Free Republic

The Obama administration’s crackdown on leaks to the press has snared a high-profile conviction of an FBI linguist, who was sentenced to 20 months in prison Monday after pleading guilty to giving classified information to a blogger. The sentence for Shamai Leibowitz is likely to become the longest ever served by a government employee accused of passing national security secrets to a member of the media. His case represents only the third known conviction in U.S. history for a government official or contractor providing classified information to the press. And it reflects a surprising development: President Barack Obama’s Justice Department...

STERLING, Va. (AP) - A senior Pentagon official is apologizing to Washington-area Muslims for the burning of Qurans at a military base in Afghanistan. Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs, says the military is investigating and that all troops are being retrained in the handling of religious materials. Lavoy's remarks were Friday at a mosque in suburban Washington, D.C. They come after protests across Afghanistan over the burning of several Qurans at a U.S. military base. Military officials say 20 people have died in the protests, including two U.S. soldiers.

Ex-CIA Officer Indicted for Leaking Classified Info to New York Slimes Reporter Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer, was indicted today for leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen. The indictment shows that the federal government had access to their e-mail and phone contacts going back several years. Sterling served on the Iran desk of the CIA in the 1990s, and oversaw a classified program aimed at sabotaging the development of its nuclear programming. He left the CIA in 2000 and sued for racial discrimination (he is African American) in a case that went all the way...

A former CIA officer was arrested on Thursday on charges of illegally disclosing national defense information about Iran to a New York Times reporter who wrote a book. The U.S. Justice Department said Jeffrey Sterling, 43, was charged with six counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and one count of unlawfully keeping national defense information, mail fraud, unauthorized conveyance of government property and obstructing justice.

A gun-wielding man wearing a Hillary Clinton mask robbed a Sterling bank on Dec. 27, authorities said. The man walked into the Wachovia bank in Community Plaza about 9:14 a.m., approached a teller, brandished a firearm and demanded cash, according to Loudoun County sheriff’s office reports. The robber then fled the bank in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of cash. No injuries were reported, according to Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses described the robber as a 6-foot-tall black man. He was last seen wearing a black jacket with a red shirt underneath, according...

The women of the 1960s and their 'period bodies' with normal proportions are rare today, and something to be envied. The fourth season of "Mad Men" starts Sunday, and with it another round of opportunities to both marvel and gasp at how much things have changed since the early 1960s. Much of the genius of the show, of course, lies in its ferocious attention to period details. From the entrenched womanizing and nonstop drinking and smoking (even while pregnant!) to children who play with plastic dry-cleaning bags

NOTE The following text is a quote: MS-13 Driver in 2007 Murder in Springfield Sentenced to Life in Prison ALEXANDRIA, VA—Carlos Bladimir Montoya, also known as "Ciego," 26, of Sterling, Va., was sentenced today to life plus a consecutive 120 months in prison for his role in the murder of a rival gang member on May 5, 2007. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Colonel David Rohrer, Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District...

The pound burst through the $1.50 mark as Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister, ushering in a coalition Government with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Despite fears that a hung parliament would be catastrophic for the UK economy, sterling leapt by a cent as it emerged that negotiations between Labour and the LibDems broke down. The new Conservative-Liberal Government is expected to pitch itself as a unity government with the purpose of overhauling Britain’s economy after the biggest economic crisis and deepest recession since the 1930s. It will pledge to hold an emergency Budget within two months, which is expected...

Debt can become a real liability for a superpower. Recall what happened to postwar Britain. The dollar's sharp drop over the past few weeks has led to considerable anxiety about the status of the United States as the dominant force in the global economy. Closely related to this fear is constant worry about the rise of China and the evermore complicated relationship between Beijing and Washington. Most people are now aware that China is the largest creditor to a heavily indebted U.S. government. It holds close to a trillion dollars of U.S. Treasurys and has invested hundreds of billions more...

Sterling plunged to a seven-year low against the dollar today as one of the world's top investors warned the currency was 'finished'. The pound fell more than two cents to hit a low of $1.3965 as traders reacted to the Government's latest multi billion-pound bailout of the banking system. It is the first time sterling has dropped below $1.40 since mid-2001 and is on track for its biggest one-day percentage fall against the dollar since late 1992. Less than a year ago, it was still trading at $2. Today, it was also down against the euro and the Japanese yen....

Sterling has fallen sharply against the dollar as yet more bad economic data points towards a prolonged recession and further interest rate cuts. The pound was down 5.2 cents to $1.486, its largest one day fall in percentage terms since sterling crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992. Sharp falls in the FTSE 100 index - down 5.2% on Monday - also served to undermine the currency. The pound was also down 3.5 cents against the euro, at 0.851 pounds. The poor economic data increases the likelihood that the Bank of England will cut interest rates on...

Gordon Brown is risking the "collapse of sterling" by borrowing his way out of economic turmoil, George Osborne has warned. The shadow chancellor, who breached political protocol by potentially talking down the pound, said the Prime Minister was pursuing a "scorched earth" policy with the intention of leaving the economy in ruins for a Tory government to inherit. In an interview with The Times, he said that people know instinctively that no government can borrow its way out of debt. Mr Osborne said that the resulting weight of debt will stifle recovery and jeopardise the future of the pound. "Sterling...

Sterling fell to a 12-year low against a basket of currencies on Tuesday and briefly fell to its lowest level against the euro since the single currency was introduced amid signs that foreign investors are deserting British assets. Since mid-September UK fixed income instruments, which consist of gilts, corporate bonds, shorter maturing bills, and mortgage securities have seen extremely heavy outflows, according to data from the Bank of New York Mellon. This has coincided with a sharp fall in sterling. According to the bank’s data, the net outflows of foreign investment from UK fixed income instruments seen over the past...

The pound could soon dive to barely more than a dollar and a half while gold prices plunge to $650, experts predicted yesterday amid fresh evidence that the commodity boom is ending and the dollar's resurgence is under way. Michael Saunders, head of European economics at Citigroup, said it "would not be a surprise" if sterling fell to levels last seen in 2002 - around $1.55 - despite sitting above two dollars as recently as mid-July. His comments came as sterling dropped to a fresh two-year low against the dollar, down over a cent at $1.8632. Its recent series...

The pound has suffered its worst run against the dollar since 1971, after falling in value for eleven consecutive days, on fears that the British economy is heading for recession. The plunging value of sterling came just two days after Mervyn King, the governor of Bank of England, said there was a "chill in the economic air" and a figures showed unemployment climbed in July by the most in almost 16 years.

Sterling made the headlines earlier this year by breaking though the $2 mark, but the currency is unlikely to reach such heady levels again in 2008 as the UK economy weakens, a clutch of the City's biggest banks now predicts. The sell-off, which started in foreign-exchange dealing floors last week, saw the pound end at $1.9807 and €1.4411 in a shortened trading day in London on Christmas Eve. According to HSBC the sell-off is just beginning and will see the pound slump to $1.80 by the end of next year. In one of the more bearish outlooks circulating around the...

The pound has slumped to its lowest level in 20 months, after a "shocking" raft of figures revealed how deeply reliant the UK has become on debt. Britain's current account has recorded its worst deficit since the late 1980s, making Britain's national balance sheet worse than the United States' for the first time since Nigel Lawson was Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sterling neared an all-time low against the euro Figures published by the Office for National Statistics caused a major sell-off of the pound, as experts warned that the UK currency would have to fall in value to bring the...

Sterling has pushed through the $2.10 barrier for the first time in 26 years after the Chinese government indicated it is prepared to diversify some of its huge foreign-exchange reserves. The pound stormed to as high as $2.1021 in trading in London, a level not seen since the early Thatcher era, and many currency experts now predict it go higher despite signs that the UK economy is slowing. The greenback's renewed weakness was sparked by comments from Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, who suggested China will diversify some of its $1.33 trillion (£660bn) of foreign-exchange reserves....

Three private groups are now in the hunt to build U.S. 281 toll lanes, but two big foreign companies competing just a short while ago to build and lease a larger toll network here have dropped out. The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority board voted Wednesday to let all three teams submit plans to rebuild U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604 into a tollway with free access roads by 2012. It's the fledging agency's first project. "Goodness knows we have been two and a half years getting here," board member Bob Thompson said. "Maybe it's even more important to see the...

          Performing in purple underwear on MTV hardly seems like qualification for the toughest legal job on the planet: defending suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay. Then again, Kristine Huskey is not your typical lawyer       Gitmo's Girl  Gitmo's Girl Shortly before their first visit to Guantánamo Bay, on the day after Christmas in 2004, Kristine Huskey and her colleagues were told they could put together a special care package for their 12 Kuwaiti clients, none of whom they'd ever met. Stunned by this small act of grace — you can bring food down there? — the...