Free Republic

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An attacker threw an explosive device over the wall around the U.S. consulate in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, breaking windows and startling employees inside but causing no injuries, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday.

/snip/It's just a typo, and in fact, the DNI fixed it on its webpage shortly after sending reporters the statement. But it's an awkward slip-up on the same day the White House admitted that a typo prevented the State Department from realizing it had granted a visa to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (Someone spelled his name wrong during a search.)

1. Just pretend you're on a really, really long vacation to Sweden. 2. To avoid your forthcoming tax increase, go to your boss and demand a pay cut. 3. Bring a copy of "War and Peace" to your doctor's waiting room. Don't worry, you'll have time to read it. 4. If you're an oil company, cut out the middle man and just declare bankruptcy. 5. Find out how to "clip coupons" and "find bargains." Life will be different when you're making maximum wage. 6. Take heart that your kids will no longer have to study market economics. Like intelligent design,...

Lawmakers finished writing the bill late Sunday, after which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declared it "frozen," meaning no changes would be made. The bill leaves many mechanics of the operation up to the Treasury. Among these are the crucial issues of how the U.S. government would decide which assets it will buy and how it would decide what to pay for them. The legislation leaves the Treasury 45 days to issue guidelines on those procedures. The bill awaits votes in Congress starting on Monday. From big Wall Street houses to small community banks, executives have expressed an interest...

Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Obama took a few moments to address what he calls "the made-up controversy" of the day, Amie Parnes reports. Obama said the McCain campaign moved to "seize an innocent remark and take it out of context because they knew it's catnip for the news media." "See, it would be funny, but the news media decided that would be the lead story yesterday. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about...Enough!" he said.

BEIJING - Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

AUSTIN — An ultra low-cost air carrier Monday announced it will begin service out of Austin Bergstrom International Airport and hopes to attract passengers with its price -- starting at $9.99. The U.S. Department of Transportation granted Mexico's vivaAerobus the right to fly out of ABIA Monday afternoon. The carrier will fly nonstop to Cancun, Guadalajara, León, Monterrey, Puebla, and Queretaro. The airline is no frills, and it will have a new terminal that will have no jet bridges, sophisticated baggage handling, gates or ticket counters.

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States were "not that terrible" when compared to attacks by the IRA in Britain. "September 11 was terrible, but if one goes back over the history of the IRA, what happened to the Americans wasn't that terrible," the Nobel Literature Prize winner told the leading Spanish daily El Pais. "Some Americans will think I'm crazy. Many people died, two prominent buildings fell, but it was neither as terrible nor as extraordinary as they think. They're a very naive people, or they pretend to be,"...

DALLAS There's new information today on an overweight father going to extreme measures to adopt a child. Gary Stocklaufer says he's still being treated unfairly by a judge in his home state of Missouri. Despite having weight loss surgery in Dallas, he received notice from a judge overruling his motion for a rehearing to adopt his cousin's son. Back in June, the Stocklaufers petitioned to adopt 4-month-old Max, who had lived with them since he was a week old. Gary was denied the adoption because he was overweight. When news of the court denial spread a hospital in Dallas agreed...