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CAIRO, Jun 24, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday had phone talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the worsening Mideast situation, an Egyptian presidential source told Xinhua.The two leaders discussed how to deal with the Israeli acts in the occupied Palestinian lands and ways to create suitable conditions for the settlement of the Mideast crisis, the source said.They also mulled Egypt's efforts to seek a way out of the current crisis based on relevant U.N. resolutions, he added.The phone conversation came after the Israeli army once again besieged Arafat's compound in the West Bank...

June 23, 2002, 9:08PM The last chapter in horrific crime Man who killed 5 in family to be executed on Tuesday By MIKE TOLSON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Mike Gherman, the neighbor, remembers the shock of seeing his back yard filled with smoke so thick that his dog collapsed, unable to breathe. Bob Tucker, the friend, remembers the shiver of fear that hit him when he saw all the cars in the driveway outside the blazing house but none of their owners in the yard. And Chuck Rosenthal, the prosecutor, recalls the ominous words from a woman standing beside him...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 24, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command General Tommy R. Franks Monday appreciated the assistance of government and armed forces of Pakistan to the coalition forces in the ongoing war against international terrorism.The high level U.S. official who is currently on a visit to Pakistan expressed these views during his meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf, an official press release said."General Franks made particular mention of the excellent cooperation between armed forces of Pakistan and United States, which had contributed manifold to the apprehension of a large number of...

Approximately two weeks ago, I participated in the funeral of Eyal and Yael Sorek who were brutally murdered in Carme Tzur just north of Kiryat Arba. Yael was in her ninth month of pregnancy and thus in this murder a third Jewish soul was denied life in Eretz Yisrael. At the funeral on Mount Hertzl in Jerusalem many eulogies were delivered. Among those delivering the eulogies was the army commander of Eyal. Eyal was an officer in a special commando unit of the IDF. Friends of this young idealistic couple offered their comments as did the two fathers, Chanan, the...

As the graduation season draws to a close it is clear that, despite the massacres of Sept. 11, many colleges are more determined than ever before to send graduates into the world with divisive and politicized ceremonies, eschewing the themes of optimism and unity traditionally associated with commencements. Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the advent of separate ceremonies for minority groups. While the blood shed at the World Trade Center and Pentagon was the same color for all who were murdered, many universities have decided that the best way to prepare their graduates for an increasingly diverse society...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... draconian \dra-ko-nee-an\, adjective: 1. Exceedingly harsh; very severe:a draconian legal code; draconian budget cuts. 2. Pertaining to Draco, a famous lawgiver of Athens, 621 b. c. Etymology: Latin Dracon-, Draco, from Greek DrakOn...

I was traveling by air last week and I believe a new low (or high depending on how you look at it) was set by the people running airport security. Not only did I have to take off my shoes, get wanded and patted down - the airport security guard went through my wallet! He looked at/through my cash, credit cards and family pictures. Everything was returned to me but traveling by air is pissing me off. Maybe I need to have two wallets - one for everyday use and a striped down version for the airport.

Let's review. Less than ten months ago, Manhattan was turned into a war zone, as America suffered the greatest attack on its civilian population by a foreign enemy in history. The Pentagon itself was struck, with serious damage and loss of life, and the White House may have narrowly escaped destruction. Since then, the United States has successfully fought a war in Afghanistan — a war that had been completely unanticipated. But significant numbers of American troops remain tied down in that country. In the meantime, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has flared into a de facto war, most likely abetted...

Convict quizzed in Utah kidnap case 06/24/2002 Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY - Detectives investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart have been questioning a convict who worked in the Smart home more than a year ago and say they haven't ruled him out as a suspect. The man, Richard Albert Ricci, was arrested on an unrelated parole violation June 14, police spokesman Fred Louis said. That was nine days after Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken at gunpoint from her bedroom in an affluent Salt Lake City neighborhood. Police Chief Rick Dinse told KSTU television on Sunday that investigators...

The Tribune-Democrat June 23, 2002 Johnstown, Pennsylvania New sex-abuse bombshell-- 10 local priests tied to cases By Susan Evans THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT Officials of Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese have known of at least 10 priests implicated in sex abuse cases involving hundreds of young boys, according to public records reviewed by the Tribune-Democrat. But the offenders remained in the priesthood, and the diocese meted out such mild punishments as transfers, therapy or “rest and recreation.” Not one criminal report was made. Not one priest was arrested. Only one offender was defrocked Francis Luddy and that came only after a trial and...

<p>North Korea is one step closer to getting two light-water reactors that will give it the capacity to make more nuclear bombs. That much is clear from a glowing State Department statement issued last week after U.S. talks with Japanese and South Korean diplomats in San Francisco.</p>

Reacting to Palestinian terrorist chief Yassir Arafat's belated offer on Friday to accept the terms of the peace plan proposed in December 2000 by then-President Clinton, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that it was too late. "I would say that if he is serious we have to see it in action, namely; put an end to the terror, put an end to incitement and arrest these terrorists," Barak told Fox News Channel's Rita Cosby late Saturday. "That's what we would expect from him before turning to a real peace plan," the ex-Israeli leader added. Barak, who had...

<p>As scandals from Merrill Lynch to Andersen and Enron make clear, in the past few years the most fundamental principles of our market system were being flouted: full disclosure, strong corporate governance, strong ethical standards. Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and various other organizations are now taking corrective measures to clean up the market mess. The steps being taken now are positive, but we should consider additional changes in a few other areas.</p>

A Yemassee man charged with resisting arrest by dumping urine and paint over his body filed a $10 million lawsuit last week against the town, mayor, police department and Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. Shemuel Nahum Ben Yisrael -- widely known for his outrageous signs blasting police and government leaders as "devils" -- claimed that his Dec. 9, 2000, arrest was unlawful, that he was illegally imprisoned, defamed on police radio, emotionally distressed and assaulted by police who were trespassing on his property. Yisrael was arrested after a police officer saw him possibly trespassing. The officer tried to stop him, but...

Jun 23, 2002Facts and Figures About Gay Officeholders The Associated Press Some facts and figures regarding openly gay and lesbian elected officials in the United States: NUMBERS: Of 511,039 elected federal, state and local officials, 218 are openly gay or lesbian. Of the group, 149 are men, 69 women; 207 are Democrats, 11 Republicans. Three serve in the U.S. House, 47 are state legislators, and the rest are local officials. --- CONGRESS: The openly gay members of Congress are Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.; and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. A Maine legislator, Susan Longley, hoped to join Baldwin...

Published: Sunday, June 23, 2002 Hundreds rally for united L.A. By Susan Abram Staff Writer VALLEY GLEN -- Kicking off one of the largest movements yet to keep Los Angeles whole, Mayor James Hahn, former Mayor Richard Riordan, and religious and community leaders rallied more than 1,000 labor union workers and others Saturday against San Fernando Valley secession. There was a large turn out at a rally at Valley College in opposition to secession. (Gene Blevins / Daily News) With banners proclaiming "United We Stand," janitors, restaurant employees and other union members joined forces with those already committed to the...

June 24— By Pete Harrison LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is racist to the core, according to its chief prosecutor, whose views have emerged in an interview to be broadcast Tuesday.Asked if all Britons were racist, Sir David Calvert-Smith said "Yes," prompting the Prime Minister's office and the Commission for Racial Equality to swiftly play down his remarks."The whole of society has a problem," Calvert-Smith, who was knighted earlier this month, told BBC radio.The 57-year old Director of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is currently investigating his own service, under fire for failing to secure a conviction for the murder of...

“The strategy failed at Tora Bora and (in Operation) Anaconda. I believe we didn’t complete the task of killing those 1,000 people or capturing them in that mountain. We didn’t shut off the back door.” Continues. =================================================== Sen. Gigolo -- Not Ready For Prime Time Doing the same thing, again and again, but expecting different results. We all know it's the definition of insanity.It's also the only word for Democrat strategy of late.Take Sen. John Kerry's Meet The Press interview yesterday. It illustrates the point perfectly.By almost any measure, his performance (if that's the word) was disastrous. Even a...

The strange saga of John and Terry Lynn Barton just keeps getting more extravagant. At the risk of being run out of the pun-writer's union, what we have here is a dichotomy of trees and underbrush – the sublime and the ridiculous. First the sublime; there is a devastating fire of more than 137,000 acres raging through the forests in the northeast corner of Colorado. More than 2500 heroic souls are placing themselves in harm's way to preserve life and land, both humankind's and nature's. Nearly 9000 souls have been evacuated. And the associated costs are mounting to a...

DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) - Several people were wounded during a shooting in the center of the German city of Dortmund Monday, police said. Officials could not immediately provide details of the incident in western Germany. Germany's upper house ratified a proposal last Friday to raise the age limit for gun ownership and ban pump-action shotguns. German politicians have acted to beef up control on guns after a former student in Erfurt shot and killed 16 people, mostly teachers, before committing suicide in April in Germany's worst post-war shooting massacre.