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The Times Of Israel is reporting that a team of negotiators led by White House adviser Valerie Jarrett has been conducting secret talks with Iran about it's nuclear weapons program for the past year. The report states the deal submitted in Geneva earlier this month was a direct result of these secret year-long negotiations between teams headed by Jarrett and Iran's Ali Akbar Salehi. That deal was ultimately rejected when France and Israel raised strong objections,and talks are expected to resume this Wednesday. The White House was very quick to issue a categorical denial of the report. According to White...

<p>President Obama's aides went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the identity of a senior official who was using Twitter to make snarky comments about White House staffers.</p> <p>Jarrett, an old Chicago friend of both Barack and Michelle Obama, appears to exercise such extraordinary influence she is sometimes quietly referred to as “Rasputin” on Capitol Hill, a reference to the mystical monk who held sway over Russia’s Czar Nicholas as he increasingly lost touch with reality during World War I.</p>

The never before seen video was just uploaded to YouTube today. "In 1996, Valerie Jarrett addressed the National Association for the Education of Young Children where she said it does take a village to raise a child but asked, what happens when the village is in chaos. Remarks come full circle with attacks on Michael Jordan. Source: South Carolina Educational Television Network," states the description of the video on YouTube. In the speech Jarrett describes an America with some kids growing up in "war-like conditions." She says, "And yet, these kids are expected to compete with my daughter and with...

This evening, speaking at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said that folks getting and spending unemployment checks is a healthy thing . . . because it stimulates the economy: "Even though we had a terrible economic crisis three years ago, throughout our country many people were suffering before the last three years, particularly in the black community," Jarrett said. "And so we need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it's good for the economy. People who...

Gainesville, Florida - A nuclear space power institute at the University of Florida has been raided by the FBI. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rhew in Tallahassee says search warrants were served at the university's Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute. University of Florida spokesman Steve Orlando says the FBI was in the office of professor Samim Anghaie, the Iranian-born director of the institute. Rhew would not comment on the investigation but did say no arrest warrants have been issued. Orlando says the university is cooperating with the investigation and Anghaie's employment status is being reviewed.

ARKALYK, Kazakhstan - The capsule carrying the world's first female space tourist touched down Friday on the Kazakh steppe after a bone-jarring journey from the international space station. Anousheh Ansari, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams had left the station aboard a cramped Russian Soyuz capsule about three hours earlier. After the capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere, search and rescue teams in three planes and 12 helicopters tracked the trajectory and scrambled to help the crew out of the craft. Officials monitoring the landing from Russia's Mission Control outside Moscow applauded after confirming that the capsule had...

VISITS to New South Wales by three royals and a president would generate priceless international publicity for the state's tourism industry, Premier Bob Carr said today. Australian-born Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and her husband Prince Frederik will today attend a state luncheon in Sydney as part of their trip to Australia. Israeli President Moshe Katsav will arrive in Sydney this morning, and Britain's Prince Charles, who is due to arrive in Perth tonight, will visit Sydney on Friday and the NSW town of Gunning on Saturday. "While we are honoured to host the tours, there can be no underestimating...