched and occasionally heckled them. The school is in a diverse suburb 15 miles northeast of...

Listen and watch HERE Related thread: Chaos erupts at Cobo as thousands jockey for federal aid (Obama "Stimulus" Giveaway)

Detroit -- The lure of federal cash assistance for needy Detroit families sparked pandemonium Wednesday at Cobo Center, as hundreds of city residents pushed, jostled and trampled others in a rush to apply for the aid. In a scene that spoke volumes about the despair of one of the nation's poorest cities, about 50,000 Detroiters descended on downtown to pick up 5,000 applications in hopes of enrolling in a federal program that pays a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to low-income residents to help pay rent and utilities. In fact, some 60,000 residents applied for the aid over...

DETROIT -- Detroit's homeless and low-income residents have another opportunity for a chance at millions of stimulus dollars. The money is available to help low-income residents from becoming homeless and homeless residents to find housing. Thousands of people lined up Tuesday. Some people in line falsely believed they were registering for $3,000 stimulus checks from the Obama Administration. City officials told Local 4 that Detroit was granted $15 million to help residents pay bills and their rent or find temporary housing for the homeless. Watch: Thousands Line Up For Stimulus Check Applications

Defense health officials didn’t do the Obama administration any favor last week when they announced a “small” increase in the daily fee that military retirees under 65, their families and covered survivors must pay for inpatient care in civilian hospitals under TRICARE Standard starting Oct. 1. The jump, in fact, for working age retirees and their families is $110 per day, a 20.6 percent increase. TRICARE Standard is the military’s fee-for-service insurance option. The inpatient cost share for retirees under 65 and their family members was increased to $645 a day from $535. The actual formula for beneficiaries is $645...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – By openly declaring their views on the Afghan war, US military leaders have placed President Barack Obama in a bind as he faces a fraught decision over the troubled US-led mission. Obama has refused to quickly approve a request from his commanders for a major troop build-up in Afghanistan, insisting first on a full vetting of the current strategy. But while a war council takes place behind closed doors at the White House, top military officers have made no secret of their view that without a vast ground force, the Afghan mission could end in failure. "They...

This just doesn't get old. If you heard the CNN news anchor in shock, this is just more icing in the cake. VIDEO HERE At first, the audience is too stupid and too quick to hear what the European Olympic guy with the accent is saying. They here 'Chicago' and they start cheering and going: "Weeee Ohhhhh!" Then someone with a clue elbows the collective audience, and they realize they lost. Then, it gets even better. They blame Bush, the Iraq War, and anyone else for the US being "unpopular" in the world, and keep wondering out loud why Obama...

NEW YORK – Former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison Tuesday by a judge who accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process in a way that "strikes at the very core of our democracy." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero sentenced the 58-year-old Hsu to 20 years in prison for his guilty plea to fraud charges and another four years and four months in prison for his conviction at trial for breaking campaign finance laws. In a lengthy criticism of Hsu's fraud, the judge said the former fundraiser used political...

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is said to be ready to admit that he fathered a love child. But Hades may have a skating rink before his wife, Elizabeth, signs off on such a confession. A source close to Elizabeth Edwards says the former Senator's wife is sniping at former Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter via an online pseudonym. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 As a grand jury in North Carolina considers whether Edwards misused campaign funds to cover up the scandal, Elizabeth still can't abide his former mistress, Rielle Hunter. Word is Elizabeth vehemently opposed the plan, now in...

School kids taught to praise Obama

BELLEVILLE -- Two Belleville West High School students were charged under the juvenile code today with felony counts of aggravated battery stemming from the violent beating of a 17-year-old student on a school bus earlier this week. VIDEO OF BEATING The incident grabbed national headlines and incited a heated debate about race when police said the incident, involving a white victim and black assailants, may have been racially motivated. They later recanted that claim. The two teenagers—who are 14 and 15 years-old—were charged as juveniles because they are under the age of 17. Illinois law shields the disclosure of their...

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- The president of Athletics South Africa has admitted that he lied about gender tests on runner Caster Semenya before her gold-medal win at the World Athletics Championships last month. Caster Semenya celebrates her gold at the world championships in Berlin. The national sports body has always denied that it agreed to the tests before the race in Berlin, Germany -- an event that kicked off international controversy over the 18-year-old Semenya's gender. But after South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper printed e-mails on Friday showing that ASA President Leonard Chuene was aware of the tests,...

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama hugs U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius following her remarks on health care legislation at the White House complex September 18, 2009 in Washington, DC. Mrs. Obama amplified the President's message on the need for health insurance reform and its impact on women and families during the event.

A plea by California Representative Laura Richardson that House Democrats respond after Republican Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at President Barack Obama last week helped spur her party’s leaders to action. The “careful but passionate” words delivered at a House Democratic caucus the morning after Wilson’s outburst by a black lawmaker who rarely speaks at such meetings carried such an impact that “you couldn’t ignore that message and that input,” Representative John Larson, the Democratic caucus chairman recalled yesterday. ______________snip Shown Disrespect Wilson “kind of winked at that element” of society that has shown disrespect to Obama because of his...

What began on the border in 2005 has spread to DC and every state in the union. The Revolution isn’t coming, it is here. Call it the Constitution Revolution. The genie is out of the bottle and there will be no putting her back in. I spent all day yesterday up and down Pennsylvania Avenue with people from all over the Union. One guy I met had 45 autographs on his t-shirt from people from 45 states. He only needed 5 more to make it a day. The mainstream media has reported the rally as anti-Obama or anti-government, both are...