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Durbin Asks Bush To Put Partisanship Behind Him Bob Roberts Reporting CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The Democrats are talking co-operation with President Bush, but already there is evidence that controversial legislation backed by the Bush administration won't move forward. WBBM's Bob Roberts reports. President Bush has asked the lame-duck Congress to give him legislation that would specifically authorize the wiretapping of foreign phone calls and computer traffic of suspected terrorists. The issue came up Friday during a meeting hosted by the President with Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Instead, Durbin told WBBM Saturday, he is asking Mr. Bush...

Government wants 'decommunization' law 12.09.2006 The ruling Law and Justice is pressing for creating legislation on 'decommunisation'. The purpose of the new law is to rid public and political life in Poland of the remnants of Communist influence still to be found, believes the government, in many areas of public life. Story by Slawek Szefs These former Communist 'aparatchiks' have not only swiftly and painlessly entered Poland's democratic ranks, but have also been reaping considerable financial profits from the country's economic transformations, passing in silence over their abrupt change in orientation. The Law and Justice parliamentarians claim that it's high...

The British government sought on Tuesday to limit the information it would disclose at a planned inquest into the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former officer in the K.G.B. who succumbed to radiation poisoning in London more than six years ago. The coroner hearing the case said that it may now be postponed. “Due to the complexity of the investigation which necessarily precedes the hearings,” the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, said, “it may not be possible to adhere” to the planned May 1 start date for the hearings. The inquest would be the first — and probably the only...

LONDON — It has consumed more than eight years of maneuvering, obstruction and a widow’s dogged legal campaign, fought often on a shoestring. But finally, on Tuesday, a public inquiry is set to begin its quest for an answer to the question that has driven the whole process: Why did Alexander V. Litvinenko have to die? On Nov. 1, 2006, Mr. Litvinenko, a former officer of the Soviet K.G.B. in self-exile in London and a vocal critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, sipped tea from a poisoned pot, took sick and died 22 days later. Only after his death did...

Every six months, approximately 130,000 Russian conscripts are called up for their year of service, where most of them will face sadistic hazing. In Russian, it’s called dedovshchina, a brutal internal army regime that began in Soviet times but is thoroughly embedded in modern military culture. Western militaries have worked hard to reduce bullying and hazing in the ranks with some, but not complete, success. But in Russia’s army, dedovshchina is a unique cultural staple and a formative part of the military identity. Multiple sources, both those who served in Soviet times and those with experience in the modern Russian...

Drug traffickers are spending $1 million a pop to build boats that look like submarines and can carry 4 tons of cocaine for 2,000 miles without refueling. Nicknamed "narco subs," they're made to sneak loads up from South America to Mexico, where the drugs are offloaded and taken overland into the United States. "It is a semi-submersible coffin," said Jay Bergman, Andean regional director for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "You batten down the hatches and you are doing everything to not be detected sailing in the middle of the ocean." At least 13 of the craft have been stopped and...

Where did all the Republican votes go in Bridgeport, Connecticut? Either over half of the traditional Republican voters in gubernatorial elections were no-shows on November 2 or the Constitution State's most populous city...lost its constitution. Bridgeport is certainly not the sort of idyllic Norman Rockwell town found throughout most of Connecticut. It has long endured political corruption and patronage, high rates of poverty and crime, a shrinking economy, a  declining population, and more recently, an infestation of radical progressive groups such as ACORN, AFL-CIO, WFP, and SEIU. Bridgeport did not earn the nickname "Chicago of the East" for nothing. Despite its...

A French national detained in Cambodia, who has been linked to the scandal surrounding China's deposed politician Bo Xilai, will not be extradited, a minister said on Friday. Patrick Henri Devillers will, however, remain in custody. REUTERS - The French architect linked to China’s biggest political scandal in two decades and detained in Cambodia will not be extradited to any country, a minister said, adding another twist to a high-profile case already shrouded in mystery. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave no details on what grounds China had requested the arrest of Patrick Henri Devillers, whose whereabouts is unknown, but...

Anxious FBI chiefs are trawling through 'numerous' top-level investigations spanning 22 years for fear they were compromised by convicted bureau spook Charles McGonigal, DailyMail.com can reveal. The forensic clean-up operation ranges over the entire time the philandering former head of counterintelligence in New York worked for the agency. McGonigal, 55, has already been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for taking money and conspiring with a sanctioned Russian oligarch who is a crony of despot President Vladimir Putin. But the full possible repercussions of his treachery are outlined in a sentencing memorandum by the US government for...

By Jerry Markon and Ben Hubbard Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, July 15, 2008; Page B01 A Saudi-funded academy in Fairfax County used textbooks as recently as 2006 that compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs, told eighth-graders that these groups are "the enemies of the believers" and diagrammed for high school students where to cut off the hands and feet of thieves, a Washington Post review of the books has found. Saudi officials acknowledged that the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy had contained inflammatory material since at least the mid-1990s but said they ordered revisions in...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ transition advisory team enlisted two Chinese intelligence-tied bankers who have fundraised for her and a nonprofit she helps lead, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered. Bass appointed Dominic Ng, CEO of East West Bank, and Simon Pang, co-founder of Royal Business Bank, to her mayoral transition advisory team in December 2022, according to the City of Los Angeles. In total, Ng, East West Bank and Pang have donated upwards of $1 million to Bass’ mayoral campaign and the Mayor’s Fund For Los Angeles, where Bass serves as an advisor to the board of directors,...

A tape apparently recorded by murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko a year before he was poisoned has revealed he was digging up links between Vladimir Putin and one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. A Telegraph investigation uncovered the audio recording, in which the dissident claims from beyond the grave that Russia’s president had a “good relationship” with Semion Mogilevich - a Ukrainian crime boss who was on the FBI's most wanted list and whom Mr Litvinenko believed was selling weapons to al-Qaeda. The apparent recording of Mr Litvinenko is published for the first time ahead of a public inquiry...

May 12, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: Leader of Liberty City Six Convicted on All Counts, Four Others Convicted on Multiple Counts, and One Defendant Acquitted on Charges of Conspiring to Support Al Qaeda, Attack Targets in the United States After a three-month trial, a Miami jury convicted five men of multiple charges that include conspiring to provide material support to the al Qaeda terrorist organization and conspiracy to levy war against the U.S. by discussing and planning attacks on targets in the U.S., including the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI building and other federal...

The American Council for Kosovo Protests Washington Visit of Terrorist and War Criminal Agim Ceku –Kosovo Serb spokesman: Ceku should be standing trial, “not being received with honors in the capital of any civilized democracy.” The American Council for Kosovo protests the official visit to Washington, DC, of Agim Ceku, an indicted war criminal and former commander of the jihad terrorist organization, the so-called “Kosovo Liberation Army.” According to the Associated Press, Mr. Ceku is scheduled to meet today with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with officials at the White House, before proceeding to New York for a...

Two spectacular al Qaeda prison breaks in Iraq, freeing over 500 of its members in two separate prisons simultaneously this week, demonstrate the group is back with a vengeance. Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch is also the moving force behind the jihadist success in Syria. The resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq has sobering implications for what is likely to follow the drawdown of NATO forces in Afghanistan for the al Qaeda mother ship in Pakistan. The double jailbreaks at Abu Ghraib and Taji prisons were massive attacks. Suicide bombers, teams of attackers using mortars and small arms, and two dozen...

Col. Michael Dixon holds the flag of the Provisional Unmanned Aerial Systems Training Battalion, as Lt. Col. Ronald Myers, left, and Command Sgt. Maj. Raleigh Matthews unfurl the banner at Wednesday's activation ceremony on Fort Huachuca's Rugge-Hamilton Airfield. In the background, one of the company commanders and a first sergeant of the new battalion unfurl their units guidon. (By Bill Hess-Herald/Review) Herald/Review FORT HUACHUCA — As of Wednesday, the Army’s intelligence-gathering unmanned aerial systems are now part of the Aviation Warfighting Center at Fort Rucker, Ala. But the initial operation and maintenance of the pilotless planes will not be...

Iran's Oil Mafia April 16, 2007 Frontpagemagazine.com Hassan Daioleslam Robert William (Bob) Ney is a current federal prisoner and a former Ohio Congressman from 1995 until November 3, 2006. Ney pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff lobbying and bribery scandal. Ney reportedly received bribes from Abramoff, other lobbyists, and two foreign businessmen - a felon and an arms dealer - in exchange for using his position to advance their interests. Conspicuously missing from this dossier of disservice to the country was Ney’s assistance in the creation of a Washington-based lobbying...

"The dogs bark, the caravan moves on." That Middle Eastern proverb could well describe the events surrounding production of the world's most-hyped dud firecracker, the Iraq Study Group Report. After immense agonies in the mainstream media (MSM), those like myself who predicted the report, once released, would largely be ignored by President George W. Bush, are being proven right and neoconservatives who support a continued commitment to the transformation of Iraq have exhibited renewed influence. Only a couple of lines in the report were worthy of comment. One appears on page 29 of the printed version: "Funding for the Sunni...

Jordan: Militant Sentenced for Attack By JAMAL HALABY – 4 hours ago AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's military court convicted an al-Qaida militant Monday of involvement in the deadly suicide car bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Iraq in 2003 and sentenced him to death. Muammar Ahmed Yousef al-Jaghbeer, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, was arrested in 2005 upon his return from Iraq and charged with the embassy attack, which killed 19 people. Al-Qaida in Iraq, which was then headed by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack. The court dropped charges against al-Zarqawi on Monday, citing his...

Jordan executes killers of U.S. envoy Two with ties to al Qaeda hanged for 2002 assassination (CNN) -- The Jordanian government Saturday executed two al Qaeda-linked terrorists convicted in the 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat, according to Jordan's Petra news agency. Salem Sa'ed Salem bin Suweid, a Libyan national, and Yasser Fathi Ibraheem, a Jordanian, were hanged at the Siwaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Center for the killing of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley.