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PARIS, Sept 7 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin took the place of the hospitalised Jacques Chirac in the chair at the government's weekly cabinet meeting Wednesday, confirming his strengthening position as the 72 year-old president's heir-apparent. In what Elysée palace insiders said was the first time Chirac had ceded the position to a subordinate in ten years in office, Villepin presided over an hour-long ministerial conference at his official residence the Hôtel Matignon. Earlier the 51-year-old prime minister visited Chirac at the Val-de-Grâce hospital in Paris, where the president was under observation for a fifth day after...

NEW ORLEANS — As floodwaters receded inch-by-inch Tuesday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (search) authorized law enforcement officers and the U.S. military to force the evacuation of all residents who refuse to heed orders to leave the dark, dangerous city. Nagin's emergency declaration released late Tuesday targets those still in the city unless they have been designated by government officials as helping with the relief effort. The move comes after some citizens bluntly told authorities who had come to deliver them from the waterlogged city that they would not leave their homes and property. While acknowledging the declaration, police Capt....

BESLAN, Russia (Reuters) - Grief mingled with anger in the ruins of Beslan's School No. 1 on Thursday as the Russian town marked the first anniversary of a hostage siege that ended in the deaths of 331 people. Weeping mothers who lost their children appealed for asylum abroad, saying they did not want to live in a country where officials -- who some say made the death toll worse by botching the rescue operation -- value human life so little. In a provincial town 500 km (300 miles) away, President Vladimir Putin, in a somber black tie, led a minute's...

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. military is doing all it can in Afghanistan to locate Usama bin Laden but cannot say when he will be captured, a spokesman said Monday. Col. James Yonts also said the United States was cooperating with neighboring countries such as Pakistan in the hunt for the Al Qaeda leader. "When will he be captured? ... I can't give you a date, but I can tell you this: Everyone remembers 9/11," Yonts told reporters in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Bin Laden has long been suspected to be hiding in remote mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but...

The credibility of Iraq's political process was in danger last night as parliament again failed to vote on a draft constitution which a Sunni politician said was "fit only for the bin". The government had earlier announced plans to bypass parliament in an attempt to push through the document. But as the final hours ran out before the deadline for approving the constitution, Hajim al-Hassani, the speaker of the parliament, appeared to overrule the country's leaders by insisting that negotiations would continue today, meaning that the deadline would be missed for the third time. The impression of growing crisis in...

There are a lot of potential remedies Denver head coach Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Larry Coyer might have conjured up after the wild-card defeats in which Manning toasted the Broncos for 835 yards, nine touchdown passes and 90 points. In a bit of a twist, they opted not to refurbish the biggest area of defensive deficiency, clearly the secondary, but to remake its one position of strength. And so a linebacker corps already plenty quick enough in '04 now looks likely to function in 2005 at something approximating warp speed. In middle linebacker Al Wilson, weakside defender Ian Gold...

Nothing is more emblematic of American democracy than the idea of one person standing up for his beliefs and in the process becoming the catalyst for a national debate. In the arena of civil rights, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus was such an act. During the Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg's decision to give the media the Pentagon Papers detailing the secret history of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia was another. Now Californian Cindy Sheehan's August vigil on a sweltering roadway near President Bush's Crawford ranch has given a human voice and face...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned on Thursday that greater care was needed to protect natural resources. Her comments came as NASA pondered whether to send astronauts out on an extra spacewalk to repair additional heat-protection damage on the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster. Discovery is linked with the International Space Station and orbiting 220 miles above the Earth. "Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Michael Moore said his next documentary already has HMOs quaking in their boots. Moore has not yet begun shooting the film Sicko but his planned critique of the U.S. health care system, he said, is making "freaked-out" HMOs warn employees what to do if approached by the filmmaker. At this point, we haven't shot anything yet and they're totally discombobulated," Moore said at the inaugural Traverse City Film Festival. Moore, who lives near Traverse City, founded the film festival with local movie buffs to showcase excellent films. Moore described good movies as a bridge across...

Was outside grilling some burgers when my lovely wife came outside and said, you'll never believe what ABC News just aired. Check out the last paragraph of this story. "North Koreans Offer Opinions on America: Anti-American Propaganda Colors North Koreans' View of US" PYONYANG, North Korea, June 9, 2005 — There are large gaps in what is known about North Korea, its leader, and its people, since outsiders' access to the country is limited. On a rare visit to the country, an ABC News team traveled outside the capital city of Pyongyang to survey North Koreans' impressions of America. The...

Don't want to ruin your day/night, but I feel like I should let some people know... My friend, a young Marine I've been working with for the last two years, had a brother die in Iraq Oct 30th. Kelley Courtney was one of eight guys hit by a car bomb in Fallujah. Seven of them were infantry, but he was a counter intel guy who had just gotten out of training about a year and a half ago. These are the guys that usually go in before a large force to check things out and survey the battle field. I...

The US Army Military District of Washington cordially invites you to watch "Arlington: Field of Honor," the high-definition National Geographic documentary SPECIAL profiling Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, 10 November at 8 PM EST on PBS. (Check your local listings for up to date view time). The US Army Military District of Washington and in particular, elements of the 3d US Infantry Regiment, (The Old Guard) to include Tomb Sentinels, Caisson Platoon and line companies, The US Army Band "Pershing's Own" and the many personnel of Arlington National Cemetery made this film possible. We would also like to thank our...

In February 2003, Senate Democrats launched the first filibuster designed to permanently deny an up-or-down vote on a judicial nomination. The target was Miguel Estrada, a Honduran immigrant and Harvard Law School graduate nominated to serve on the overworked D.C. Circuit. After two years, more than 100 hours of debate, and 7 cloture votes, Mr. Estrada withdrew in the face of this continued obstruction. Democrats had claimed their first victim.