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(CNSNews.com) – Almost six years after her 8-year-old son Brent was sucked into a drainage pipe and drowned in a swimming pool at a Mexican resort, Nancy Midlock is still trying to find closure. For Maureen Webster, who treated her 22-year-old son Nolan to a trip to Mexico as a college graduation gift two years ago, the cause of his death near a shallow resort pool is still unresolved. But both women have transformed their personal tragedies into a cause to make sure their children did not die in vain. They want Mexican authorities to investigate the cases of Americans...

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - A U.S. Embassy official says American and Russian military leaders are meeting for unannounced talks in Finland, the highest-level military meeting between the two countries since Russia's war with U.S. ally Georgia in August. U.S. Embassy spokesman Kim Hargan says the participants include Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Nikolai Makarov, who was appointed the Russian Armed Forces' Chief of General Staff in June. Hargan declined to give any details on Tuesday's talks, which had not been previously announced in Finland. The Finnish Defense Ministry said the head of...

...Chuck Schumer, along with Claire McCaskill and John Kerry, responded quickly with a letter to Condoleezza Rice asking her to prevent the deals from going forward until there is an oil-revenue sharing law. Both Schumer and Kerry are on the Senate Finance Committee; Kerry and McCaskill are both surrogates for Barack Obama, whose campaign has been going after John McCain for McCain's new, oil company-friendly position on offshore drilling. Here's the release along with the letter (which, weirdly, doesn't include McCaskill's name at the end of it). SCHUMER, KERRY & McCASKILL SEEK TO BLOCK BIG OIL’S NO-BID CONTRACTS IN IRAQ...

Bush keeps Poland off visa list Nicholas Kralev Friday, October 17, 2008 President Bush angered staunch ally Poland Friday by excluding it from a group of newcomers to a program that allows citizens of certain countries to visit the United States without entry visas. At a Rose Garden ceremony, Mr. Bush announced rescinding visa requirements for six other former communist countries -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia -- as well as South Korea, effective in about a month. "For years, the leaders of these nations have explained to me how frustrating it is for their citizens...

More than 1,100 people have been slaughtered in a bloodbath of drug-related violence in one city just south of the U.S.-Mexico border this year – that's nearly four victims each day – and some say it is just part of a large crisis that is will soon spill over the border. The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory for Americans who visit Mexico, citing Ciudad Juarez as a hotbed of criminal activity. A large Mexican metropolis in Chihuahua State bordering El Paso, Texas, Juarez is Mexico's deadliest narcotics-war zone with two criminal gangs fighting for power – over city...

We know that history holds many surprises. One doesn't expect to learn more about the secret history of of the Gulag than we already know from both Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Acrcipelago" and Anne Applebaum's "Gulag: A history." This feat, however, is exactly what author Tim Tzouliadis has accomplished: the previously unknown story of the thousands of Americans who, during the Depression, sought employment and a better future in the "worker's paradise" built by the Bolsheviks. All kinds of Americans joined the exodus. Some of them were Communists or fellow-travelors but the majority were average Americans - skilled workers promised paid passage,...

More than 100 former American ambassadors are endorsing John McCain and Sarah Palin for president and vice president. To be announced by the McCain campaign later this week, the endorsements counter Barack Obama’s claims that McCain is inflexible when it comes to diplomacy and negotiations with other countries, Newsmax has learned. Obama has specifically said that in contrast to McCain, he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other world dictators to negotiate, without preconditions. “Senator Obama does not have sufficient leadership experience, nor has he been tested in difficult times,” said Mark W. Erwin, a Democrat and...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling, The Associated Press has learned. The proposal to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran for the first time in three decades attracted great attention when it was first floated seriously over the summer but has now been placed on indefinite hold as November's election nears and Iran continues to defy demands to halt suspect nuclear activities, officials told the AP.

Christopher Hill, the American assistant secretary of state responsible for negotiating with the eccentric regime of Kim Jong-il, returned to the South Korean capital Seoul from a three-day stay in the North. He offered Pyongyang a deal under which verification of the North's promised nuclear disarmament would follow a "provisional" removal of the country from Washington's list of states that sponsor terrorism. Previously, Washington offered to remove North Korea from the list once it had verifiably dismantled its nuclear programmes, but the North has since objected saying that America's plans to conduct "Iraq-style" inspections were humiliating. It has since thrown...

Update on latest information from Berg v. Obama regarding eligibility for POTUS.

Former State Dept. employee Lawrence C. Yontz, 48, pled guilty before a U.S. magistrate to illegally accessing hundreds of passport files, including those of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He didn’t access Sarah Palin’s passport file, presumably because she obtained a passport for the first time last year. According to the Justice Dept.: In pleading guilty, Yontz admitted that between February 2005 and March 2008, he logged onto the PIERS database and viewed the passport applications of approximately 200 celebrities, athletes, actors, politicians and their immediate families, musicians, game show contestants, members of the media corps, prominent business...

William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Statement before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Washington, DC September 17, 2008 Mr. Chairman, Senator Lugar, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Georgia crisis and its implications, particularly for our relationship with Russia. The causes of this conflict – particularly the dispute between Georgia and its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – are complex, with mistakes and miscalculations on all sides. But key facts are clear: Russia’s intensified pressure and provocations against Georgia – combined with a serious Georgian miscalculation – have resulted...

via translation - ALERT - Washington calls on American citizens to leave Bolivia WASHINGTON - The USA called Tuesday U.S. nationals to leave Bolivia, inviting them to take a flight between La Paz and Lima that the U.S. State Department proposes to affrêter Wednesday.

The moral and political cost of Libya's rehabilitation. SECRETARY OF STATE Condoleezza Rice's visit to Libya last week represents the final step in a decades-long U.S. effort to reform and rehabilitate the rogue state. A charter member of the U.S. Department of State's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, after its nuclear program was disclosed in 2003, Tripoli demonstrated contrition and agreed to compensate American victims of a 1988 terrorist attack. Libya was scratched from the list in 2006, and this past August Washington struck a deal with Tripoli that removed the final hurdles in normalizing the bilateral relationship. The...

The US Government's position on the Russia and Georgia conflict has been attacked in Congress by politicians who are concerned about a deterioration of Washington's relationship with Moscow. Officials from the state and defence departments have had to field awkward questions from senators and members of the House of Representatives on the US's stance. The US's promises on Georgia's Nato prospects, Georgia's failure to heed US warnings and Washington's decision to grant £571 million in aid to a country that ignored its advice are among the issues exercising critics. Hilary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential candidate, said it was not...

ALGIERS, Algeria - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held meetings Saturday with terrorism-fighting allies in North Africa, a region of growing strategic importance. After talks with Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci in this vital oil- and gas-producing nation, Rice planned to see President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Her visit comes as Algeria has experienced a surge in terrorist attacks, most claimed by a local extremist group that has linked with al-Qaida.

Condoleezza Rice last night became the most senior US official to visit Libya in more than half a century when she arrived for a meeting with its leader, Muammar Gadafy. The visit, which Rice described as historic, was a reward for Gadafy's strategic decision over the past seven years to distance himself from extremism and give up weapons of mass destruction, providing a positive example to Iran.

Just as the dollar is being pushed up by predictions that the United States may survive its current economic troubles and potentially lead a global recovery, recent developments have threatened to dispel America's remaining economic mystique, which in large part is responsible for its apparent prosperity.With its invasion of U.S. ally Georgia, Russia has boldly asserted its regional power and has shaken up global economic calculations. Although Russia's move again showcases America's murky strategic foresight, more important will be the U.S. response. If America overplays her hand, which I fear she might, the nation will be revealed to be a...

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Thousands in Africa Lied about Families To Gain U.S. Entry The State Department has suspended a humanitarian program to reunite thousands of African refugees with relatives in the U.S. after unprecedented DNA testing by the government revealed widespread fraud. The freeze affects refugees in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Guinea and Ghana, many of whom have been waiting years to emigrate. The State Department says it began DNA testing with a pilot program launched in February to verify blood ties among African refugees. Tests found some applicants lied about belonging to the same family to gain a better chance at legal entry....

In the equation which makes up the odious, criminal and murderous Bush regime and its murderous, criminal and odious foreign policy, the constant factor is constituted by a teacher, promoted to positions way above her personal and intellectual station by a gullible fool of a President. This teacher, whose sheer incompetence as National Security Advisor and as Secretary of State is today so blatantly apparent, goes by the name of Condoleeza Rice.

Feds indict 'whistleblower' By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN, Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA — A former U.S. State Department diplomat and so-called "whistleblower" of a plot to assassinate President Bill Clinton has been charged with possession of classified documents that stem from his time in government. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said the man, Samuel Peter Karmilowicz, had the documents in his possession June 2007, when he visited a relative in Tredyffrin. Acting United States Attorney Laurie Magid on Thursday announced the unsealing of an indictment against Karmilowicz, charging him with one count of unauthorized possession of, and control...

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, warned Russia that it must withdraw its troops behind the boundaries of two disputed Georgian enclaves as she secured a ceasefire agreement that leaves open the possibility of continued incursions. America's chief diplomat arrived in the Georgian capital Tblisi for talks with a deeply suspicious President Mikheil Saakashvili, who sought to strengthen guarantees of a complete Russian pullback. In the end, the pro-Western Georgian leader had little option but to accept the accord on a day that Russia threatened to target Poland with its full arsenal. Before the arrival of international monitors, Russia...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2008 – The humanitarian mission under way in Georgia is intended to alleviate suffering for now and will move into longer-range help in the future, officials said at a Pentagon news conference today. The Air Force has sent two supply-filled C-17 Globemaster III transports into Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi. More flights will follow, officials said, but none are scheduled just yet. Russian troops who invaded Georgia last week are beginning to pull back, Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates also spoke at...

Russia 'sabotaging Georgian airfields', US claims as Condoleeza Rice lands in Tbilisi By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 2:49 PM on 14th August 2008 An American official has claimed that Russian troops are sabotaging airfields and other installations in Georgia this afternoon. The confusion about the Russian's planned pullout came as American military planes began delivering aid to the victims of violence in Georgia and as Washington sent a warning to Moscow that it would back the republic. Today Russia said it was concerned by the 'type' of cargo the US is flying in. The first aid flights into...

Is anybody else watching Condi's State Dept. press conference? She's laying it out straighter than I've ever seen before from Foggy Bottom.THe big highlight was when a Russian "journalist" badgered her, saying that the US response to 9-11 was over-reaction and the Russian operation in Georgia was far more justified than our response to 9-11. She smoked him. Big time. She told him that this is not 1968, that things have changed and Russia cannot overrun a country and its government unchallenged anymore.

Mideast edition, Thursday, August 14, 2008 ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin a humanitarian mission in Georgia. "This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said Wednesday at the White House, adding that a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies was on its way to Georgia. Russian troops and tanks invaded the country last week in response to a Georgian offensive intended to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The Russian president later ordered Russian forces to halt their drive into Georgia, but it was unclear Wednesday whether Russian troops had moved further...

Bush administration officials, worried by what they saw as a series of provocative Russian actions, repeatedly warned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to avoid giving the Kremlin an excuse to intervene in his country militarily, U.S. officials said Monday. But in the end, the warnings failed to stop the Georgian president — a Bush favorite — from launching an attack last week that on Monday seemed likely to end not only in his country’s military humiliation but complete occupation by Russian forces. SNIP Pentagon officials said that despite having 130 trainers assigned to Georgia, they had no advance notice of Georgia’s...

According to the Agence France-Press, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has not interrupted her vacation to deal with the most serious foreign policy crisis faced by the Bush administration since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also been noticeably absent on the diplomatic scene, having failed to interrupt her holidays to fly to Tbilisi in support of the Georgian government. Instead senior State Department official, Matthew Bryza, who oversees the Caucasus region was sent, two days later than planned, to join a joint EU-US mediation effort to win a ceasefire.Rice has been...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States told Russia on Friday to withdraw its forces from U.S. ally Georgia and stop its air attacks on the tiny Caucasus state following fighting in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. "We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday asserted its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and urged an immediate cease-fire in Georgia's rebel territory of South Ossetia, where Tbilisi tried to assert control and Russia sent in forces. ~snip "We support Georgia's territorial integrity and call for an immediate cease-fire. We urge all parties, including Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians to de-escalate and avoid conflict," Gallegos said.~snip

The American Embassy in Baghdad announced Thursday that it had expanded tenfold its program to help Iraqi employees of the American government here, who faced threats for their work, to obtain visas and ultimately citizenship in the United States. The decision is the latest step in the administration’s attempt to answer sharp criticism over its failure to help even those Iraqis who have made the American presence in Iraq possible by serving as translators and supervisors on embassy projects, for the American military and for the Agency for International Development. But critics in the refugee relief community noted that the...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that the United States' participation in the latest round of nuclear talks is a step toward recognizing Tehran's right to acquire nuclear technology. A senior diplomat from the U.S. joined envoys from five other world powers in Switzerland at Saturday's talks on Iran's nuclear program. Ahmadinejad told thousands of supporters gathered in the southern Iranian town of Yasouj that U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns spoke politely and in a dignified manner. "It was a step toward recognizing the rights of the Iranian nation, toward justice, toward repairing your image in the world, toward...

The Bush administration's decision to send a top U.S. diplomat, William Burns, to meet with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator at a European Union-led meeting in Switzerland is a victory for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The White House insists the move does not signify a change in policy toward Tehran. Washington has vowed it will not negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program until it temporarily suspends uranium enrichment. The White House claims the meeting is "a one-time U.S. participation," and that Mr. Burns - the State Department's third-highest ranking diplomat - will only "listen, not negotiate." This is irrelevant. The...

This now available from the U.S. State Department: "2009 Mosques of America Wall Calendar: Limited Edition for Ramadan." "Yep, you read that correctly. It's 'perfect for Muslim outreach efforts," according to a commentary at the Gates of Vienna blog. "Where's the ACLU on this one?" Screen capture of State Department's offering of "Mosques of America" calendar The product was being advertised by "Global Publishing Solutions," a division of the U.S. State Department, until bloggers started talking about it. Officials then apparently hid the page behind the security of a password-protected wall. However, the page is still viewable in a Google...

Interview on the Sean Hannity Radio Show (Condoleezza Rice) (Excerpt) - SECRETARY RICE: ... First of all, this decision, this tactical decision to send Bill Burns one time to receive the reply that the Iranians are supposed to give to the offer that the United States, Russia, China, and three European states made – he’s going to go receive the reply, and he’s going to tell the Iranians, in no uncertain terms, that if they want to negotiate, the condition for doing that is to suspend verifiably their enrichment and reprocessing. So this is really to reinforce the policy that...

This now available from the U.S. State Department: "2009 Mosques of America Wall Calendar: Limited Edition for Ramadan." "Yep, you read that correctly. It's 'perfect for Muslim outreach efforts," according to a commentary at the Gates of Vienna blog. "Where's the ACLU on this one?" The product was being advertised by "Global Publishing Solutions," a division of the U.S. State Department, until bloggers started talking about the product. Officials then apparently hid the page behind the security of a password-protected wall. However, a number of sources said the "offering" still was available in a Google cache of the website. According...

The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush. The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country. ~ snip ~

George Bush U-turn opens way to nuclear talks between US and Iran Tim Reid in Washington President Bush is sending a top US diplomat to meet Iran’s nuclear negotiator this weekend, a major break with his hardline stance towards Tehran and the closest contact between the countries since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In a significant departure from Mr Bush’s long-standing refusal to talk to Tehran until it has abandoned its nuclear enrichment programme, William Burns, the Under-Secretary of State and America’s third most senior diplomat, will travel to Switzerland to attend talks between Iranian and European officials on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Experts said the White House had appeared to undertake a major shift in its hardline stance toward Tehran when it announced that a senior US diplomat would attend international nuclear talks with Iran.In the highest-ranking meeting between the two foes in three decades, Under Secretary of State William Burns is scheduled to attend the Saturday talks with Iran on a "one-time" mission to underline US conditions for ending the atomic stalemate.In Tehran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran was ready for negotiations over the nuclear crisis but warned it would not step over any "red...

In a bid to jump-start talks to end Iran's nuclear program, the Bush administration is sending the State Department's No. 3 diplomat to Geneva to meet with Tehran's top arms negotiator Saturday, the closest contact between the two countries since the Iranian revolution of 1979. The White House's decision breaks sharply from Washington's long-held policy of refusing direct contacts with Tehran until it agrees to freeze its nuclear program. It is the latest backtracking from the unilateralist character of the first Bush term, and follows a recent deal with North Korea over its nuclear program. U.S. officials said President George...

In celebration of Ramadan, Global Publishing Solutions (GPS) is offering a limited edition of the 2009 Mosques in America Wall Calendar. This 12-month calendar is perfect for Muslim outreach efforts, as well as office and event giveaways. The wall calendar features a vibrant photograph or photomontage for each month, displaying the beauty of mosques in America. The upper half of the hanging calendar depicts mosque facades or interiors, and the lower half displays a monthly calendar grid. The 28-page calendar is saddle-stitched and measures 23 x 30 1/2 cm (9 x 12 inches).

President George W. Bush Thursday formally abandoned the last vestiges of a once-robust policy towards a North Korean regime he had rightly said he “loathed.” Worse yet, he is doing so in the face of Pyongyang’s manifest contempt exhibited through, among other things, its serial refusal even to provide promised data about the status and disposition of its nuclear arsenal, let alone to eliminate it. Consider the following egregious shortfalls in the “declaration” supplied by Kim Jong Il’s representatives to the United States via Communist China: The North Korean declaration was delivered six months late. As time dragged on without...

High school students in the Wahhabi-led school learn that "the Jews conspired against Islam" and Sunni Muslims should shun all Shia Muslims. They also are taught that killing an apostate or an adulterer is acceptable under Islamic law. And polytheists (defined elsewhere as Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and even Shia and Sufi Muslims) likewise can be subject to death for their transgressions. It is troubling enough to consider such lessons being ingrained in the minds of teenagers in Riyadh and throughout the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But the same textbooks are in use in Alexandria, Va., at the Islamic Saudi...

Vice President Dick Cheney fought furiously to block efforts by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to strike a controversial US compromise deal with North Korea over the communist state's nuclear programme, the Telegraph has learned. "The exchanges between Cheney's office and Rice's people at State got very testy. But ultimately Condi had the President's ear and persuaded him that his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang," said a Pentagon adviser briefed on the battle. Mr Cheney's office is believed to have played a key role in the release two months ago of documents and photographs...

(CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration's decision to ease trade sanctions on North Korea and start a 45-day process of removing Pyongyang from a list of terror-sponsors has drawn fire from conservatives and praise from quarters usually critical of the president's foreign policies. The decision also fueled a long running debate in Japan, where many feel the move is premature. The announcement that North Korea will be removed from the terrorism list and that sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act will be lifted followed the regime's handover of a written declaration -- six months overdue -- of its plutonium-based...

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Thursday that the proposal to establish a U.S. diplomatic interests section in Tehran is a "deceitful move". "I do not like to talk about rumors but it seems that some of these rumors are very sneaky," the official IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying, when responding to reports on building U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran.

(CNSNews.com) - "We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises," President Bush warned North Korea on Thursday. The president announced at the White House that in response to North Korea meeting a key deadline to declare its nuclear activities, the United States will lift some trade sanctions against the communist state and rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror. North Korea handed over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear programs to Chinese officials on Thursday. President Bush noted that North Korea has begun disabling its nuclear facility at Yongbyon; and on Thursday,...

The State Department has no authority to close a Saudi-supported school criticized for violent teachings, a spokesman said Tuesday, despite an official request for guidance from the Northern Virginia county that leases space for the school's main campus. The department will "respond as appropriate" to Fairfax County supervisors, spokesman Rob McInturff said. "We work with the Saudi government ... to revise educational materials in Saudi Arabia, but this is a private school in the U.S.," Mr. McInturff said. "We don't monitor their activities or anything like that." Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly sent a letter Monday...

Bush Administration to Ask Congress on Thursday to REMOVE North Korea from TERROR WATCH LIST...