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WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday of “complications of metastatic pancreas cancer,” the Supreme Court announced.... Democrats say this is hairsplitting hypocrisy that damages the legitimacy of the court. But they may have little practical power to stop a third Trump nominee after changes in Senate rules on filibusters on nominations. All it takes now is a majority vote to confirm judicial nominees..... During the Obama administration, some liberals urged Justice Ginsburg to step down so that President Barack Obama could name her successor. She rejected the advice. She was critical of Mr. Trump during the 2016...

A 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and pistol has opened fire in a Texas high school, killing nine fellow students and a teacher, authorities say, in an attack similar to the massacre at a Florida high school in February. Students said the gunman, identified by authorities as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, first opened fire in an art class at Santa Fe High School shortly before 8:00am on Friday. Students and staff fled after seeing classmates injured and a fire alarm triggered a full evacuation. Mr Pagourtzis, was denied bail after he was charged with capital murder and aggravated assault on a...

The Queen was said to be “saddened” tonight after Lord Snowdon, her former brother-in-law and the original “royal rebel” died at the age of 86... ...Snowdon earned a reputation as one of the country’s foremost photographers, with subjects as diverse as Marlene Dietrich, David Bowie and, of course, the Royal family...

A news crew for a CBS affiliate in Virginia was gunned down during a live report near the Bedford County-Franklin County line in Moneta early Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials said. Police and emergency services were on the scene, which remains active. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also involved in the investigation. WDBJ7 reporter Allison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were killed by an unidentified assailant who approached the pair as they were filming an interview at the Bridgewater Plaza and fired in their direction as many as eight times. Footage of the shooting aired...

The gun used by illegal alien Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez in what he claims was an accidental fatal shooting of a woman on San Francisco’s Pier 14 on July 1 has been determined to have been stolen from an unidentified Bureau of Land Management agent. Sources told the San Francisco Chronicle that the .40-caliber pistol was the agent’s personal firearm and had been stolen from his automobile not long before the shooting. Sanchez claimed that he found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt while sitting on a bench at the pier. “So I picked it up and ... it started...

Phoenix (AFP) - Anti-Islam protesters -- some of them heavily armed -- faced off against religious rights demonstrators outside a US mosque, in a tense but peaceful standoff. About 200 demonstrators from each group stood outside the mosque in Phoenix, Arizona, where a biker crew had said they would hold a Mohammed cartoon contest. Dozens of officers lined up between the two sets of protesters, using yellow police tape to separate them near the gates of the Islamic Community Center mosque in north Phoenix. "Stop Islam" was among the slogans on placards held by bearded bikers, one of whom wore...

A fight that escalated to gunfire between rival biker gangs in a Waco, Texas, restaurant parking lot today left nine people dead, police said. Eighteen people were taken from the scene to hospitals, mostly for gunshot and stab wounds, Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said at a news conference. Everyone involved was a gang member, police said. The violence began as a fight between "criminal biker gangs" at the Twin Peaks Restaurant in the Central Texas Market Place early this afternoon, Swanton said. The fight then spilled into the parking lot where gang members fired at each other, Swanton said....

Video of police Tasering a persistent questioner of Sen. John Kerry became an Internet and TV sensation Tuesday, generating fierce debate about free speech and the motives of the college student involved—a known prankster who often posts practical jokes online.

Opera great Pavarotti dead at 71 by Ljubomir Milasin Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti, whose glorious tenor voice, showmanship and crossover celebrity turned him into a global superstar, died Thursday at his home in Italy at the age of 71. Hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, Pavarotti passed away during the night at his villa near the northern city of Modena after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. "His condition progressively worsened up to this morning," said Antonio Frassoldati, one of the star's team of doctors. "He was always totally conscious of the situation, he always sought...

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El Mundo reports that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez stated that he believes the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were orchastrated by George W. Bush. In a public speech, Chavez commented that "...the hypothesis is that it was the same North American imperial power that planned and conducted these terrible terrorist acts against its own people and against citizens of the whole world. For what? In order to justify the immediate aggression that they unleashed against Afghanistan and Iraq, and the threats against all of us." Chavez made reference to theories put forth in a state television appearance by journalist and humorist...

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Islamist gunmen have launched a brazen assault on the US embassy in Damascus, using grenades, automatic weapons and an explosives-laden van in a foiled attack that has left four people dead...

The Iraqi authorities have announced the arrest of a man they say is the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, told a news conference the man, Hamad Jama al-Saedi, was detained a few days ago. Mr Rubaie said the man was behind the bombing of a Shia shrine in Samarra in February that drew revenge attacks. American troops killed the insurgent group's key leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in June. "We announce today the arrest of the most important al-Qaeda leader after the criminal Abu Ayyub al-Masri. He's the second man in the organisation," Mr Rubaie...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda called on non-Muslims especially in the United States to convert to Islam and abandon their 'misguided' ways or else suffer, according to a video tape posted on a Web site on Saturday. The speaker was identified as Azzam the American, also known as Adam Yahiye Gadahn -- an Islamic convert from California wanted for questioning by the FBI and who U.S. authorities believe to be involved in an information campaign for al Qaeda. "To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent (your) misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or...

LONDON, Sept. 2 — The British police arrested 14 men in south, east and north London overnight, raiding a halal restaurant and an Islamic school in the latest display of concern about the spread of potential terrorists among British Muslims, police officials said Saturday. Separately, the police in Manchester in the northwest said they arrested two men in raids on three homes on Saturday morning. None of the arrests were linked to the huge security alert that began Aug. 10 when police rounded up 24 people to thwart what they called a terrorist suicide plot to bomb trans-Atlantic airliners, police...

MIKE MALLOY FIRED BY AIR AMERICA RADIO There will be no Mike Malloy program on Air America Radio as we have been terminated as of 8/30/06. We are as shocked as you are, especially since as recently as last Tuesday we were told we had the go-ahead to announce our return to NY airwaves and that our contract was "on the way." We are told it's a financial decision. More details to follow as we hear them ourselves. Members of the press can contact malloyproducer@aol.com to schedule interviews.

NEW YORK - Kyra Phillips, anchor of CNN's "Live From...," unwittingly upstaged President Bush's speech in New Orleans with on-the-air analysis of her husband and the marriage of her brother — all live from a CNN ladies room. Unaware that her wireless microphone was "live" during her break, Phillips could be heard overriding Bush's prepared address Tuesday as he was seen marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The Atlanta-based Phillips, in conversation with an unidentified woman in an echoey room, dismissed most men with a vulgar term, but called herself "very lucky in that regard. My husband is handsome...

Looking for a "passionate, compassionate, great, great" man? Well, according to CNN midday anchor Kyra Phillips, they do indeed exist. During CNN's live coverage of President Bush's remarks from New Orleans, Phillips was unaware that her microphone was on and picked up portions of an apparent restroom conversation she was having with another woman. At 12:49pm EDT, those listening carefully could hear Phillips praise her husband: "Yeah, I'm very lucky in that regard with my husband. My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego -- you know what I'm saying. Just a really passionate,...

From its very start, the ballyhooed case of who leaked the name of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak has been drenched in partisan politics and media hypocrisy. The more we learn, however, the more it also reveals about the internal dysfunction of the Bush Administration and the lack of loyalty among some of its most senior officials.

Warren Steed Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect and one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, was arrested in a routine traffic stop outside Las Vegas, the Nevada Highway Patrol and FBI said on Tuesday. Nevada Highway Patrol Lt. Steve Cabrales said Jeffs was apprehended after being pulled over by a trooper on Monday night. Jeffs, 50, the leader of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints who is considered a "prophet" by his followers, is wanted for alleged sexual misconduct with minors in Arizona. He is also wanted as an accomplice to rape in Utah, the FBI said....