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Leaders of the government that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup arrived in Costa Rica Thursday for talks aimed at resolving the crisis, but with both sides questioning the other's claim to the presidency, there seemed to be very little common ground. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is mediating negotiations between Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti at the request of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — a move some consider to be the Obama administration's first big test in Latin America....

One point to make for you, though, is paragraph 67 (the controversial one). The Latin (authoritative) version is not online yet. But there is a huge difference between both the Italian and German versions and the English version. The Italian version says: 67. Di fronte all'inarrestabile crescita dell'interdipendenza mondiale, è fortemente sentita, anche in presenza di una recessione altrettanto mondiale, l'urgenza della riforma sia dell'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite che dell'architettura economica e finanziaria internazionale, affinché si possa dare reale concretezza al concetto di famiglia di Nazioni. Translation: Faced with the unstoppable growth of global interdependence, it is strongly felt, even...

Police Say They Didn't Know About Talent Show INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Black Expo representatives said Thursday that a preliminary round of a talent show after which shots were fired during a fight Wednesday night isn't an official event of IBE's Summer Celebration. Indianapolis police arrested a juvenile in connection with gunfire outside the Indiana Convention Center Wednesday night following a Star Quest talent show. About 1,500 people were leaving when shots rang out at about 11 p.m., police said. "Some people said, 'Somebody's got a gun,' and everybody's running every which way trying to get out of there," said witness...

PARIS (Reuters Life!) – French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world. They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which said French holidaymakers don't speak local languages and are seen as impolite.

US First Lady Michelle Obama walks past a statue during her visit to the Capitoline museum on July 8, 2009 in Rome. The visit, attended by several First Ladies was organized on the sidelines of a G8 summit in L'Aquila.

A trio of female Senators tried to rally support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Thursday, but they dismissed the need for outside women’s groups to get involved in the confirmation process, which kicks off next week. “Things are going well. There’s no need to get involved,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said during a press conference, also attended by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Women’s groups have been largely absent from the public debate over Sotomayor, who is just the third woman appointed to serve on the nation’s highest court, and if confirmed, would be one...

<p>Sarah Palin needs to stop whining about unfair media coverage and get over the fact that some people don’t like her, Dave Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, tells Newsmax.</p> <p>Palin doesn’t seem to get that politics is a tough game, says Keene, one of the country’s most astute political observers.</p>

The result of this was that, on May 18, when Mr and Mr Jones, accompanied by their younger son, arrived at school to pick up their daughter, they were met by a group of strangers, one as it turned out a female social worker. She asked, without explaining why or who she was, whether he was Mr Jones. When she three times refused to show him any ID, he was seized from behind by two policemen, handcuffed and put under arrest. He was driven by a policeman to a nearby mental hospital where he was told that, because of "a...

Officials of the Iowa Republican Party say they are trying to attract Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the state GOP's premier annual fundraising event. After she announced she was stepping down as Alaska's governor later this month, aides said the decision was driven in part by her wish to help Republican candidates around the nation.

As debate grows about a possible second stimulus package for the flagging American economy, at least one legendary investor is giving the idea his guarded approval. The "Oracle of Omaha" believes a second stimulus may be called for. "I think that a second one may well be called for," Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told "Good Morning America" today. But, he added, "you hope it doesn't get watered down in many ways." Buffett cautioned that a second stimulus package, like the first, won't be "a panacea," because stimulus packages take time to work. He criticized lawmakers' work on...

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) explains his bill (House Resolution 615) that says "if you vote for a government-run health care option, you agree to choose government-run health care for you and your family."

KABUL — A Democratic Party strategist who helped Bill Clinton get into the White House is now assisting a former Afghan finance minister in his campaign to unseat President Hamid Karzai in upcoming elections. James Carville said he joined the team of Ashraf Ghani, also a former World Bank official, so Afghans had a viable choice in the Aug. 20 poll.

A white Valley Stream man remained in critical condition Monday after police said he was beaten by a group of young African-American assailants in what authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime. The 30-year-old victim, a Long Island Rail Road worker, was not identified by police, who said the attack was unprovoked. The victim was repeatedly punched and kicked in the face, head and body at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday by a group of about 12 to 15 male and female assailants, said Nassau police Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone. The man had gone outside to move his car off...

Actress Emma Watson has been working on her status as a style icon, after she was caught out by the weather and flashed her underwear at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince AS IF to redeem herself following her pants-flashing incident in Leicester Square, Emma Watson oozed sophistication as she posed for snaps in the US yesterday. The actress was red-faced on the red carpet on Tuesday when her vintage gown gaped open to reveal her nude knickers at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Emma was later caught out when her “muggles” almost...

In Caritas in veritate there is a reference to Humanae vitae. Remember that the Pope is addressing himself ad intra and ad extra, to the Church herself and to the world at large. 15. Two further documents by Paul VI without any direct link to social doctrine — the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968) and the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975) — are highly important for delineating the fully human meaning of the development that the Church proposes. It is therefore helpful to consider these texts too in relation to Populorum Progressio. The Encyclical Humanae Vitae emphasizes...

More spelling errors plague Obama releases @ 2:09 pm by Michael O'Brien Misspellings continued to plague the Obama administration on Thursday, after two more releases containing errors were sent to reporters in the last 24 hours. After misspelling the president's name as "Barak Obama" yesterday on an official document sent to reporters, the General Services Administration messed up another message when announcing it had awarded an $18 million contract to redesign the website keeping track of spent stimulus dollars. "Recvoery.gov Version 2.0 $18 Million Contract Awarded," the release's subject line read. ("Recovery" was spelled correctly in the body of the...

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shut the door Thursday to a resolution honoring Michael Jackson because debate on the symbolic measure could raise "contrary views" about the pop star's life. Lawmakers are free to use House speeches "to express their sympathy or their praise any time that they wish," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "I don't think it's necessary for us to have a resolution."

One fine day about 74,000 years ago, a giant volcano on Sumatra blew its top. The volcano, named Toba, may have ejected 1000 times more rock and other material than Mount St. Helens in Washington state did in 1980. In the process, it cooled the climate by at least 10°C, causing a global famine. But could the aftermath have been even worse? A new study puts to rest questions about whether Toba plunged Earth into a 1000-year deep freeze and whether an equivalent event today could jump-start a new, millennia-long ice age. Giant volcanic eruptions such as Toba briefly cause...

Ann Coulter wrote a great piece describing the "Sarah Palin Derangement Syndrome." As usual Ann is on the money, sarcastic, funny and tells us like it is! Governor Palin has deeply disappointed her enemies. People who hate her guts feel she's really let them down by resigning. She's like the ex-girlfriend they're SO over, never want to see again, have already forgotten about -- really, it's O-ver -- but they just can't stop talking about her.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Authorities say a prankster persuaded a married couple to smash their Florida hotel window after falsely telling them the room had a gas leak. Police say a person claiming to be a front-desk clerk at an Orlando hotel convinced the couple to break a wall mirror and use a lamp to punch a hole through the wall. The couple also threw a mattress out the window, but a hotel manager came to the room before they could jump. The manager told the couple there was no gas leak. The prank cost about $5,000 in damages. Police say...