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Two sheep stranded without water on a rocky ledge above a highway have defied efforts to shoo them to safety. Officials from fire, wildlife and law enforcement departments on Wednesday shot non-lethal ammunition, explosives and water hoses at the sheep, and let loose dogs, threw rocks, blared sirens and hollered at them. The ram and ewe, however, refused to scale a steep trail that leads off the ledge 50 yards above Highway 166. "They're like a person. Do you want to take a chance or stay where it's safe?" said supervisory wildlife biologist Joe Bennett of the U.S. Department of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the Democratic former president is like a member of the family. Former President George Bush has worked with Clinton to raise money for victims of the Asian tsunami and the hurricane disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Asked about his father and Clinton, Bush quipped, "Yes, he and my new brother." "That's a good relationship. It's a fun relationship to watch," Bush said in an interview with CBS News broadcast on Sunday. While attending Pope John Paul's funeral, Bush said, "It was...

An Escondido man who prevented firefighters from entering his burning home until it was too late to save it pleaded guilty yesterday to deterring officials from performing their duties by means of threat or violence. Steven Boyer, 35, faces up to one year in jail in a plea agreement reached in Superior Court. Judge Michael Kirkman scheduled sentencing for Feb. 2. Boyer's upscale split-level hillside home on Inspiration Lane was destroyed in the Nov. 11 blaze. The loss was estimated at $850,000. In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped other charges, including a count of being under the influence...

Gasoline tax slated to rise on New Year's Day Lawmakers scramble to freeze nearly 3-cents hike From staff reports Macon County motorists are bracing for a state gasoline tax hike that will greet them at the pump on New Year's Day. On Sunday, the state tax on gasoline will jump by nearly 3 cents to a total of 29.9 cents per gallon. The increase will boost the tax to its highest level in state history. And North Carolina's gas tax will become the highest per gallon in the Southeast and the sixth highest in the U.S. The automatic tax also...

Pakistan's Islamic schools resist expulsion order · Ban on foreign students followed London bombs· Leaders claim Musharraf ruling is discriminatory Imtiaz Gul in Islamabad Friday December 30, 2005 The Guardian (UK) Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December 31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools. President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about 1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a...

In Teaneck, NJ, last month, the Town Council was asked to pass a resolution opposing parts of the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which, in the wake of 9-11, was enacted with overwhelming Congressional support to rectify recognized intelligence failures in this country. The Town Council has requested Teaneck’s town attorney to draft such a resolution so that it can be debated at a future meeting. Initially, there were suggestions that Teaneck draft a proposal informing the Federal government that the city will no longer comply with parts of the Patriot Act. But after receiving a letter from Sharon Hes,...

Clerics resist Musharraf's war on madrassas By Massoud Ansari in Karachi (Filed: 05/09/2004) Islamic clerics in Pakistan have launched a campaign of resistance against a government crackdown on religious schools. They are furious that President Pervez Musharraf is attempting to staunch the flow of "terrorist recruits" by regulating the schools, known as madrassas. There are up to 20,000 such schools in Pakistan and until now the state has had no control over them. The government is now insisting that they should be registered and teach secular subjects. The Farooqia mosque in Karachi, which runs an extremist Sunni seminary, has hosted...

Demos resist desire to return home By Guillermo X. Garcia Express-News Austin Bureau Web Posted : 08/31/2003 12:00 AM ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Thirty-five days after defiantly leaving the state, and five days after successfully killing a second special session on redistricting, the Texas 11 are no closer to home this holiday weekend. Although some of the AWOL Democratic state senators had hoped to spend the long weekend with friends and family back in Texas — one member even made tentative reservations to return to Houston — they remain holed up in a high-rise hotel here with no clear exit strategy....

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - A subdued Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) appeared on state-run television Thursday after the U.S. air strike on Baghdad, accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. "We will resist the invaders, and God willing, we will force them to reach the limits where they will lose their patience and thus lose the illusions they have entertained," the Iraqi president, in full military uniform, said in an address peppered with citations from the Quran. "They will face a bitter...

Dear Soldier of the U.S. Military: Considering the common practice of talking about "supporting the troops" in times of hostilities, I should let you know how I feel. With all due respect, I want you to know that if you participate in this conflict, you are not serving me, and I don't support you. Speaking for myself, I feel those who participate will be damaging my reputation as an American, and further endangering me and my children by creating hatred that will someday be returned to us -- perhaps someday soon. Your actions will not lead to a safer world,...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq says Baghdad will resist any U.S. military campaign and will "kick the United States out of the region" if attacked. In an interview with Reuters, Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh said Baghdad would also take punitive economic measures against countries which backed a possible U.S. strike. Washington has made no secret of its wish to topple President Saddam Hussein's government, having branded Iraq part of an "axis of evil" supporting terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. "The United States will be defeated and it will be kicked out of the region if it attacks...

THE WRONG TEACHINGS OF MAN According to the Canons of Dordt (Third & Fourth Heads of Doctrine -- Article 11), "But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect, or works in them true conversion, He not only causes the gospel to be externally preached to them, and powerfully illuminates their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit He pervades the inmost recesses of man; He opens the closed and softens the hardened heart, and circumcises that which...