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Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Federal and state agents have arrested 83 people for growing more than $1.2 billion worth of marijuana in an ongoing crackdown on illegal pot gardens in California's Sierra Nevada range. Local officials said several Mexican marijuana-growing cartels helped set up the grow sites scattered throughout rocky mountainsides of eastern Fresno County, and warned more arrests were likely as the sweep continues. More than 318,000 marijuana plants were destroyed in the operation, which also netted nearly $41,000 in cash, 25 weapons and two vehicles, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Thursday.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Dozens of National Guard troops seized control of a police station controlled by a leading opponent of President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday, adding to tensions between Venezuela's government and elected opposition officials. About 40 National Guard troops tossed tear gas canisters at a police precinct post in the town of Curiepe, east of Caracas, shortly before dawn, said Elisio Guzman, director of the Miranda state police. He said the officers inside were forced to leave and the National Guard occupied the building. Guzman said the motive behind the takeover was unclear and national government officials could not...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California governor's office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state's budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks. But the National Park Service warned in a letter to Schwarzenegger that six of those parks are on former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if they are not kept open as parks.

Regulators took over four banks Friday, bringing the total number of failures this year to 29. The California Department of Financial Institutions seized First Bank of Beverly Hills and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The FDIC decided to liquidate the one-branch bank, which had $1 billion in deposits and $1.5 billion in total assets. First Bank was owned by Beverly Hills Bancorp Inc., a publicly traded company, and specialized in commercial and real estate lending. It announced earlier April 15 that a merger agreement designed to shore up the bank's finances had fallen through. Earlier Friday, the...

The daily power grab is just breathtaking... As the gullible media and citizens whine about AIG and bonuses, the behind the scenes fallout of Obama'nomics is reaching unbelievable heights. These include a proposed budget being short over a trillion A spending plan Obama appears unwilling to abandon.Then there's the first time that the UN and Euro nations have decided to officially recommend dumping the dollar as the world's reserve currency.... a position they think is necessary with the spending and borrowed debt in the US future. There's the cap and trade bit, where Obama's estimates of the costs to the...

When US banks are in trouble, the FDIC is empowered to seize the banks, and dispose of the assets. Now Obama is fast tracking legislation to create a new regulatory agency - a "resolution authority" to do the same for other "financial institutions" using AIG, and it's bonus contracts, as the example for it's need. AP's Economic Writer, Martin Crutsinger's lead paragraph chills one to the bone... President Barack Obama seeks new powers that would allow his administration to seize troubled companies like the insurer AIG — and take ownership of their toxic assets — if their collapse would threaten...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2008 – The “Sons of Iraq” civilian security group led coalition troops to their biggest operations in recent days – disarming a bomb at a security checkpoint and finding one of their largest weapons caches to date, military officials reported. Coalition forces responded to a Sons of Iraq checkpoint to disarm a roadside bomb Dec. 29 in Baghdad's Rashid district. An explosive ordnance disposal unit disarmed the bomb. Tips from Sons of Iraq members in the Tikrit area led soldiers to several large weapons caches Dec. 29, one of which is the largest discovered since 25th Infantry...

Agam Shah, IDG News Service Fri Aug 1, 7:50 PM ET Travelers beware: U.S. agents now have the authority to seize and retain laptops indefinitely, according to a new policy detailed in documents issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Zimbabwe militants seize farm of Commercial Farmers' Union president By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg Last Updated: 1:43am BST 10/04/2008 Zanu PF militants have invaded the farm of Commercial Farmers' Union president Trevor Gifford, saying he is never to return home. Mr Gifford, who has spent a frantic week in Harare trying to assist at least 60 fellow farmers cope with their own invasions around the country was not at home near Chipinge, about 220 miles south east of Harare, when the mob of about 30 wearing Zanu-PF T-shirts arrived at his security gate. "They have left messages with staff for...

Allies prepare to seize Taliban stronghold By Tom Coghlan, Kabul Correspondent Last Updated: 3:01am GMT 06/12/2007 A key Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan is expected to fall to British troops and the national army within a matter of days. Troops from the Royal Irish Regiment board a Chinook helicopter taking them to the outskirts of Musa Qala Residents report that Nato aircraft have dropped leaflets warning of an imminent assault on Musa Qala in the north of Helmand province. The town is of huge symbolic value to the Taliban. It has been in its hands for 10 months and is...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 27, 2007 – Afghan national security forces confiscated an ammunition cache in Khana village in the Sherzad district of Afghanistan's Nangahar province yesterday. The Afghan-led forces planned and executed the mission after receiving credible information of a possible ammunition cache in their area. The forces located and searched the suspected area where they found and recovered 70 rocket-propelled grenade boosters. Afghan citizens receive compensation for their efforts through the Small Rewards Program when they facilitate the recovery and turn-in of armament caches. The program is designed to encourage and compensate Afghan citizens for their efforts...

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - Pro-Taliban militants seized control of a shrine in northwestern Pakistan and renamed it after Islamabad's Red Mosque, while 10 people died in the latest violence near the Afghan border, officials said Monday. About 70 pro-Taliban militants occupied the shrine of renowned Pashtun freedom fighter Sahib Turangzai and its accompanying mosque in the town of Lakarai in Mohmand tribal region on Sunday, a spokesman for the militants and a local government official said. The militants declared their support for the radical leaders of the Red Mosque that was stormed by Pakistan's army this month after its clerics...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Days of fierce fighting with NATO and Afghan forces left Taliban militants in control of one southern Afghan district and battling to take over another Tuesday, officials said. Taliban fighters seized Miya Nishin district in Kandahar province late Monday, provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said. Authorities were planning to retake the remote area. In neighboring Uruzgan province's Chora district — home to more than 100,000 people — fighting continued between NATO and Afghan forces and militants who attacked police posts in the province's main town on Saturday. Some officials reported dozens of civilian casualties. "It has been...

U.S. Army Spc. Marquis Dawkins, an infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, surveys more than 120 five-gallon cans of nitric acid, a component used to make bombs, discovered at a bomb-making “factory” in Baghdad’s East Rashid District Monday. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Washburn, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers seized a bomb-making factory along with a large weapons cache while on patrol in eastern Rashid District here Monday.Troops from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and Company A, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry,...

3/22/2007 Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket Brooksville, Florida proposes to foreclose homes and seize cars over less than $20 in parking tickets. The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses. According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims...

SAN DIEGO – Federal authorities Wednesday arrested dozens of individuals across the country suspected of bringing 18 tons of illegal drugs into the United States, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said in an afternoon news conference here. Members of the Victor Emilio Cazares-Gastellum drug trafficking ring were awakened in the early morning hours by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who served simultaneous arrest warrants as part of a 20-month-long investigation into the ring's operations, Gonzales and other federal officials said. Gonzales said the Mexico-based organization acquired drugs from Colombia and Venezuela to Central America, then smuggled them into...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division – Baghdad troops seized a weapons cache and discovered another in the Iraqi capital’s Mansour neighborhood Nov. 17. Iraqi Soldiers received assistance from MND-B Soldiers seizing a weapons cache at about 3:20 p.m. Iraqi Police from the Mamun Station, with the assistance of Soldiers from 615th Military Police Company, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, were conducting a joint patrol when a civilian tipped the Iraqi Policemen to a possible improvised explosive device in a nearby home. When the patrol arrived at the suspect’s house, troops discovered the building...

Israelis seize Palestinian funds A Jordanian-owned bank in Nablus was among those targeted Israeli troops have raided a bank and the offices of money-changers in West Bank towns, confiscating funds they say were intended to fund militants. The army said it seized almost $1.5m (£0.8m) in raids on premises in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm and Ramallah. The money had mostly come from Syria and Iran and was intended for Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, the army said. Palestinian sources have said that millions of dollars, documents and files were "stolen" in the raids. At least eight currency exchange offices and a...

Brussels 'to seize data on property ownership' By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 04/09/2006) The Government yesterday denied claims by a leading Conservative MP that the European Union is planning to seize control of information about the ownership and value of private property in nation states, as a first step to what could become an EU-wide property tax. Eric Pickles, a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and shadow minister for local government, had expressed alarm at a European Commission proposal, known as Inspire — Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe — that would force national mapping agencies such as...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – U.S. soldiers in Iraq seized several large weapons caches and detained eight terrorist suspects in operations yesterday. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team seized a large weapons cache during a cordon-and-search operation in northern Baghdad shortly before 1 p.m. The weapons cache included 21 AK-47 assault rifles, 55 magazines of 7.62 mm ammunition, 2 PKC machine guns, a Russian sniper rifle, tens of thousands of rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, a fragmentary grenade, four jihadist propaganda magazines, and a martyrdom recruitment poster. Earlier yesterday, soldiers from 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006 – In separate operations yesterday and Aug. 6, Iraqi security forces captured 22 suspected terrorists and seized various weapons, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi security forces conducted an early morning raid in eastern Baghdad yesterday, capturing three individuals believed to be involved in punishment and torture cell activities. As they received sustained automatic weapons and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from several insurgent positions in the Sadr City neighborhood, Iraqi forces and coalition advisers detained three suspected insurgents, conducted intelligence gathering on the objective, and then departed the area. Iraqi forces seized one AK-47 assault rifle and...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi soldiers detained two suspected terrorists, killed four terrorists, and seized weapons in several different operations in Iraq today, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, detained two suspected terrorists and seized a collection of weapons during a cordon-and-search operation southeast of Baghdad at about 6:30 a.m. The two Iraqi suspects had fake IDs, a grenade, 100 7.62 mm rounds of ammunition, an SKS assault rifle, an AK-47 assault rifle, and terrorist propaganda DVDs in their house....

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2006 – Coalition forces conducted raids today and yesterday in two areas of Iraq, seized a large weapons cache and captured four terrorists Aug. 4, and detained three terrorists Aug. 3, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Coalition forces killed one man during a raid north of Bayji, Iraq, this morning. Recent intelligence led troops to target terrorists responsible for an attack against an Iraqi army checkpoint near Hawija yesterday, officials said. The terrorists shot and killed five Iraqi soldiers and wounded two others during the attack. Intelligence led coalition forces to a location where the terrorists...

4th BCT PAO, 101st Abn. Div. FOB LOYALTY, Iraq – Iraqi police seized six 107mm rockets with warheads, each containing more than 15 pounds of TNT while investigating a possible launch site Tuesday in the Zafaraniya area of Baghdad. Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and 519th Military Police Battalion, 49th Military Police Brigade, were also sent to the area to investigate the site but found the Iraqi police already had matters in hand when they arrived. By the time the MND-B forces arrived, the Iraqi police...

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2006 – In separate operations throughout Iraq today and July 31, coalition and Iraqi forces foiled a kidnapping attempt, captured eight terrorists, and seized numerous weapons, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers foiled a kidnapping attempt by four men disguised as Iraqi policemen in southeastern Baghdad early today. Soldiers from Company C, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, spotted four kidnappers dressed in Iraqi police uniforms attempting to abduct an Iraqi civilian. The four kidnappers were detained for questioning. In another operation, Iraqi national police and soldiers...

FOB LOYALTY, Iraq – Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers from Battery B, 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, located a munitions cache during a combined patrol in east Baghdad Monday. A tip from an Iraqi citizen led the patrol to a location where they discovered 18 60mm mortar rounds in two separate ammunition boxes; the rounds had fuses already installed. It took the MND-B Soldiers less than 15 minutes from the time the tip was called in to locate the cache. The...

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2006 – Coalition forces captured 13 suspected terrorists and found several weapons caches throughout Iraq this week, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Coalition forces successfully targeted and captured a wanted terrorist and another associate during a raid north of Tikrit, today. The targeted terrorist is a known leader of several al Qaeda in Iraq members in the area, officials said. Intelligence indicates the group is responsible for an attack on an Iraqi checkpoint that killed nine Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 others July 6. Elsewhere, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained six suspected terrorists and located...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – U.S. soldiers freed a kidnapped Voice of America journalist and captured four suspected terrorists in two separate operations in Baghdad July 14, officials in Iraq reported. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers rescued a kidnapped Voice of America reporter in southeast Baghdad. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, had observed four men dumping a bound-and-gagged body from their vehicle. The soldiers engaged the suspects with small-arms fire, but the men escaped into a nearby palm grove. The U.S. soldiers had first believed that the suspects in the car were dumping a...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Federal agents seized a Mercedes-Benz from an Army reservist who said the armor-plated, bulletproof luxury car probably belonged to Saddam Hussein. First Sgt. William von Zehle said he bought the car while serving in Iraq. U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement agents said the car, which was also equipped with loudspeakers and hidden microphones, was being treated as a "possible war trophy." "It belonged to the former Iraqi regime," ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said. He said investigators were unsure whether the former Iraqi dictator actually owned it. Von Zehle was quoted in news stories last summer as...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 31, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces engaged an insurgent group this morning, killing one and seizing munitions in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, military officials reported. A combined Afghan National Army and coalition patrol saw and engaged a small group of insurgents carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers in the province's Chora district, officials said. A subsequent search uncovered assault rifles, pistols and ammunition, mortar sights, a homemade bomb and materials for making more, and rocket-propelled grenades. "This operation is another fine example of how the ANA and coalition are working together to rid Afghanistan of the perpetrators...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained 32 suspects and seized three weapons caches in Iraq since March 19, with one detention resulting from an Iraqi citizen's tip that foiled a kidnapping, Multinational Division Baghdad officials reported. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, along with their Iraqi counterparts from 4th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, were attacked with small-arms fire south of Latfiyah today. They returned fire, killing one terrorist and detaining another 11 suspected terrorists. The troops also confiscated a Dishka heavy machine gun and 55-gallon...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – In the past week, U.S. and Iraqi forces detained more than five dozen suspected insurgents in Iraq, U.S. military officials reported. Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, captured 20 detainees and a small cache yesterday near Khalis, Iraq. The detainees and cache contents were turned over to authorities for further investigation. The original intent of the operation was to target 10 individuals believed to be associated with a local kidnapping and assassination cell. Elsewhere, soldiers from two battalions of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, in conjunction with Iraqi security...

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2006 – Afghan and coalition troops detained several suspects and seized weapons during two March 15 operations in Afghanistan, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials reported. A joint patrol detained nine armed men in the village of Khwazi in Qalat district, Zabul province after they were seen running into a mosque with weapons. Afghan National Army soldiers ordered the armed men out of the mosque. When they refused to leave, the patrol received permission from the mullah to enter and search the building. The men, who are suspected of being Taliban, were detained without incident. Coalition forces remained...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2006 – A vehicle bomb killed five Iraqis today, and Iraqi and U.S. soldiers have continued to arrest suspected terrorists and find weapons, military officials reported. Two Iraqi adults and three children were killed in Hillah when a minivan, which had been used as a taxi, exploded. The minivan was traveling in the southern district of Hillah when it reportedly was stopped. An unidentified man left the vehicle, entered a red sedan, and drove away. Moments later, the minivan exploded. The minivan's occupants suffered minor injuries and were taken to the Hillah medical treatment facility, officials said....

Rebels seize oil workers in Nigeria Tom Ashby in Lagos Sunday February 19, 2006 The Observer (UK) Nine foreign oil workers were kidnapped by armed militants in Nigeria yesterday in a series of attacks that also saw a tanker terminal bombed and two pipelines sabotaged. The raids came after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta announced it was declaring war on all foreign oil interests in the region in response to helicopter gunship attacks on villagers last week. The militants stormed a pipe-laying barge operated by the US firm Willbros and abducted nine workers, including a Briton,...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2006 – A combined U.S. and Iraqi patrol killed four insurgents yesterday, and in separate incidents Feb. 2, a U.S. team seized a weapons cache west of Fallujah and Multinational Division Baghdad forces detained three suspected terrorists, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported today. The insurgents were killed after they opened fire on U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers patrolling along the Euphrates River south of Hit. The combined patrol was conducting a cache sweep when the insurgents attacked with small-arms fire, officials said. U.S. and Iraq troops returned fire, killing four insurgents and detaining three others for questioning....

St. Louis police will be able to seize cars blasting loud music under a bill passed today by the Board of Aldermen. The bill mirrors laws in other cities, prohibiting the use and even installation of some enhanced speakers. Alderman Craig Schmid’s proposal easily had enough votes to pass, but not after aldermen turned up the volume on their own concerns. Impounding a car for playing loud music is to severe, opponents said, and ripe for abuse.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi forces killed and detained suspected terrorists and uncovered various weapons caches yesterday and today, military officials in Baghdad reported. Iraqi soldiers from 8th Iraqi Army Division, supported by Multinational Division Central South soldiers, killed two terrorists and detained four others in a small village in southern Diwaniyah province today. One coalition soldier was wounded. He was taken to a coalition forces medical facility and was reported to be in stable condition. The detainees are suspected of murder, kidnapping and selling drugs, officials said. Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers uncovered weapons caches...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 – U.S. soldiers killed and captured terrorism suspects in Iraq Jan. 2, and U.S. and Iraqi forces seized weapons caches, military officials reported today. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, killed a suspected terrorist and captured another after an attack on a coalition base near Balad. The soldiers immediately captured one suspect, but chased the second for two hours. The chase ended when the soldiers cornered the suspect in a grove of palm trees and killed him with return fire, officials said. In another incident near Hawijah, soldiers detained two bombing suspects...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2005 – U.S. and Iraqi forces thwarted a prison escape today and destroyed five weapons caches and seized money and passports yesterday, U.S. military officials in Baghdad reported. Four Iraqi prison guards, an interpreter and four prisoners died and a U.S. soldier and five prisoners were injured when 16 prisoners tried to escape after storming the armory and obtaining weapons. All prisoners are accounted for. The 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team found nearly 400 mortar rounds, along with explosive propellant, artillery fuses, small-arms ammunition, an anti-tank missile and an anti-personnel mine near Hawijah in north...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2005 – Iraqi Army troops and coalition forces captured 11 insurgents and seized six caches Dec. 13 in operations southeast of Baqubah, Iraq, military officials reported today. The caches included eight anti-tank mines, six 155 mm artillery rounds, 48 assorted rockets, 48 mixed mortars rounds, 16 anti-personnel rocket-propelled grenades, 26 RPG boosters and a mortar tube assembly. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel were called in to destroy the munitions. The suspects are being detained pending further investigation. Also on Dec. 13, Iraqi army soldiers and coalition forces uncovered a cache hidden in a cave north of Husaybah. Troops...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2005 – Iraqi security forces and multinational forces from Task Force Freedom detained 44 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Sept. 26-30, military officials reported. Iraqi police seized a weapons cache during a cordon-and-search operation in eastern Mosul on Sept. 28. The cache included artillery rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, and blasting caps. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. During five operations in Tal Afar between Sept. 26 and 29, soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, detained 17 individuals suspected of terrorist activity. Suspects are in custody....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition forces detained 10 suspects and seized weapons and ammunition in operations across Iraq on Sept. 28, military officials reported. Iraqi soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, were conducting targeted raids in conjunction with coalition troops in Ramadi when they detained four men. The troops believed the men might have been involved with a previously discovered cache in central Ramadi. Elsewhere, Iraqi troops from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and coalition troops conducting combined entry-control-point operations detained a man with suspected false identification documents...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2005 – Coalition forces in Iraq captured seven terror suspects, seized a car bomb being prepared for an attack, and foiled five roadside-bomb attacks during a series of combat operations conducted in Baghdad over the past two days. Just before 6 a.m. today, coalition forces seized a car bomb and three terrorists who admitted they were planning to use the car bomb in an attack later in the day. An explosive ordnance disposal team safely detonated the bomb, and the terrorists were taken into custody. At 3:30 a.m. Aug. 5, Task Force Baghdad soldiers approached a man...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez has denied an outspoken cardinal's allegation that he is leading Venezuela toward a dictatorship as tensions mounted between the leftist leader and the Roman Catholic Church. Chavez said anyone who thinks his "revolutionary" government is gradually turning into a dictatorial regime "is crazy enough to be tied up or just ignorant (and) doesn't know what's happening in Venezuela." The statements made by Chavez in Lima, Peru, where he was attending an Andean summit meeting, were released by his press office in Caracas on Monday. A day earlier, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara said Chavez's...

Here's the situation. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the elected governments of cities can't define "imminent domain" as land for a shopping mall. I don't think they should, but is it a question for the Supreme Court to involve itself? This is a policy issue. The legislature of Connecticutt should get involved and pass a law that says "the government can't seize private property for private use." Or maybe the Congress and Senate should. But the Supreme Court...finally had the restraint not to involve itself in policy decisions. And I think that's good.

At around the age of eighteen, I became interested in politics. Prior to that, my attention was focused elsewhere due to my age, I believe. I did not understand the real meaning of political language, but I tried, mostly without success, to seek out sources to research and understand it. When I turned eighteen, in accordance with Muslim education, I completed an intensive program of Islamic study, which took four to five months. During this time, I began reading non-Iranian, secular books. While reading history, sociology, anthropology, and religious texts, it became clear to me that, when religion moves from...

Hillary-haters seize on trial of fundraiser in bid to smear Clintons By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 10 May 2005 A former fund-raising director for Hillary Clinton goes on trial in Los Angeles today to face accusations of campaign finance irregularities that political opponents of the former first Lady turned US senator hope will help dent her chances of a successful run for the presidency in 2008. To the growing band of Hillary-haters who have set up websites and political action committees to try, again, to stop her political career in its tracks, the case has all the hallmarks of...

ELKHART -- Police confiscated items used to take drugs and 19 switchblades from a local convenience store last week. On April 18, the Elkhart County Prosecutor's office got a search warrant for the BP gas station at 935 N. Nappanee St., near Memorial High School and the Elkhart Area Career Center. The prosecutor's office has been leading an effort to make sure businesses are operating legally, said Bill Wargo, chief investigator. "We're visiting a number of legitimate businesses, verifying licenses and ownership," he said. Officers from the Elkhart Police Department and Elkhart County Sheriff's Department helped raid the convenience store...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sunni guerrillas took at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad on Friday and threatened to kill them unless Shi'ites left the area, a Shi'ite official quoted residents as saying. The hostage-taking and three successive days of bombings which killed at least 34 people suggested insurgents had regrouped after a lull in violence since Jan. 30 elections. "People from the town called me begging the Iraqi government to save their relatives who are hostages. They told me there are at least 60 hostages," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in...