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The UK is drawing up contingency plans for military action in response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria, Downing Street has said. David Cameron will also consider a recall of Parliament when he returns to No 10 later on Tuesday. MPs from all parties have demanded they be consulted before any move to support military action is taken. The suspected chemical attack took place on Wednesday near Damascus, and reportedly killed more than 300 people. Syrian rebels say the Assad government was responsible, but it blames rebel forces - saying footage of the attack was "fabricated". Mr Cameron is...

Republican Sen. John McCain’s tweet comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a monkey is drawing criticism from a fellow GOP lawmaker (Justin Amash) as racist. On Monday, McCain wrote, “So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space—wasn’t he just there last week?” …

Comedy Central's coverage of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's weekend rally drew a modest TV audience. According to the network, 2 million viewers tuned in between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday to watch the hosts and musical guests entertain about 200,000 fans on the Washington mall. Many more doubtless saw the show online, or caught coverage on the cable networks newtorks. This time period rarely draws big numbers for non-sports networks (the Rally audience was more than three times what the Comedy Central slot averages). Still, the rally received enormous media hype and 2 million is less than your...

....I initially had mixed feelings about Everybody Draws Mohammed Day. Provocation for its own sake is one of the dreariest features of contemporary culture, but that's not what this is about. Nick Gillespie's post reminds us that the three most offensive of the "Danish cartoons" - including the one showing Mohammed as a pig - were not by any Jyllands-Posten cartoonists but were actually faked by Scandinavian imams for the purposes of stirring up outrage among Muslims.As Mr Gillespie says: It is nothing less than amazing that holy men decrying the desecration of their religion would create such foul images,...

US President Barack Obama has drawn a line on Israeli settlement expansion before he meets with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as part of his urgent quest to revive peace talks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Obama made it clear, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited here last week, that he wants "no natural growth exceptions" to his call for a settlement freeze.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outspoken U.S. conservative columnist Ann Coulter is drawing fire from Republicans and Democrats alike after publicly using a derogatory gay slur in reference to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards. "Ann Coulter not only once again went out of her way to use a nasty epithet, she pushed her offensiveness up a notch," Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said on Sunday. Coulter made the comments on Friday during a speech at the influential American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference, calling Edwards a "faggot." "We conservatives have enough trouble overcoming the false things...

WASHINGTON - Leah Hanes had never been much into politics until she ended up at a Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) rally this week in Los Angeles, wearing a campaign T-shirt that she bought onsite like a concertgoer who found a new favorite band. Hanes, a Canadian who lives in Los Angeles, said she is going to push to get her U.S. citizenship in time for the 2008 election so she can vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. The 52-year-old producer said Obama's challenges growing up of mixed race had given him a depth of understanding she didn't see...

About 900 illegal-immigrant rights supporters gathered at the Arizona Capitol by midday Monday in a peaceful demonstration of what protesters called government inaction on repairing America's failed immigration system. The event drew significantly fewer participants than immigrant rallies this spring, when illegal-immigrant supporters showed their political muscle at demonstrations in Arizona and across the country. The largest rally in Arizona drew 100,000 marchers on the streets of Phoenix in April. As it considers massive changes in immigration policy, Congress is divided over whether to focus solely on border security or whether to offer illegal immigrants a short-cut to become U.S....

SAN FRANCISCO High in a downtown hotel, Nicaraguan folk dancers twirl in lacy white dresses, their bare feet tapping intricate rhythms on the wooden stage, giving their buttoned-down audience a bit of tropical warmth on a foggy afternoon. Their flounce and easy smiles before this roomful of travel experts are part of an effort to promote Nicaragua to Americans who might choose to retire there, attracted by its pristine beaches and colorful culture. And then there are the tax breaks and other incentives that baby boomers are likely to find even sweeter than the tropical fruits the dancers carefully balance...

PHOENIX -- Some Arizonans are lashing out at the state's campaign finance agency for its bilingual candidate pamphlet, which critics call an affront both for reasons of language and cost. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission received 17 letters and faxes critical of the pamphlet mailed to all voters' households before the primary election, and a commission aide said dozens more people telephoned the commission's Phoenix office to complain. The criticism of the bilingual pamphlet, mailed to 1.6 million Arizona households, comes at a time of increased debate concerning illegal immigration and several months before Arizonans vote on a legislative referendum...

Newly released details of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prison plan show a portion of one of Chowchilla's two women's prisons being converted to a men's prison -- a proposal that local officials say they will do everything they can to stop. "People are really opposed to this," said Chowchilla Mayor Ron Harris. "We'll probably raise a stink." The proposal, part of a nearly $6 billion prison-crowding relief plan, calls for 800 male beds at the Valley State Prison for Women. The prison, listed as having capacity for 1,980 women, would essentially be split in two -- a male prison and a...

Rumsfeld Snub of War Hearing Draws Fire Thursday August 3, 2006 12:46 AM By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he essentially was too busy to testify at a public hearing on the Iraq war, raising a new furor on Capitol Hill over the three-year-old conflict. Speaking to Pentagon reporters Wednesday, Rumsfeld said he thought it was enough for him to attend a private briefing with the entire Senate on Thursday. Citing his crowded calendar, he declined the Senate Armed Services Committee's request to testify publicly on Thursday morning. Rumsfeld's decision...

A conservative nonprofit organization called grassfire.org has put up a billboard on Tucson's Southside that says, "Stop the Invasion. Secure our borders." This billboard went up Friday and will be up for 30 days. You can see it from Interstate 10 at the 6th Avenue exit. Steve Elliott, president of grassfire.org says, "I think those six words express the sentiment of literally millions of people and I would say the vast majority of people in Tucson." Grassfire raised roughly $150,000 to put 12 of the billboards in 7 states. Elliott says the purpose is to educate. He says, "In fact,...

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured numerous terrorism suspects yesterday and today, and military officials praised the teamwork involved among responding forces after a coalition helicopter crashed yesterday. Coalition forces captured an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist and two other suspects during a raid today near Baghdad, military officials reported. The targeted individual is reported to be an "Umar Brigade" member and recruiter with control of several terrorist fighting cells, officials said. The Umar Brigade is an al Qaeda-sponsored Iraqi insurgent group known to target Shiite Moslems and specifically intending to incite sectarian...

Full steam ahead: Brussels draws up plan for 'EU navy' By Justin Stares in Brussels (Filed: 21/05/2006) The European Commission has drawn up plans to set up a European coastguard, which critics fear is a back-door attempt by Brussels to create an EU navy with its own powers to stop and search shipping. Plans to upgrade the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) into a fully-fledged coastguard are buried in a document revising European Union (EU) transport policy that is due to be published next month. Armed coastguard will be embryonic naval service They come on the back of other "empire...

WASHINGTON - President Bush drew fresh criticism from House Republicans Tuesday for endorsing eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. Republicans expressed support for new attempts to secure America's porous borders, but they rebelled against another element of what Bush calls a comprehensive plan to alter immigration laws. "Thinly veiled attempts to promote amnesty cannot be tolerated,' said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. "While America is a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws, and rewarding those who break our laws not only dishonors the hard work of those who came here legally but does nothing to fix...

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Bataan Memorial Death March draws thousands By Monte Marlin More than 3,800 people, both military and civilian, representing all 50 states plus the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Korea participated in the 2006 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. on March 26. Mike Smith WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (Army News Service, March 29, 2006) – The 2006 Annual Bataan Memorial Death March was conducted March 26 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The event drew nearly 3,900 service members and civilians to the Army test range in southern New Mexico. Marchers represented all 50 states...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Feb. 23, 2006) -- Women hold onto fond memories from their youth throughout their lifetime – getting a driver’s license, the first day of school, their “Sweet 16” birthday party. But more often than not, their most cherished memories include their first dance – the dress, the shoes, the fancy hairdo, and of course their date. Many young girls created this treasured memory of their first dance Thursday at The Clubs At Quantico. It was not the prom, senior dinner dance, or even a school dance. It was the Father-Daughter Sweetheart Dance hosted by the...

TAORMINA, Italy, Feb. 10, 2006 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and British Defense Minister John Reid had high praise for the way NATO nations are working together in remarks here last night. The two defense leaders spoke with reporters after their bilateral session. They're here in the shadow of Mount Etna on Sicily's east coast for an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers that concludes today. Reid said he is "heartened and delighted at the solidarity of NATO's work in Afghanistan." "It's a difficult but hugely important operation for NATO in Afghanistan," he said. "We all recall that that...