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Newly declassified documents show a number of links between the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein and violent terrorist or Islamist groups, many of them dating from the early 1990s. A Pentagon-funded study of the documents failed to find a direct link between Saddam and al Qaeda, the group that carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. But it did establish Iraqi support for Egyptian Islamic Jihad, whose leader Ayman al-Zawahri merged the group with al Qaeda years later. The papers also show that Saddam's Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) maintained a working relationship with Palestinian terrorist groups, secretly...

03/21/2008 Georgia Senate Restricts, Maine Rejects Red Light Cameras Georgia state Senate votes to force cities to justify red light camera programs while Maine panel votes to reject their use. The Georgia state Senate yesterday voted in favor of a measure that adds significant restrictions to the use of red light cameras while a legislative panel in Maine ensured automated ticketing machines remained banned from that state's roads. Although Georgia Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville) would rather see the devices banned outright, his measure represents the next best thing in a state that has authorized their operation for several years. If...

The Israeli government and the leaders of 22 Arab states have agreed to implement a revolutionary agreement, known as the Purim Accord, in which they switch sides: Israelis will occupy the territories of 22 Arab countries currently in existence, and the Arabs from those countries will move to Israel. The accord was brokered by U.S. President George W. Bush, who called it "a humungous step forwards, for humanity and for people in general." The agreement, a draft of which was initialed by the parties Friday morning, is the result of secret negotiations that began during the Annapolis conference last November....

Imagine you're home alone. It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings. But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you...

The latest survey on Palestinian attitudes should throw a glass of very cold water on the large class of Middle East peace processors, both here and in the region, assuming that they are conscious. As reported by the New York Times no less, it turns out that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank support violence against Israel and want an end to any talks with Israel. The kind of violence the Palestinians support includes the cold-blooded slaughter of 8 children in Jerusalem , when a gunman fired hundreds of rounds at yeshiva students in...

Legislation to grant collective bargaining rights to grandmas, aunts and other subsidized child-care providers was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Senate Bill 867 targeted a pivotal service for low-income parents, with about 90,000 providers assisting 700,000 families at a public cost of more than $3 billion. Schwarzenegger's veto message cited the state's massive budget deficit, which despite recent trims is pegged at $8 billion. "Given California's significant budget challenge, I cannot consider bills that would add significant fiscal pressures to the state's structural budget deficit," he wrote. SB 867, similar to legislation vetoed last year, was sponsored by the...

Arkansas trucking companies are asking Congress to look into record high diesel fuel prices. The Arkansas Trucking Association says the high prices are threatening the general economy and the flow of goods throughout the country.

WASHINGTON -- State Department employees inappropriately examined the passport files of Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, a security breach that forced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to apologize to Obama. Rice said Friday she apologized to Obama for a security breach in which three State Department contractors reviewed his file on three occasions earlier this year. Two of the employees were fired and a third disciplined. "I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed," Rice told reporters. Separately, Clinton issued a...

A new film on Jesus, told from an Islamic perspective, has drawn mixed reactions from the Christian community over its claim that Jesus did not die on the cross but was replaced by Judas Iscariot. “The Messiah” – written, produced and directed by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh - was filmed in the Islamic Republic of Iran with Iranian actors to portray how Muslims understand the life of Jesus based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the Gospel of Barnabas – a book not included in the Christian Bible and in which the Prophet Mohammed appears. The movie features two...

Clinton, McCain passport records were also viewed Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:10pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The passport files of presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, a Republican, were improperly accessed by State Department workers, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, declined further comment. On Thursday, the State Department said it had fired two employees and disciplined a third for having snooped in the passport files of Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat running for president.

A journalist for state-run Russian television was found dead in Moscow early Friday and prosecutors have opened a murder investigation, colleagues and officials said. Firefighters found Channel One correspondent Ilyas Shurpayev's body in his apartment with stab wounds and a belt around his neck, Channel One spokeswoman Larisa Krymova said. She said a fire was apparently set in the apartment after the attack. The Investigative Committee, a branch of the prosecutor's office said a murder investigation was underway. It said nothing about a possible motive. State-run Vesti-24 television cited a concierge in Shurpayev's building as saying he had called down...

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed all allegations made by a female professor who sued Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president, claiming the school had removed her for gender reasons. Judge John McBryde of the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, granted the seminary's motion for "summary judgment" and ruled that alleged causes of action made by Sheri L. Klouda should be dismissed. A motion for summary judgment contends that all necessary factual issues are resolved or need not be tried because they are so one-sided. Klouda filed the lawsuit last year, alleging breach of contract, fraud and...

The Fed's job is simple: Don't let the economy get too excited or too depressed. To do that, it gives the nation a steady supply of economic Zoloft. But Bernanke seems freaked out that his meds aren't working, and now he's getting taken advantage of. And because he uses taxpayers' money, we're getting taken advantage of. (snip) .....nobody besides the Fed is panicking. People are bummed because their houses are worth less, but people were bummed because their tech stocks were worth less, their alpacas were worth less and their Ugg boots were worth less. But your average American isn't...

Meet Trevor Phillips, the man charged with shaking Britain's view of diversity Trevor Phillips has just been asked what he thinks of Africentric schools, like the one Toronto is planning in an optimistic bid to cut the 40 per cent dropout rate of black students. The question is not unexpected. It's bound to come up in an interview with the controversial head of Britain's Commission on Equality and Human Rights, a man who believes that too much tolerance of diversity can lead to "sleepwalking towards segregation." "Well, to be polite, and as a visitor," he says, "I'd be very surprised...

Dr. Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, says the secular media has erroneously reported the intent of a document dealing with climate change that he and other prominent denominational leaders endorsed. One of many high-profile Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders, Dr. Page signed the document entitled, "A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change." The dissertation was written by Jonathan Merritt, a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and son of a former SBC president. (See earlier article) The statement challenges the denomination's response to environmental issues, calling them too timid and seen by the outside...

March 21, 2008                                 Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Is 52:13—53:12 See, my servant shall prosper,he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.Even as many were amazed at himso marred was his look beyond human semblanceand his appearance beyond that of the sons of manso shall he startle many nations,because of him kings shall stand speechless;for those who have not been told shall see,those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard?To whom has the arm of the...

Swimmer Milorad Čavić has been suspended from the European Championships in Eindhoven. Čavić wore a t-shirt with the message “Kosovo is Serbia” during the medals ceremony for the 50 meters butterfly, where he won gold. The European swimming governing body LEN decided that the t-shirt worn by the new European record holder “contained a political message” which contravened the organization’s rules.

Obama and the Jews: you thought maybe you could get away without this discussion? If you did, then you misunderstand the quadrennial ceremony in which constituencies parade their fears so that candidates may adjust their pandering. It was Tim Russert who introduced the inevitable controversy into the "national conversation," at the debate in Cleveland. In his style of interrogation, Russert has evolved from a small-town prosecutor with a Google search in his hand into a game-show host with a trick question up his sleeve. ("Senator, if you were given actionable intelligence that a mass suicide was about to take place...

March 18, 2008 -- Director Nick Broomfield's film, Battle for Haditha, received its world television premiere last night in England--and finished dead last in its time slot. While nearly six million viewers tuned into The Fixer last night, less than a million tuned to Channel 4's presentation of Battle for Haditha. Those viewers represented less than five percent of the viewing public in England, and is equivalent to the audience for a bottom-rated cable news show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, in the United States. Popular Monday night soaps, Coronation Street and EastEnders, drew nearly 11 million viewers each....

War protesters promised a massive conflict at Civic Center on the eve of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, after losing in a lottery process Thursday that awarded a permit for the park to the party planner for Denver's host committee. "We're having our protest at Civic Center," said a livid Glenn Spagnuolo, a lead organizer for the group Re-create 68. "We're not going to give up Civic Center park to the Democrats. . . . They are creating a very dangerous situation." Re-create 68 and its affiliates packed the random lottery with applications to better its chances, but the single...