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The government of Albania has agreed on a standard tax rate (flat tax) of 10 percent aimed at outdoing its East European rivals and attracting international investors. The government in Tirana is determined to transform the impoverished Balkan state into a haven for multinational companies and western speculators. From the start of next year, corporate taxes will be reduced from 20 to just 10 percent. The basic rate of income tax, which amounted to 5 percent for average incomes and a maximum of 25 percent for top earners, had already been changed to a uniform rate of 10 percent for...

Wanted on Bay Area grand theft warrant, Dem donor gave $53,000 to causes in state -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took money from fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu, the deep-pocketed Democrat who handed out more than $250,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton and other party candidates and causes in the past few years. According to state and local records, Hsu has given more than $53,000 to various political efforts in the state since 2004, including $27,600 to the state Democratic Party, $5,000 to 2006 gubernatorial hopeful Steve Westly...

An ex-boyfriend of Chelsea Clinton dedicated his first book to her and got two thumbs up from her father, the former U.S. president. In "Elvis is Titanic," an account of his brief time spent teaching in Iraq, Ian Klaus proffers the dedication "To my mother and Chelsea, for understanding." Klaus, 28, met Chelsea Clinton, 27, while both were at Oxford University in Britain and they dated about four years. She now has a new beau but Klaus is quiet on the subject of relationships, saying he's "enjoying my private life being private." What's clear is Klaus still has a big...

Six American University students agreed late yesterday to pay $100 fines to settle misdemeanor charges stemming from a raucous April 3 protest of White House counselor Karl Rove's visit to the campus, their attorney said. The cases were filed by the D.C. attorney general's office last week -- nearly five months after the demonstration in which one student mooned Rove's car while some of the others allegedly lay in the street to block the vehicle. Five students were accused of crossing a police line and of disorderly conduct. The sixth was charged with crossing a police line. The students had...

Is or is not Patrick Kennedy, son of the esteemed Senator Ted Kennedy, a homosexual? Just wondering if anyone has noticed this little situation. Also, was there ever someone named Barney Franks? Thanks for the help. MS

Saying the coming weeks will be "one of the last opportunities" to alter the course of the war, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he is now willing to compromise with Republicans to find ways to limit troop deployments in Iraq. Reid acknowledged that his previous firm demand for a spring withdrawal deadline had become an obstacle for a small but growing number of Republicans who have said they want to end the war but have been unwilling to set a timeline. "I don't think we have to think that our way is the only way," Reid said...

Diversified Energy & XL Renewables Testing New Algae Technology Gilbert, Arizona Diversified Energy Corp. has formed a partnership and licensing arrangement for a patent pending, algae production system invented by XL Renewables, Inc. Under an exclusive worldwide license, Diversified Energy will provide systems engineering and project management to commercialize the technology. According to the companies, the new technology, called Simgae™, uses common agriculture and irrigation components to produce algae at a reduced cost. The system uses unique thin walled polyethylene tubing, called Algae Biotape®, similar to conventional drip irrigation tubes. The patent pending biotape is laid out in parallel across...

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told a talk show her husband, Bill, had "looked into" running as her vice president. Appearing on the David Letterman show on Thursday, the talk-show host asked if Bill Clinton could serve as her vice president should she be elected to the White House. But the former first lady acknowledged that he could not. "Believe me," she joked, "he looked into that." She also remarked that if the Constitution didn't forbid a president from a third term, "he might be running." The interivew marked Clinton's seventh appearance on "The Late Show," which was celebrating its 14th...

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Friday that the central bank will "act as needed" to keep the credit crisis that has unhinged Wall Street from hurting the national economy. In anxiously awaited remarks, Bernanke didn't specify what the Fed's next move will be but made clear policymakers are keeping close tabs on the problem, which has roiled investors in the United States and around the globe. Even as Bernanke vowed Fed action, he sought to temper investors' expectations. "It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve -- nor would it be appropriate -- to...

Do not be fooled by Jenna Bush. She has wrapped herself in the golden glow of celebrity. But she is something else entirely. For almost seven years, the blond Bush twin has reveled in the trappings associated with Hollywood starlets -- from wearing made-to-order designer clothes to smiling brightly from the glossy pages of a Vogue photo spread. She has walked red carpets and swanned past velvet ropes. Like so many celebrities, she has taken on a cause -- education -- and is using her fame to stir interest and attract media attention to an upcoming book tour. She has...

The mystery of Norman Hsu deepens today with a New York Times report on his collapsing cover stories. While the Gray Lady tries to focus on the sudden retreat of Democrats from a man who has raised almost a million dollars for them, the real story comes in the second half of the article -- in which Hsu appears to be a front: People who met him said they knew only that he ran an apparel business. Efforts to learn more about his trade hit dead-ends yesterday. Visits to companies at addresses listed by Mr. Hsu on campaign finance records...

She had an unforgettable face: serene, beautiful and yet with a trace of sadness that few would say she did not earn. Indeed, Coretta Scott King’s life was filled with trouble and adversity caused by those opposed to her cause. And among those opponents? J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Now, after more than a year’s work, KHOU-TV in Houston and its investigative unit, 11 News Defenders, have obtained a world-exclusive first look at the FBI’s file on Coretta Scott King. Comprised of nearly 500 pages, with some of those documents partially or totally censored, the intelligence file paints a...

I am not a glutton for punishment. I watch portions of Free Speech TV's Democracy Now! because it's a part of my daily employment duties. You know, make sure it properly airs so the local libs don't go off in a conspiracy theory tirade. They know I work where I work, and are always suspicious I may be up to some funny business. But as a Black man, I am also disgusted on an almost daily basis by the parade of Black victims trotted out by hostess Amy Goodman. It's as if she considers herself this Great White Hope; the...

VENICE (Reuters) - A new film about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers who also murdered her family stunned the Venice festival, with shocking images that left some viewers in tears. "Redacted", by U.S. director Brian De Palma, is one of at least eight American films on the war in Iraq due for release in the next few months and the first of two movies on the conflict screening in Venice's main competition. Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it is...

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has spoken out about the need for Sweden to stand up for press freedoms following the controversy surrounding the publication by a local newspaper of drawings of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Asked whether Sweden risked being drawn into a similar situation as that faced by Denmark two years ago, Reinfeldt replied: "I think it's important to say two things. First, we are eager to ensure that Sweden remains a country in which Muslims and Christians, people who believe in God and people who don't believe in God, can live side by side in a spirit of...

The creative team for Mitt Romney is adding to the picture they are assembling for Iowa and New Hampshire voters with a new ad that features him quite literally running hard as a narrator declares “at every step, he’s met extraordinary challenges.”

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, prides itself on being the capital of Europe and of the Atlantic Alliance. The city, where the European Union and NATO headquarters are located, has no fewer than three U.S. ambassadors...During the past six years Freddy Thielemans, the mayor of Brussels, allowed 3,500 demonstrations. He banned only six...as a rule everyone...is allowed to demonstrate in Brussels. Two weeks ago Thielemans issued his sixth ban. "Stop the Islamization of Europe" (SIOE), a pan-European organization led by a Dane, an Englishman and a German, was denied permission to demonstrate on September 11 against the introduction of Shariah...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Established in 2005 by several veteran Democratic activists, One Wisconsin Now officially describes itself as an "independent, nonpartisan advocacy organization that unites research, policy, message, communications and networking activities of organizations that are dedicated to a progressive public policy agenda in Wisconsin."The group's first executive director was John Kraus, who had previously been director of the state Democratic Party. The group actually operates as three separate and legally distinct entities engaging in various forms of political activity: * One Wisconsin Now is a tax-exempt organization aimed at building grass-roots support for policies like the Healthy Wisconsin universal health care plan...

RACINE (WI) — At least one veterans organization might benefit from a raffle of an semiautomatic AK-47 rifle being held during September at a Racine gun store. Officials from both Wounded Warriors and Racine’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1391 have expressed interest in being the beneficiary in the raffle being held by Drop Zone Surplus N’ Guns Store, 2501 Douglas Ave., according to the store owner. “I just want the money to go to the guys (who) need it. That is why I am donating the firearm and doing the tickets myself,” said store owner Terry Jackson, who said...