Free Republic

For minority groups living in Europe, everyday pursuits like shopping or visiting the doctor are often soured by discrimination. According to a new EU-wide report, racism is deeply entrenched -- and, more worryingly still, often goes unreported. For many of Europe's ethnic minorities and immigrants, racism and discrimination is a sad fact of day-to-day life, according to a report published on Wednesday by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Europe, whose citizens once fled in droves in favor of a more promising future elsewhere, has gradually emerged as a magnet for immigrants. But the experience of its ethnic...

Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, who has been charged with mistreating an Iraqi suspect in the bloody slayings of four U.S. contractors,... Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics...

Women forbidden by law from feeling sunlight—hey, that’s a positive message for young girls The other day, George Jonas passed on to his readers a characteristically shrewd observation gleaned from the late poet George Faludy: “No one likes to think of himself as a coward,” wrote Jonas. “People prefer to think they end up yielding to what the terrorists demand, not because it’s safer or more convenient, but because it’s the right thing . . . Successful terrorism persuades the terrorized that if they do terror’s bidding, it’s not because they’re terrified but because they’re socially concerned.”

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Friday that it understands the need to resume the stalled international talks on ending its nuclear programs, and that it agrees to work with the United States to narrow unspecified "remaining differences." The statement from North Korea's Foreign Ministry was the first reaction from the communist nation to three days of high-level talks with President Barack Obama's special envoy. Upon returning from North Korea on Thursday, envoy Stephen Bosworth made similar remarks in Seoul that the two sides reached common understandings on the need to restart the nuclear talks. Though the North stopped...

WASHINGTON -- When I was a young Marine, we were encouraged to read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" as a primer on conflict. Our mentors were officers and senior noncommissioned officers who had served in World War II, Korea and the early days of the conflict in Indochina. These were serious men for whom the profession of arms was no trivial matter. They taught us that Sun Tzu's tome, from the sixth century B.C., was relevant to the fight we were headed for in Vietnam and would serve us well in the future. According to Sun Tzu, "The art...

COPEN­HA­GEN — The top Amer­i­can envoy to cli­mate talks here flat­ly re­ject­ed argu­ments Wednes­day by diplo­mats from poor lands that the Unit­ed States owes a debt to de­vel­op­ing na­tions for decades of Amer­i­can emis­sions that con­tribut­ed to glob­al warm­ing. It was not the first time that the Amer­i­can ne­go­tia­tor, Todd D. Stern, had dis­missed the no­tion. But his words high­light­ed the di­vide that per­sists between the poor and the wealthy as near­ly 200 na­tions try to sketch the out­li­nes of a new pact on cli­mate change here. Asked about argu­ments by diplo­mats and some protesters that the Unit­ed States should...

New Delhi: A US nuclear trade mission of around 50 companies, currently doing the rounds in the Indian capital and dropping loud hints of sourcing nuclear engineering products from India, may be feeling the New Delhi chill a bit more harsher than others. With NPT zealots in the Obama administration ensuring that the 123 Agreement takes its time to materialise, New Delhi may have atlast decided to shed some of its forced cordiality to all things American and not rollout the red carpet. Ostensibly, the delegation has made the trip to try and understand the ''policy challenges'' that stand between...

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Vatican Paper Urges Obama to Remember War on Life Notes Reservations on Criteria for Peace Prize Selection VATICAN CITY, OCT. 13, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Upon accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. President Barack Obama should remember not only the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the war being waged against the unborn, according to an article in L'Osservatore Romano. The semi-official Vatican newspaper published an article in Sunday's Italian edition that responded to Obama's peace prize win. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the news Friday, saying it recognized the president's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between...

A visit to North Korea by U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth ended in failure Thursday to convince the North to return to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks. "We identified some common understandings on the need for and the role of the six-party talks and the importance of the implementation of the 2005 Joint Statement," Bosworth told reporters. "It remains to be seen when and how [North Korea] will return to the six-party talks." He added, "This is something that requires further consultations among all six of us." But Bosworth claimed he had "very useful" meetings with senior North Korean officials. Further bilateral...

PEACE activists have carried mock coffins through New York to protest against President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. About 50 demonstrators walked from outside the United Nations to the military recruiting office on Times Square in central Manhattan. Walking to a slow drumbeat, they carried black cardboard coffins, the first of which was draped in the US flag. "Barack Obama does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, especially after his recent announcement that he will escalate the war in Afghanistan," said Will Travers, 30, who helped carry one of the coffins.

12/10/2009 - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- The Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team is on a nine-month tour assisting the Afghan government in bringing about stability through governance, reconstruction and development. Although the Zabul PRT has been in country for several years has completed approximately 40 projects this year and is scheduled for more than 30 more. In the end, approximately 350,000 Afghans and their future generations will reap the benefits of the Zabul PRT's labor. The Zabul PRT, a diverse organization with joint, interagency and international components, is one of the principle counter-insurgency units in the region part of a...

A mysterious blue spiral light that appeared in the skies above Norway was likely the result of a failed test launch of a jinxed new Russian missile, the UK’s Mail Online reported. Several newspapers in Moscow today ran a story explaining that the Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday but failed at the third stage. However, earlier reports from Moscow denied a missile launch yesterday and even early today there was no formal confirmation from the Russian Defense Ministry. Some speculators felt the lights were connected with the aurora borealis,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s decision to send in an additional 30,000 U.S. troops and further contributions from NATO allies will give the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan “all the forces he needs in 2010 to reverse the momentum of a growing and increasingly lethal insurgency,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. At a Pentagon news conference, Mullen said 2009 has been the third year of significant security deterioration in Afghanistan, noting that levels of violence this year are up 60 percent from 2008. “Certainly from that standpoint, we’re...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – As the U.S. military answers President Barack Obama’s order to reinforce efforts in Afghanistan, the Army and Marine Corps are adjusting their plans to redeploy working and serviceable equipment, top military officers told Congress today. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, and Gen. James F. Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, testified on their services’ “reset” requirements before subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee. The proceedings were a continuation of a July hearing that was interrupted because of a prolonged series of House votes. The initial hearing focused on Iraq...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10, 2009 – Three weeks before Multinational Corps Iraq cases its colors and rolls into the new U.S. Forces Iraq organization, its commander said plenty of operational activity still is under way in partnership with Iraqi security forces and on track with the U.S. drawdown timetable. The mission here continues in support of the strategy of turning the security lead over to increasingly capable Iraqi security forces, Army Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. U.S. forces in Iraq are “fully engaged,” supporting that mission in two primary ways, Jacoby said...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan today wrapped up a round of hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the new U.S. approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The themes Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal touched on in appearances before members of both chambers of Congress this week were consistent: he embraced the plan that sends 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and sets a flexible date for beginning a withdrawal, and expressed measured optimism in its potential to reverse insurgents’ momentum. “The president's decision rapidly resources our strategy, recognizing that the next 18 months will...

During a Sept. 23 test, an AIM-9X fired from a U.S. Air Force F-16C fighter sank a rapidly moving target boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Raytheon thus demonstrated the capability to employ the AIM-9X Sidewinder advanced infrared-guided air-to-air missile to attack surface targets. "With a software upgrade, AIM-9X retains its air-to-air capabilities and gains an air-to-surface capability," said Harry Schulte, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Air Warfare Systems. "AIM-9X now has the potential to take on an additional mission at a very affordable cost." The test marks the third time an AIM-9X engaged moving surface targets. In April...

Earlier today, Pres. Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony in Oslo. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton tells NRO that President Obama’s address in the Norwegian capital was “pedestrian, turgid, and uninspired.” “It followed the standard international leftist line,” says Bolton. “He played to the crowd and filled the speech with clichés from the American and international left by saying ‘America cannot act alone’ and that he ‘prohibited torture.’ The speech was also typical of Obama in its self-centeredness and ‘something for everybody’ approach.” “It was so diffuse that though I wouldn’t...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10, 2009 – The recent spate of violence that has rocked the Iraqi capital dominated Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ talks here today with President Jalal Talabani and Iraq’s Presidency Council, all pledging to continue working cooperatively to combat it. The violence also forced Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was summoned by the Iraqi Council of Representatives as it addressed the crisis, to postpone his scheduled meeting with Gates, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters traveling here with Gates. At issue are a series of high-profile attacks targeting Iraqi state institutions that have left some 400...

An organization representing the grandest ambitions of climate scientists wants Western nations to spend at least $2.1 billion a year for the next five years — and as much as $60 billion overall during that period — to glean huge troves of still undiscovered climate information from the world's land, air and seas. The information system aims to measure literally everything environmental, from the full amount of plant leaf material in the world's ecosystems to the differences in saltiness throughout the world's oceans to the discharge from every one of the world's major rivers, to the monitoring of water vapor...

Dear Supporters, Last Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets of New York City to protest Attorney General Eric Holder's outrageous plan to transfer 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other admitted war criminals to the United States for trial in a civilian court in New York City. The protest sent a clear message to the politicians in Washington: the terrorists who targeted innocent men, women and children and who were captured by our military on a foreign battlefield should not have the same rights and legal protections as American citizens. We will fight them all the way!watch...

The US has conducted the first unmanned airstrike in the lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan since the Pakistani Army launched an offensive there in mid-October. The strike, carried out by unmanned Predator or Reaper attack aircraft, hit a Taliban "hideout" in Tanga in the Ladha region in South Waziristan. Ladha is one of several Taliban strongholds that were the target of the Pakistani Army's offensive against the Mehsud branch of the Taliban in South Waziristan. Four al Qaeda operatives and two Taliban fighters were killed in the attack, according to reports from the region. "Eyewitnesses said the toll could...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – It is necessary and right that Iraqi soldiers and police assume security responsibilities for their people, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said in New York City yesterday. Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was in Manhattan to attend the USO’s 48th Annual Armed Forces Gala and Gold Medal Dinner, where he was interviewed by “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade. Kilmeade asked Odierno if it was too soon to transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi soldiers and police, given a recent spate of insurgent violence that has roiled Iraq. “It’s tough always to see these Iraqi...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – Among the many factors White House and Pentagon officials say will drive success in Afghanistan, developing a credible government there may be the most challenging, the commander of U.S. and international forces there said yesterday. For sustained progress in Afghanistan, the country’s government must be seen as credible and legitimate among its people, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said in an interview with National Public Radio. The general compared the fight in Afghanistan to a political campaign. “All insurgencies and counterinsurgencies struggle for the support of the people,” he said. “It’s really winning credibility and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The increase of troops into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility also is increasing the nontraditional roles filled by airmen in combat, a product of the Air Force's "all in" philosophy. Air Force Capt. Maureen Wood, right, stands with fellow legal officer Air Force Capt. Jaime Espinosa prior to a mission in Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Air Force Capt. Maureen Wood, a legal officer deployed with Multinational Force Iraq’s Joint Task Force 134, recently found herself in one of those situations that was anything but "traditional." She...

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq, Dec. 10, 2009 – From the air, the basic outline of Camp Bucca appears as most military forward operating bases in Iraq, except for nine fluttering white flags affixed to poles jutting from the ground. Army Sgt. Marcus Jemison tees off on the 570-yard fifth hole at Camp Bucca, Iraq. The golf course allows servicemembers a chance to relax between missions. U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. David Bennett   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The flags aren’t tokens of surrender, but they often elicit cries of frustration from soldiers who have thrown their best at...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The military component that coordinates the forces that fight America’s wars has allocated almost all of the troops that will take part in the Afghanistan surge. U.S. Joint Forces Command, a support beam in the Defense Department’s policymaking structure, is formulating plans to carry out the influx of 30,000 U.S. forces that President Barack Obama has ordered into Afghanistan over roughly the next six months. “We know the magnitude of the efforts,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Yates, director of operations, plans, logistics and engineering at Joint Forces Command, said yesterday. “We are getting...

Americans take many things for granted: our high standard of living, our low infant mortality rate and our democratic government, to name a few. Witnessing firsthand the 2009 Honduran presidential election reminded me of all these things. I am particularly struck by how fragile democracy truly is. Despite fears of violence, unrest and calls to boycott the election, Hondurans came to the polls in droves. They elected Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo as their next president. We may be tempted to dismiss that news. Elections happen all the time, right? But we should all extend our deepest congratulations to the good people...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today to meet with Iraqi and U.S. military leaders about continuing progress toward building Iraqi security forces and drawing down the U.S. force presence here to 50,000 by late August. The visit, Gates’ first since July, comes as the Iraqis have resolved election law issues and set a March 7 date for national elections, and amid a rash of violence that a senior defense official called an act of desperation by the greatly weakened al-Qaida remnants here. During Gates’ sessions with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal...

KABUL, Dec. 10, 2009 – Senior Afghan military and national police leaders gathered today at Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ departure to thank him for his support for President Barack Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan and a strong military team to support it. The leaders, along with Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander of the new International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, were waiting for the weather to clear so they could fly to Kandahar. There, they planned to discuss details about where the incoming U.S. troops will go and what resources they will need. Gates’ arrival at Kabul...

US President Barack Obama has confronted the paradox of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize while serving as a war president. Accepting the speech in the Norwegian capital Oslo overnight, Mr Obama said war is sometimes needed to pursue security and peace and that violent conflicts will not end in our lifetime. He told his audience that he was obligated to protect and defend the United States and that the use of force was sometimes not only necessary, but morally justified. Mr Obama also tackled head-on the critics who say that he has been prematurely awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "I...

HAVANA — Suspected drug smugglers used spikes to deflate the tires of a U.S. Border Patrol unit during a pursuit Tuesday night — at least the second incident in which area authorities have discovered the devices in a week. Border Patrol would not confirm whether the spikes deflated the tires of an agency vehicle Tuesday night, but court documents reveal agents also found the homemade devices after an agent fired gunshots during a confrontation last week. Meanwhile, authorities are concerned the spikes could cause further incidents on Rio Grande Valley roadways. The spikes, or caltrops, consist of several metal points...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government says ousted leader Manuel Zelaya is free to leave the country, but there's a catch: Zelaya can't go as president, and he says he won't go as anything else. And so he remained holed up Thursday in the Brazilian Embassy, where he has been staying since he slipped back into the country three months ago. If he sets foot outside the building, the leaders who ousted him have vowed to arrest him on charges of treason and abuse of power. They appeared to be softening their stance on Wednesday when they initially responded positively...

December 10, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Through Our Enemies’ EyesEnough about you; what did Mullah Omar think of Obama’s West Point speech? By Clifford D. May We’ve heard a lot in recent days about how conservatives and liberals are responding to President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan. But what does the enemy think? Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Afghan Taliban leader, clearly would have been happier had Obama taken Michael Moore’s advice and begun to withdraw, rather than increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Just before the president took the stage at West Point, Mullah Omar issued a message calling upon his fighters...

Linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky criticizes right-wing media outlets, which he describes as delivering a message of paranoia and economic populism comparable to Nazis during the Weimar Republic. "There were people with real grievances," says Chomsky. "The Nazis gave them an answer."

The Obama administration is moving toward possible new arms sales to Taiwan, including design work on diesel-electric submarines, a U.S. State Department official told Reuters on Wednesday. China strongly opposes arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province, as interference in its domestic affairs. New submarines could help challenge any Chinese seaborne assault on the self-governing island, which Beijing reserves the right to take by force. Also progressing toward notification to the U.S. Congress is the sale to Taiwan of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, said Robert Kovac, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade. In...

sraeli officials reacted angrily Thursday night to a British decision to advise retailers and importers to distinguish on labels whether imported produce from the West Bank is being made in the settlements or by Palestinians. According to a statement released by the British Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, "Importers, retailers, NGOs and consumers have asked the Government for clarity over the precise origin of products from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). The label 'West Bank' does not allow consumers to distinguish between goods originating from Palestinian producers and goods originating from illegal Israelisettlements."

December 10, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Has War Really Changed?War always involves “a military solution.” By Victor Davis Hanson Has war been reinvented in Iraq and Afghanistan? Sometimes it seems so, with the confusion that has come with the instant communication offered by the Internet, YouTube, and satellite television — along with the new arts of precision destruction via high-tech weapons like drones and GPS-guided weapons. In Afghanistan and Iraq, soldiers don’t quite disappear into distant theaters abroad. Instead, they can e-mail or call their spouses from halfway across the world — often minutes before and after battle. A phony...

"As a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."

Oslo University 'honors' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his achievements in 'inspiring hostility among nations, increasing human suffering.' University professor says prize's aim to remind world of ongoing genocide, tortureA day before US President Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize, Norway presents an original initiative of its own. Oslo University decided to award Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the "dictator of the year prize" Wednesday. Khamenei was chosen out of 11 candidates - selected by human rights experts - including North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Myanmar's General Than Schwe. Out of 4145...

The Norwegians weren't applauding the peace-prize acceptance speech President Obama just gave in Oslo and I know why. The speech in many ways could have been written for, and delivered by, a man they loathe: George W. Bush. Sure the speech had the pleasant stuff about banning torture and the value of negotiations, and Obama gave a nod to Martin Luther King, whose own Nobel speech in 1964 was a paean to pacifism. But Obama wanted to make it clear that he was NOT Martin Luther King. He was a commander in chief leading two wars, confronting an implacable terrorist...

Conservative praise for Nobel speech By: Eamon Javers December 10, 2009 12:56 PM EST President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech Thursday is drawing praise from some unlikely quarters – conservative Republicans – who likened Obama’s defense of “just wars” to the worldview of his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush. It’s already being called the “Obama Doctrine” – a notion that foreign policy is a struggle of good and evil, that American exceptionalism has blunted the force of tyranny in the world, and that U.S. military can be a force for good and even harnessed to humanitarian ends. “There will...

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's top military officer says 16,000 troops have received their orders for Afghanistan since President Barack Obama announced his new war strategy. Adm. Mike Mullen said at a news conference Thursday that the first to go — a battalion of Marines — will arrive in southern Afghanistan next week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said tens of thousands of tons of construction materials, winter gear and other equipment also are in the pipeline. Officials are moving to get the bulk of the 30,000 additional troops into the war zone by summer.

More than 6,000 people marched in Oslo after US President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a speech justifying war, urging him to live up to the accolade. The crowd marched in a peaceful, torchlight procession aimed at denouncing nuclear weapons and ended up outside Obama's hotel in the Norwegian capital, police and organisers said. Obama - who in his acceptance speech earlier on Thursday said "war is sometimes necessary, and war is at some level an expression of human feelings" - waved to the crowd from his hotel balcony for several minutes with his wife Michelle, protected...

Sen. Kerry Will Travel to Copenhagen Global Warming Summit by Commercial Airliner Thursday, December 10, 2009 By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) – Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will travel to the United Nations global warming conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on a commercial airliner, a senior Kerry aide told CNSNews.com. “The senator expects to travel commercially as he has to past climate conferences,” the aide said, adding that the details of Kerry’s travel arrangement were contingent opon the Senate’s schedule. Published reports have indicated that many public officials have been arriving at the Copenhagen in private jets, meaning they are...

Crude cartoons intended to offend Muslims in St. Cloud were found posted on utility poles this week. The cartoons, reminiscent of those published in a Danish newspaper in 2005, "are clearly offensive to the Muslim community here, inappropriate and not wanted in our community," said police Sgt. Marty Sayre. Five pages of cartoons, posted on a pair of utility poles, depict the prophet Mohammed in derogatory ways, the Qur'an and a swastika. "We've had swastikas before, but I believe this is the first time we've seen" images specifically targeting Muslims, Sayre said. One of the posts was stapled to a...

Hat tip to Michael Moore for reminding me about President Eisenhower’s famous “Beware the Military-Industrial Complex” speech, in which the Liberal Icon and Pacifist Saint Dwight David Eisenhower had this to say: “…the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is...

Tycoon: Finance Gap May Doom Climate Talks Money Proposed by Rich Nations to Help Poor Adapt to Climate Change is Insufficient, Says U.S. Billionaire George Soros George Soros, businessman and philanthropist, announces during a press conference a plan to generate an additional 100 billion US dollars for climate change relief at the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) (AP) The $10 billion a year proposed by rich nations to help the poor adapt to climate change is "not sufficient" and the gap between what's offered and what's needed could wreck the Copenhagen climate conference,...

MOSCOW — Russia admitted on Thursday another failed test of its much-touted Bulava intercontinental missile, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site. The submarine-based Bulava (Mace) missile has been billed as Russia's newest technological breakthrough to support its nuclear deterrent, but the repeated test failures are an embarrassment for the Kremlin. The missile failed in its 13th test on Wednesday morning, Russia's leading economic dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant reported on Thursday, quoting sources in the military-industrial complex. Hours later, the Defense Ministry admitted the failure, saying the launch had been made by the...