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Four years ago George W. Bush used to call him "the shadow" and promised a fresh start by pledging to "uphold the honor and dignity" of the presidency. He even joked to late-night TV's David Letterman that one of his top 10 priorities in the White House would be to give the Oval Office "one heck of a scrubbing." But when President Bush welcomed Bill Clinton into that same office last week, those barbs were ancient history. After Clinton remarked how much he liked the new Oval Office rug, Bush encouraged him to praise his interior designer-Laura. (He did.) Over...

The Venezuelan president has decreed that the public administration will switch over to use open source software over the next two years... Read full article

Milosevic sends condolences over Yasser Arafat's death BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal, has sent a letter of condolences to the Palestinians over the death of Yasser Arafat, the former president's aides said Friday. The pro-Milosevic group called Sloboda (Freedom), which is aiding the their leader's defense before the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, gave no other details about the letter. The group only said it was addressed to the Palestinian people and leadership. Milosevic was charged for genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the Balkan wars...

Why McCain Defends Kerry Joseph Farah Why would John McCain characterize the SWIFT Boat vets commercial about John Kerry as "dishonest and dishonorable"? Why would he ask President Bush to denounce it? Why would he say something similar was "pulled" on him when he seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2000? Americans are supposed to respect Sen. John McCain because he is a war hero. But is he? And why is he so determined to defend John Kerry's dishonorable activities during and after the Vietnam War? Now let me begin by saying McCain suffered greatly during his five years of...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico recalled its ambassador from Cuba and will expel Cuba's ambassador after officials concluded the communist-run government interfered in Mexico internal affairs, Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez announced Sunday. The diplomatic furor came as relations soured over Mexico's supporting a U.N. rebuke of Cuba's human rights record. A day earlier, in his annual May Day speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro denounced Mexico over the vote and said it had lost the ability to act independently. Derbez said the respective ambassadors have 48 hours to leave their posts. The decision stops short of severing diplomatic ties but...

<p>Juanita Kratochvil is quick to point out that she was raised with six brothers, and among her own brood of five children, three are boys. That means she spent most of her life helping to care for critters, big and small.</p>