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Legendary broadcaster Hugh Downs has died at the age of 99, according to a statement from his family. He passed away at his Scottsdale, Arizona, home Wednesday evening. A spokeswoman for the family said that Downs did not have COVID-19, according to azfamily.com. Downs’ broadcast career spanned more than 60 years, including such shows as “20/20,” the “Today Show,” “Concentration” and “Tonight Starring Jack Paar.”

President Obama’s actions in Libya were already suspicious for a number of reasons. First, during Obama’s presidential campaign, he asserted that his priority was to get America out of the two wars it was already fighting. Second, Obama was a staunch critic of the Bush administration for unconstitutionally embarking on a war without congressional approval — an action of which President Obama is now guilty. Finally, as the economy is teetering on collapse, one would assume the last thing the President would want is to have to fund a third war. And yet here we are. However, once we delve...

PARIS – The son of the deposed shah of Iran urged nations worldwide on Thursday to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran to protest a relentless government crackdown on opposition demonstrators that resulted in at least eight deaths this week alone.

Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has an active cell in La Guajira, the north Colombian department bordering Venezuela, Israel's Foreign Ministry said. In an interview with newspaper El Tiempo, Dorit Shavit, director of The Foreign Ministry's Latin America office said Iran is trying to extend its influence in Latin America and is behind the creation of this particular cell.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 AdvertismentThe first national telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports of Republican Congressman Ron Paul's presidential candidacy shows him trailing New York Senator Hillary Clinton by fifteen points and Illinois Senator Barack Obama by twenty. Overall, the numbers show Clinton getting 49% of the vote when matched against Paul while the Republican hopeful picks up just 34%. Obama leads Paul 50% to 30%. Among Republicans, Paul manages just 65% support when matched against Clinton and only 55% against Obama. Paul's long-shot bid for the GOP nomination drew more attention after his campaign reported having more cash on hand...

Many Brits make it in the US - not all keep their accents By Megan Lane BBC News Magazine A cut glass English accent can fool unsuspecting Americans into detecting a "brilliance that isn't there", says Stephen Fry. So is a British accent - of any variety - the route to success in the United States? "Gee, I just love your accent." Any Brit crossing the Atlantic will have heard that line many times. Like the rest of us, Americans are rarely immune to the charms of an accent different from their own. Go on, say "shagadelic"... There's the...

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury Imagine Russia in 2050! According to Paul Goble, a specialist on ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation has predicted that within the next several decades, Russia will become a Muslim majority state. There is another bad news with fast decline in country’s population. This has already become a headache for Russian politicians and policy makers. President Vladimir Putin has called already for Russian women to have more children, because demographers predict that Russia’s population will fall from 143 million to 100 million by 2050. This situation has alarmed Russians as well Western leaders, more so...

The government will unveil today a new security arrangement with the United States that will allow US military involvement in addressing "non-traditional threats" including terrorism, piracy, disease outbreaks and natural disasters. Philippine security officials emphasized that the new arrangement is not a treaty but an "institutional framework" that will cover issues not specifically cited in the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries. The Philippine government proposed the crafting of the framework about a year ago. Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, a lawyer, noted that the MDT commits both countries to come to each other’s...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 9, 2006) -- A Navy religious program specialist has a very special duty -- to assist the Navy chaplains any way he can. Whether it is to prepare for religious service or be an enlisted advisor, these small things don’t undermine the RP’s primary focus; to protect the chaplain. Chaplains serve as non-combatants and do not carry a weapon, even in the most dangerous combat environment they are protected by their respective RP. When Petty Officer 1st Class Michael A. Beeler Jr. was wounded by sniper fire alongside his chaplain on a convoy with 8th Engineer...

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (Nov. 4, 2005) -- It might be said that Seaman Travis Lassiter, a religious program specialist serving with 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, based out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, was born for the position he currently holds. After all, his parents had just moved to Surrey, British Columbia, in Canada, to run a church as pastors, before they welcomed little Travis into the world. After a few family moves throughout his childhood, including ones to Oregon, Texas, and North Carolina, Lassiter said he noticed himself “feeling the call of the...

The Philippines and China have signed a $1-billion bilateral currency swap that would enable the Philippines to avail up to 10 percent of the facility under the Chang Mai Initiative. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the People’s Bank of China formally signed the agreement after months of negotiations, giving the Philippines access to draw from the facility should it need to do so. According to BSP Governor Rafael Buenaventura, the agreement was a one-way swap where the Philippines would exchange the peso equivalent that China would convert to renminbi (its currency) and then into dollars. The Chang Mai...