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Hamas terrorists shot female Israeli soldiers 'in the crotch, intimate parts and breasts' as part of a 'systematic genital mutilation', the IDF has claimed. Some of the female victims of the attack on October 7 were left with agonised looks on their faces in death, according to an Israeli unit that helped bless the bodies. Army reservist Shari Mendes said many bodies of female victims, both civilian and soldiers, arrived 'in bloody shredded rags or just in underwear'. Mendes, whose unit is based at the Shura Army Base in central Israel, was speaking at a UN event in New York...

David Wilkerson's soul-stirring sermon on the necessity of anguish - to bear God's heart, passion, and burden within our lives.

LONDON – The fate of the world economy hinges on what happens to house prices in America and that may not be a good thing, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters headquarters in London, the former Fed chair delivered a gloomy prognosis on the state of the global economy – U.S. house prices are likely to fall further and they could drag the rest of the world with them. * * * “The critical variable in this judgement is the price of homes in the United States,” said Greenspan, who ran the U.S....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Demand for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months, with widespread weakness signaling a slowdown in the nation's industrial sector. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods, everything from commercial jetliners to home appliances, fell by 4.9 percent in August, the biggest decline since a 6.1 percent fall in January. It was far larger than the 3.5 percent drop that economists had been expecting and resulted from across-the-board decreases in a number of categories. The concern is that the steep downturn in housing and turbulence in financial markets...

For many Cowboys on 1977 team, gridiron glory yielded years of pain Almost 30 years after limping through Super Bowl XII – his final NFL game – Mel Renfro walks with an artificial left hip. His right knee needs to be replaced. Arthritis has settled in his shoulders and ankles. Damaged vertebrae have robbed his neck of movement. Sunlight often triggers headaches. He writes everything down to make sure he doesn't forget. On occasion, depression sets in, forcing him to retreat from the world. Like his physical ailments, the failing memory and periodic despondency are the result of a lifetime...

(notice how "lameduck" is in the url) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ridiculed as the "do-nothing" 109th U.S. Congress, the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on Monday begin a brief session to wrap up whatever work they can, install a new defense secretary and approve money to prevent a shutdown of government services. The Republican-led Congress will meet only for about another week before drawing to a close -- as lawmakers prepare for the new 110th Congress set to convene on January 4 under Democratic control. Having been blown out in the November 7 elections, Republican lawmakers are getting ready to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. announced a restructuring of its product operations on Tuesday that will include plant closings and could ultimately result in a 10 percent reduction of its worldwide work force. About 6,700 jobs will be cut in the next year and a further 6,400 jobs will be moved into a joint venture with Norway's Orkla ASA with the intent eventually to spin it off, the Pittsburgh-based company said. Video More video Learn how to assess what health care plan is perfect for your family. (Part 2 of 2) Play video The restructuring program is...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Free Trade stands for almost everything wrong on the planet. As the Free Trade noose tightens, more revolutionary activity will occur until the strangling grip is broken completely or until the despotism of obscenely wealthy and criminal oligarchs feeding off an increasingly destitute and dehumanized world population wins its final triumph. Free Trade is a condition in which dominant industrial power (allied to overwhelming political and military power) arranges the trade of the world to its own advantage while claiming it is participating with equals in an equal exchange of goods...

[...] It's progressive politicians who should be paying more attention. More than a hundred years ago, Charles Dickens's cockeyed optimist, Wilkins Micawber, explained to David Copperfield that the difference between happiness and misery involves the positive or negative difference between income and expenses. [...] As the government confirmed once again last week, rising costs have outpaced stagnant wages in ten of the last 12 months. [...] The Bush administration is in an ideological straitjacket. But progressive politicians have several issues they should raise, particularly long overdue increases in the minimum wage and the earned income tax credit -- kitchen table...

Watching the Economy Crumble Paul Craig Roberts Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 The United States continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July payroll jobs release. The media give a bare-bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface, things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises. Of the...

The June payroll jobs report did not receive much attention due to the July 4 holiday, but the depressing 21st century job performance of the U.S. economy continues unabated. Only 144,000 private sector jobs were created, each one of which was in domestic services. Fifty-six thousand jobs were created in professional and business services, about half of which are in administrative and waste services. Thirty-eight thousand jobs were created in education and health services, almost all of which are in health care and social assistance. Nineteen thousand jobs were created in leisure and hospitality, almost all of which are waitresses...

What: THE 28th ANNUAL O.HENRY PUN-OFF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS When: MAY 14, 2005 - Noon - 5pm (SATURDAY!) Where: Brush Square Park, downtown Austin, TX (5th at Neches) Who: Friends of the O.Henry Museum / Austin Parks & Recreation Dept. Why: Jest for a wordy cause! Website: www.PunPunPun.com This should give everyone concerned (and you should be) at least 56 days notice to either prepare or brace themselves for the event. As details develop, and they certainly will, everything will be posted on the ISTPF website. Founded by the late John Crosbie in 1979, the International Save The Pun Foundation has...

Futurism was an international art movement founded in Italy in 1909. It was (and is) a refreshing contrast to the weepy sentimentalism of Romanticism. The Futurists loved speed, noise, machines, pollution, and cities; they embraced the exciting new world that was then upon them rather than hypocritically enjoying the modern world?s comforts while loudly denouncing the forces that made them possible. Fearing and attacking technology has become almost second nature to many people today; the Futurist manifestos show us an alternative philosophy. Too bad they were all Fascists. TO THE YOUNG ARTISTS OF ITALY! The cry of rebellion which...

Opening Prayer Mary, my Mother, you were the first to live the Way of the Cross.You felt every pain and every humiliation. You were unafraid of the ridicule heaped upon you by the crowds. Your eyes were ever on Jesus and His Pain. Is that the secret of your miraculous strength? How did your loving heart bear such a burden and such a weight? As you watched Himstumble and fall, were you tortured by the memory of all the yesterdays-His birth, His hidden life and His ministry?You were so desirous of everyone loving Him. What a heartache it wasto see...

Liberia: The ecstasy, the agony By Declan Walsh in Monrovia 05 August 2003 Swooping from the gunmetal-grey sky, the helicopter lurched onto the cracked runway of Monrovia airport. Nigerian special forces in body armour leapt out into the driving rain, guns poised for action. They were confronted only with an ecstatic throng. Jigging, jogging and bellowing gospel songs, hundreds of Liberians flooded onto the tarmac chanting the now-familiar refrain: "No more war! We want peace." A bemused Nigerian colonel was hoisted to shoulder-height and paraded across the rain-drenched tarmac. West Africa's rescue mission is in Liberia. A forward force of...

Congratulations! You are now the proud new owner of a teenaged daughter. Please read this manual carefully, as it describes the maintenance of your new daughter, and answers important questions about your warranty (which does NOT include the right to return the product to the factory for a full refund.) IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR TEENAGER IN ERROR: To determine whether you were supposed to receive a teenaged girl, please examine your new daughter carefully. Does she (a) look very similar to your original daughter, only with more makeup and less clothing? (b) refuse to acknowledge your existence...

<p>EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Anglers and animal rights activists were further apart than ever on Wednesday after scientists said they had proved for the first time that fish feel pain.</p> <p>The study on rainbow trout by scientists in Scotland found evidence, researchers said, that fish have feelings, including stress and pain.</p>