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The ACLU sued to remove or not have mentioned during graduating ceremonies, any reference to the Lord. 400 graduating students had other thoughts.

We're not stopping now, say defiant Israelis By Isambard Wilkinson in Jerusalem and Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 24/07/2006) Israel brushed aside mounting calls yesterday for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Its army made clear that it planned to keep up its assault for at least a week and had not ruled out a ground invasion. Buoyed by support from Washington for rooting out Hizbollah rockets from southern Lebanon, the army treated parts of the border area as a free-fire zone. It hit at least two cars with rockets as they sought the relative safety of the city of Tyre. Israeli...

Palestinian PM is defiant as Gaza runs out of water By Harry de Quetteville in Gaza (Filed: 01/07/2006) The Palestinian prime minister emerged from hiding yesterday, vowing to defy Israeli military pressure which has left the Gaza Strip facing a humanitarian crisis. Ismail Haniya: 'No concessions' to the barrage Ismail Haniya, who has already survived one Israeli assassination attempt, has been under cover since a 19-year-old Israeli soldier was captured by Palestinian militants on Sunday. Israeli public television reported yesterday that Cpl Gilad Shalit was alive and had been treated by a Palestinian doctor for his injuries. But until he...

Some people want Bob Dynes' head, but the University of California president isn't about to give it to them. "Do I look like I'm crumbling?" Dynes shot back when asked during an hourlong interview Thursday whether he were more the type to harden under pressure or crumble. Dynes' comments came the day after three state senators called for him to be replaced over revelations of hidden executive compensation, and two days after the Bureau of State Audits blistered UC officials for, among other things, circumventing compensation policies set by the governing Board of Regents. Dynes answered those blasts indirectly at...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Iranian deputy oil minister said Sunday he did not believe the United Nations would impose sanctions on Iran because that would boost oil prices even higher. "Any action like that will increase oil prices very high. And I believe that the U.N. or its bodies will not put any sanctions on oil or the oil industry," M.H. Nejad Hosseinian told reporters after talks in Islamabad with Pakistani officials over a proposed pipeline to transport Iranian gas to Pakistan and India. The United States and its European allies have pushed the possibility of sanctions after a report...

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas put the final touches on a new Palestinian cabinet on Friday as its leader abroad said the Islamic militant group was prepared for all out war with Israel if the Jewish state opted for conflict. More moderate factions, including President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, refused to join a Hamas government. Hamas said it would complete its cabinet line-up on Saturday before giving the list to Abbas, who was unable to convince the surprise winner of the January 25 election to accept interim peace deals with Israel. "Prime Minister designate Ismail Haniyeh will tomorrow (Saturday) announce of...

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The suspected architect of Rwanda's 1994 genocide begins a fourth week of testimony on Monday defying accusers in the biggest trial to date over the central African nation's 100 days of slaughter. Prosecutors at the UN's Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) say former army colonel Theoneste Bagosora, now 64, was in charge as troops and machete-wielding militiamen butchered some 800,000 people. But in lengthy comments from the stand, Bagosora has accused rebel-turned-president Paul Kagame of triggering the bloodshed, blamed the chief of UN peacekeepers for the murder of Rwanda's prime minister and even...

(IsraelNN.com) Taking a cue, perhaps, from Bush’s “bring ‘em on” speech defying terrorists in Iraq, Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah has challenged the United States to disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon. ``What is left for them is that the Americans come themselves to disarm the resistance and the [Palestinian refugee] camps in Lebanon. I wish they would come, I wish they would come,'' he said to applauding followers at a Beirut rally. ``We tell America and all those who want to disarm the resistance in Lebanon and the resistance in Palestine to safeguard Israel...This is forbidden. It is not possible,'' Nasrallah insisted.

Sudan masses defiant over Darfur Protesters want the rebels, not just Arab militias, disarmed Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Sudanese capital Khartoum in protest against any foreign intervention in war-ravaged Darfur. The government-backed protesters said they were ready to die in a jihad if any foreign troops entered the country. "Darfur will be a foreign graveyard," said one placard spotted by BBC correspondent Paul Wood. The African Union says it has boosted the armed force it plans to send to Darfur from 300 to 2,000 troops. Emboldened The United Nations has demanded Sudan take action over...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's messy budget feud may have nicked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity, but the weeks of frustration steeled his determination to change the way business is conducted in Sacramento, aides said Tuesday. Passage of the $103 billion budget is expected this week - nearly a month beyond the June 30 deadline. In recent trips around the state, Schwarzenegger has pointed to the delay as fresh evidence the Legislature remains outdated, inefficient and a handmaiden of special interests. The governor's agenda has yet to fully take shape, but aides said he is looking at ideas that range from...

Defiant owner keeps anti-DNC sign By Casey Ross Saturday, July 24, 2004 City officials have laid a smack down on an irate North Station pizza shop owner who is facing fines for posting an unpermitted pro-Bush sign on his business as delegates flock to Boston for the Democratic National Convention. Mark Pasquale, owner of Halftime Pizza, was slapped with a citation Thursday evening and ordered to remove the sign until he gets a permit. Boston police also tossed in a charge for a locked exit door at the restaurant. ``It's my building and I can put a sign there if...

Defiant hostage's murder on video outrages Italians By Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 16/04/2004) The Italian hostage executed in Iraq tried to tear off his hood seconds before he was shot dead and screamed: "Now I'll show you how an Italian dies." Details of the final moments of Fabrizio Quattrocchi deepened Italy's shock and outrage at the hostage crisis as it awaited further news of the three other men seized with him on Monday. The four Italian hostages were filmed holding their passports The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, yesterday hailed as a hero Mr Quattrocchi, 36, a former baker....

We see their utter contempt for innocent life, says a defiant Bush By Andrew Grice and Nigel Morris 21 November 2003 Tony Blair and George Bush condemned the attacks in Istanbul and warned the perpetrators that the bombings would make them even more determined to rid the world of terrorism. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, arrived last night in Istanbul, where he surveyed the scene of the blasts at the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters. A team of about 10 anti-terrorist police officers also travelled to the Turkish city to join the hunt for the bombers. The bombings...

Damascus defiant in face of air strike, but options are limited Brian Whitaker Wednesday October 8, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Syria's youthful president sounded resolute and defiant yesterday in his first public comment on the Israeli air raid that struck deep into his country's territory. "We can, with full confidence, say that what happened will only make Syria's role more effective and influential," he told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat. "We are not a superpower, but we are not a weak state either. We're not a country without cards ... We are not a state that can be ignored." In the...

Jailed Muslim cleric issues defiant message By Alex Spillius, South-East Asia Correspondent (Filed: 11/08/2003) More than 3,000 Islamic militants attended a rally in Indonesia yesterday to support the jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the group blamed for last week's attack on a Jakarta hotel and the Bali bombings last year. In a message from his prison cell, where he is awaiting the resumption of his trial for attacks on churches and treason, 64-year-old Bashir said Muslims should strive to impose Islamic law without fear of being labelled terrorists."Do not be afraid of being labelled as trying...

Defiant Foreign Minister slips out of Baghdad to rally support from Arab nations By Andrew Gumbel 24 March 2003 Iraq's Foreign Minister slipped quietly out of Baghdad over the weekend for a diplomatic trip to Syria and Egypt aimed at rallying Arab governments against "the American, British and Zionist aggression". That Naji Sabri managed to leave Baghdad under heavy bombardment and make his trip was a propaganda coup in itself, and he wasted no time in addressing television cameras, venting his fury at "the drunken junkie", President George Bush, and his "follower dog", Tony Blair. Mr Sabri claimed that Iraqi...

Defiant Blair still on course for war By Andrew Grice Political Editor and David Usborne in New York 13 March 2003 Bloodied but unbowed, a defiant Tony Blair vowed yesterday to "hold firm" to his strategy in Iraq and made clear that British troops would fight alongside the United States even if he failed to win a new United Nations mandate.In a final attempt to win over the six wavering countries on the UN Security Council, the Prime Minister announced six tests to measure whether Saddam Hussein would disarm – including making a pledge on Iraqi television to surrender his...

Friday, 17 January, 2003, 09:50 GMTSaddam defiant after warheads find The warheads were in 'excellent condition' the UN says Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has warned that anyone who tries to invade his country will be defeated. The inspectors have asked for more time... wisdom obliges us to respond to their request In a defiant speech to mark the 12th anniversary of the start of the Gulf War, the Iraqi leader said his people were determined to make any new invading force "commit suicide" at the gates of Baghdad. He was speaking as the UN's chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, was...

Defiant Blair says UN has no veto on warPM ignores party critics, telling Saddam to disarm or face force By Andrew Grice Political Editor 14 January 2003 An uncompromising Tony Blair said yesterday he would refuse to allow the United Nations to veto military action to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. The Prime Minister warned the public that Saddam Hussein's weapons posed a "direct threat" to Britain but angered his Labour critics by refusing to guarantee that any war in Iraq would have to win the approval of the UN. He told a Downing Street press conference...

North Korea vowed Sunday not to fold under pressure as the United States threatened to apply economic pressure to the communist state in a bid to force it to abandon its nuclear weapons program. But Secretary of State Colin Powell told on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the United States has no plans to attack North Korea and is ready to wait months to see whether diplomacy can persuade Pyongyang to abandon nuclear programs. Meanwhile, inspectors from the U.N. nuclear agency, expelled by Pyongyang after the North said it would reactivate a mothballed nuclear research facility, prepared for their New...