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Occupied Jerusalem - A high-ranking Palestinian military official in Ramallah on Sunday warned Israel, the European Union and the Arab states against pushing the Palestinian people to the corner, saying "we will make the world a hell of a place." "If they pushed us to the corner, we would then have nothing to lose, and at that moment, every Palestinian man, woman and child would become a time-bomb," said the high-ranking official on condition of anonymity. "Our flesh is very sour, it can't be digested. I assure you, and assure myself before you, that if we found our backs to ...

RAMALLAH (January 27) - Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat told some 2,000 demonstrators at his Ramallah compound yesterday the struggle for an independent Palestinian state will continue until the Palestinian flag is raised over the walls of Jerusalem. "Until victory, until victory, until victory," he said. Echoing comments he made a few days earlier, Arafat said he is willing to give his life for his goal of a Palestinian state, with a capital in east Jerusalem. "Please God, give me the honor of being one of holy Jerusalem's martyrs," Arafat said. The demonstrators were members of professional unions who came ...

Just 10 weeks after the Taliban fled Kabul city, Afghans are already starting to say they felt safer under the now-defeated hardline militia than under the power-sharing interim administration that has replaced it. Murders, robberies and hijackings in the capital, factional clashes in the north and south of the country, instability in Kandahar and banditry on roads linking main centers are beginning to erode the optimism that greeted the inauguration of the interim administration on December 22. Senior United Nations official Francesc Vendrell said there were "reasons for concern" over the security situation in Afghanistan. "There are hundreds of thousands ...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Liberal groups, declaring war on President Bush's judicial nominees, took their case to the media Thursday. Their primary target was Charles W. Pickering, President Bush's choice to sit on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, but a man liberals say is guilty of pursuing "a far-right conservative agenda." "Achieving ideological domination of the federal judiciary is the top goal of right-wing activists inside and outside the Bush Administration, and judges like Charles Pickering are the means to that end," Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way, said. "Many of our basic rights and ...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - The overwhelming focus by Congress on the collapse of energy giant Enron Thursday did not keep members from getting in their shots, as it were, on other issues. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) issued a press release entitled "Free the Daschle Fifty," in which he called on Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to schedule votes on 50 bills that have passed the House, but have yet to be considered in the Senate. "The American people want action," said Armey. "They don't want political posturing. The Democratic-led Senate has a responsibility to vote on ...

Canada's newly appointed foreign affairs minister says his nation will not allow the U.S. to dictate its foreign policy. Bill Graham, a former chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, made it clear he's eager to put his stamp on Canada's foreign policy. One way to do that is to tap into Canadians' long-standing resentment of their powerful neighbor to the south. Graham told the Toronto Star newspaper that Canada believes in working cooperatively with other nations, including the U.S., on foreign policy, but he made it clear there's a line between cooperating and taking orders. He also ...

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his foundation have purchased $500 million in shares of Atlanta-based Cox Communications Inc. Gates' personal investment company, Washington-based Cascade Investments, bought 8.1 million shares Oct. 29, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation purchased an additional 5.4 million shares. On the same day Gates and the foundation bought shares in Cox Communications, Cox's largest shareholder was selling. Cox Enterprises, which owns about two-thirds of the cable TV operator and fully owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other media properties, sold 13.5 million shares of Cox Communications. Cox Enterprises ...

<p>OLEY, Pa. — A 63-year-old bus driver faces federal kidnapping charges Friday after disappearing for more than 16 hours with 13 kids.</p> <p>Otto Nuss was taken to jail Thursday night, and a court appearance was scheduled for Friday.</p> <p>The Pennsylvania schoolchildren returned home with their parents early Friday after Nuss turned himself in in Maryland.</p>

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed setting free all mothers held in Russian jails, regardless of their crimes. Correspondents say such amnesties are frequently used to ease chronic overcrowding in Russia's disease-ridden prisons It is unclear how many mothers would be affected by the amnesty. But reports say that if the plan is approved by parliament a special commission would still have to be set up to examine individual cases. Last Novermber, the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, approved an amnesty for about 24,000 convicts. It applied to those who had committed crimes as minors; women with young ...

She was the most famous spokesperson for civil rights, at a time when the idea of equal rights for people of color was very politically incorrect. "We can't afford to have two kinds of citizens," she insisted. "We must have equal citizenship for anybody in our country." And though she was a well-known talker, she also walked the walk. In 1958, at age 74, she made plans to go down to Tennessee to speak at a civil-rights workshop at the Highlander Folk School. The Ku Klux Klan learned about her plans. The day before her trip, the elderly, gray-haired ...

Democrats.com, which was the first group to call for a Special Prosecutor for the Enron investigation, announced the launch of a special Enrongate Web site and an Internet advertising campaign to build public support for a Special Prosecutor. The efforts by Democrats.com include posting an Internet petition for a Special Prosecutor, which has garnered over 2,700 signatures in three days; creating an in-depth Enrongate Web site at ; and launching an Internet advertising campaign. The animated banner ad uses tongue-in-cheek humor to highlight Mr. Bush's relationship to Ken Lay. "Enron gave $574,550 to George W. Bush. Bush says, 'I did ...

While the rest of the US worries about the recession, here in Los Angeles we have the secession to worry about too. Over the last few months, proposals for the Balkanisation of the country's second largest city have been proceeding apace. In November, when the electorate gets to choose a new - or possibly an old - governor, they will also be asked to decide whether they want to see Los Angeles broken up. If all the secessionists get their way, the San Fernando valley, Hollywood and the harbour area - many people in LA do not actually know that ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Police investigators found evidence they contend supports a woman's claim she was raped by Mike Tyson, although charges have not been filed against the former heavyweight champion. ``We think there's probable cause to believe a crime occurred,'' said police Lt. Jeff Carlson, commander of the sex crimes unit. ``We're not the attorneys. It's their decision whether to prosecute.'' Results of the four-month investigation were given Tuesday to the office of Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell. Chermaine Gord, a spokeswoman for Bell, said prosecutors needed more time to review the information before making a decision on ...

Pope John Paul II is planning to visit New York’s Ground Zero this summer, NewsMax has learned from sources close to the Catholic Church. The decision has raised serious security concerns because New York remains a target city, and the Pope, the most significant Christian leader, is believed to be a target for Muslim extremists. This July the Pope is scheduled to travel to Toronto for the annual World Youth Day jamboree, an event he attends each year. The Archdiocese of New York has already informed New York authorities that the Pope wishes to visit the World Trade Center site. ...

Clark Barr's landlord delivered a rude shock to the 18-year-old University of Alberta student last week when she slipped a note under his door, ordering him to take the Canadian flag out of his front window because it might offend non-Canadians or new immigrants. Barr fastened the two-metre-long flag to the sliding glass door of his ground floor apartment earlier this week because he wanted to express his patriotism and his support for Canadian troops who will soon leave the city for Afghanistan. "Last Thursday, my landlord slipped a note under my door, telling me the flag was improper and ...

LAS VEGAS — A Saudi Arabian mailer designed to educate American schoolchildren about Islam instead triggered terrorist scares at three Las Vegas schools, officials said Friday. A Saudi embassy official in Washington said the packages containing a videotape, a booklet and a book were sent to 5,000 randomly selected schools nationwide to promote tolerance and understanding. "We just hoped the schools would consider showing them to their students," said Sherry Cooper, secretary to Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan in Washington, D.C. "They sent it out to calm fears," said Special Agent Gayle Jacobs, spokeswoman for the FBI office in ...

KANDAHAR: The leader of Afghanistan's Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammad Omar, survived a direct US missile strike on his home and fled with his second wife in a taxi, the fugitive's driver said on Monday. He escaped a second, pinpoint attack on the cab a little more than an hour later. "The missile struck and all of (Omar's) family ran outside in panic, and Mullah Omar asked me to get a taxi," Mohammed Rahim, 35, said. Mullah Omar, and his ally, Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden, top Washington's most wanted list. Their whereabouts are not known. The leader of the strict Islamic ...

A new Zogby International poll asked voters to rate our past 12 presidents, including our current leader, in terms of "greatness." Not too surprisingly, JFK and FDR topped the list, but George W. Bush pulled a surprising third place, easily outpacing Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and his father. ZOGBY INTERNATIONAL Presidential Greatness Poll (of the last 11 presidents) Great/ BelowAvg/ NearGreat Average Failure John F. Kennedy (2) -- 71% -- 22% -- 3% Franklin D. Roosevelt (1)-- 70 -- 15 -- 1 George W. Bush (-) -- 63 -- 28 -- 7 Harry Truman (3) -- 58 -- 25 -- ...

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