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Briefing on Efforts To Stop Violence in Lebanon Secretary Condoleezza RiceJerusalemJuly 30, 2006SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. I am deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life in the bombing in Lebanon this morning. The people of Lebanon have the deepest sympathies of President Bush, the people of the United States and my own heartfelt condolences. Our prayers go out to all the victims and their families. I first learned of this tragic loss of life as I was meeting with the Israeli Defense Minister this morning and once again I was reiterating our strong concern about the impact of...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lay out U.S. plans Friday for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, and she and President Bush will meet with Saudi Arabian officials Sunday to discuss it. Rice departs later Sunday for the Mideast, and will carry the U.S. strategy for ending the 10-day-old warfare and establishing stability in southern Lebanon, a senior administration official said.

UNITED NATIONS — After China strongly hinted it was ready to veto a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that would cement North Korea's past agreements into binding international law, Japan and other sponsors backed off and declined to push the proposal to a vote yesterday.

An Indonesian man washes his child's body outside a hospital after strong earthquake in Bantul Yogyakarta, central Java, Indonesia, Saturday, May 27, 2006. A powerful earthquake flattened buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 2,900 people and injuring thousands more in the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.(AP Photo/Bayu Adi)

"I’m disappointed in you. I expect people to keep their word," Zoellick icily told Minnawi, according to observers. "I can be a very good friend, but I am a fearsome enemy." --snip-- To win support, Zoellick gave each rebel leader — and Lt. Gen Omar Hassan Bashir, Sudan’s president — an individually tailored letter from President Bush. The letter from Bush to Bashir held out the prospect of improved bilateral relations if peace was achieved in Sudan. Zoellick also gave Minnawi a private letter promising that U.S. troops would be dispatched to count the number of rebel soldiers as part...

US decides on transit plan: source BUSH APPROVAL: Chen Shui-bian will not be allowed to land in the continental US nor stay overnight, officials said, adding that the US president had made the decision By Charles Snyder and Nadia Tsao STAFF REPORTERS IN WASHINGTON Wednesday, May 03, 2006,Page 3 A US source said yesterday that US President George W. Bush will allow President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to transit through the US on his way to and from Latin America. Bush authorized Chen to stop in Honolulu, Hawaii, on his way to Latin America, and in Anchorage, Alaska, on his...

South China Morning Post March 29, 2006 Wednesday SECTION: FEATURES; Behind the News; Pg. 12 LENGTH: 1258 words HEADLINE: The last harvest BYLINE: Even as new laws are passed to regulate the trade in organs for transplants, overseas patients are flocking to the mainland, write David McNeill and Clifford Coonan BODY: When Kenichiro Hokamura's kidneys failed, he waited more than four years for a transplant before going online to look into rumours of organs for sale. As a native of Japan, where less than 10 kidney transplants are performed a year, the 62-year-old businessman was desperate. "There are 100 people...

ABC's first headline for thie story where Moussaoui admits his role was this: Moussaoui Denies Part in 9/11 Hijackings Can you believe this? That was their original spin. Same article as Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane but different headline. link link

An Iraqi Shiite Muslim woman beats her head during a procession, in Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 20, 2006. A million Shiite Muslim pilgrims descended on the holy city of Karbala to mark

By C. Bryson Hull NAIROBI (Reuters) - Letting non-African troops into Sudan's troubled Darfur region risks creating turmoil like that seen after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Sudan's president said on Monday. Despite the widespread view that an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force had done little to quell violence in Darfur, President Omar al-Bashir argued it was doing its job well and needed no outside help. Sudan has rejected a push for a United Nations-led peacekeeping force in Darfur until it signs a peace agreement with rebel groups it is fighting there. AU-led peace talks are underway in Abuja, Nigeria....

President Bush stated he backs NATO action in Darfur, Sudan.

Frogs can communicate via sonar. ___ Editors summary and abstract follow: _____ Editor's Summary 16 March 2006 Raising The Tone -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some bats, dolphins and rodents are notable among vertebrates in being able to produce and detect ultrasonic frequencies. Now for the first time an amphibian can be added to that select list. The spectacular bird-like sounds made by a type of Chinese torrent frog were known to edge into the ultrasonic range: now these frogs are shown to use ultrasonics as a form of communication. The males do at least, during competition for territory. Frogs are a long way,...

Japanese Make Gasoline From Cattle Dung By KOZO MIZOGUCHI, Associated Press WriterFri Mar 3, 7:57 AM ET Scientists in energy-poor Japan said Friday they have found a new source of gasoline — cattle dung. Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted 1.4 milliliters (0.042 ounces) of gasoline from every 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat. "The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders" to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said. About 500,000...

Excerpts: "Having them is an endorsement of their philosophy of overthrowing the Chinese government," said Pinki Chen, organizer of the San Gabriel Valley Annual Lunar New Year Parade. "We just don't want to get involved in something like that…. We have a lot of business connected to China." ____ Pak — who has been called the city's most powerful citizen not in public office — has argued that Falun Gong is too sharp-edged for the family-oriented parade, which is sponsored by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. For years, Pak, a 57-year-old former Bay Area journalist, accompanied former Mayor Willie Brown...

Palestinians are demonstrating with guns and burning cars after the Hamas win. Some pictures. Protestors are seen around burning cars inside the courtyard of the Parliament in Gaza City Friday Jan. 27, 2006. Thousands of members of Fatah, which badly lost Palestinian parliament elections to Hamas this week, burned cars and shot in the air in demonstrations across the Gaza Strip, demanding the resignation of corrupt officials and insisting that Fatah form no coalition with Hamas. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) Palestinian firemen try to stop the fire after Fatah supporters burned cars inside the Palestinian parliament during a protest in Gaza...

A Norwegian researcher dreamed up the lives and lifestyles of some 900 people — and used them in a study on cancer. Then, last October, Jon Sudbø had his results published in The Lancet. ___ Last week, Sudbø, who is based at the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, admitted that the data had not come from that database or any other, but from thin air. Unfortunately we are unable to provide accessible alternative text for this. If you require assistance to access this image, or to obtain a text description, please contact npg@nature.com Many details of this case still need...

"This is a victory beyond our wildest dreams," said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU-Pennsylvania. "The judge ruled that board members had a religious purpose, and he ruled on the larger questions of intelligent design. He analyzed the alleged science behind intelligent design and found there was none." A victory for the ACLU beyond their wildest dreams? You know that's not good. What is this victory? It's not about evolution vs some other idea, it is that the ACLU has now got a federal court to decree what is religion and what is science. The judge may be 100%...

How Grand Ole Opry Was Invented Eighty years ago today George Dewey Hay, the new program director at Nashville’s radio station WSM, persuaded a 77-year-old amateur fiddle player from Tennessee named Uncle Jimmy Thompson to drop by and play some old-time tunes on the air. Hay had a notion that his listeners would like that. Was he ever right. The broadcast proved so popular that on December 26 WSM launched a regular Saturday afternoon show, Barn Dance, featuring Uncle Jimmy and a growing assortment of guest performers. They did the show in a small fifth-story studio at the National Life...

AFX News Limited US Congress welcomes visiting Taiwan ex-president Lee as 'father of democracy' 10.20.2005, 01:25 AM WASHINGTON (AFX) - US lawmakers welcomed Taiwan's ex-president Lee Teng-hui to Congress as the 'founding father of democracy' and praised him for his unrelenting stand against the 'tyrants' in Beijing. Agence France-Presse also reported that a group of Beijing supporters, some calling Lee a 'troublemaker,' demonstrated outside a building where he had dinner with legislators and other American dignitaries yesterday. 'Today, we are welcoming a great hero of freedom,' Dana Rohrabacher, California Representative from President George W Bush's Republican party, was quoted by...