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The U.S. attorney for Manhattan has declined to resign despite a demand from the Justice Department. Preet Bharara declined to tender his resignation on Friday part of a demand from the Justice Department for 46 U.S. attorneys to resign, according to multiple reports. Bharara previously met with President Trump at Trump Tower before the inauguration and had told reporters Trump asked him to stay on.

There’s a showdown at the OK capitol. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has vowed that a Ten Commandments monument on capitol grounds, which the state Supreme Court recently ruled was unconstitutional, will remain through appeal, KOCO reports. “The Ten Commandments monument was built to recognize and honor the historical significance of the Commandments in our state’s and nation’s systems of laws,” Fallin says in a statement. “The monument was built and maintained with private dollars. It is virtually identical to a monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol which the United States Supreme Court ruled to be permissible. It...

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of Capitol Hill’s most influential voices in the Iran nuclear debate, is strongly endorsing passage of a law opposed by President Barack Obama that would give Congress an avenue to reject the White House-brokered framework unveiled last week.

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama welcomed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to the White House Friday, defying China, which said the meeting would "seriously impair" ties between the two countries. The encounter took place in the Map Room on the ground floor of the president's residence and not the Oval Office, which Obama usually uses to meet foreign leaders and visiting dignitaries. "The president is currently meeting w/His Holiness the @DalaiLama in his capacity as an internationally respected religious & cultural leader," the US National Security Council said on Twitter. There were no sightings of the...

Mark Levin says that Obama has now created a constitutional crisis: We have a rogue board call the National Labor Relations Board. … Three people are sitting there unconstitutionally issuing opinions involving business and labor unions. The court ruled that they don’t have any power because Obama didn’t have the power to rule the Senate in recess and to make those appointments. Obama doesn’t have the power to change the welfare statute to eliminate work. Obama doesn’t have all kinds of power that he’s exercising. Neither does his bureaucracy over there at the EPA and so forth.

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's opposition on Sunday renewed its call for a rally in support of protesters in Tunisia and Egypt despite a government warning of repercussions if demonstrations take place, a reformist website reported. In a statement published on Kaleme.com, the opposition urged its supporters to rally on Monday in central Tehran and accused the government of hypocrisy by voicing support for the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings while refusing to allow Iranian political activists to stage a peaceful demonstration.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A momentous deal to cap property taxes was all but done, but Gov. Chris Christie was taking no chances, barnstorming the state to commiserate with squeezed homeowners and keep pressure on the Legislature.

DESTIN — Okaloosa County isn’t taking oil spill orders any more. County commissioners voted unanimously to give their emergency management team the power to take whatever action it deems necessary to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from entering Choctawhatchee Bay through the East Pass.

BAGHDAD - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. Government television said the round-the-clock curfew imposed two days ago on the capital and due to expire Sunday would be extended indefinitely. The U.S. Embassy tightened...

Pope defies death threats to greet pilgrims By Malcolm Moore in Rome (Filed: 21/09/2006) Pope Benedict greeted 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter's Square yesterday in an open-top vehicle, as he defied death threats from al Qa'eda over his controversial speech in Germany last week. The Pope did not alter his usual routine of driving around to greet the crowd, and did not use the bullet-proof "Popemobile" that has been increasingly deployed since the attack on John Paul II in 1981. Guards escort the Pope as he is driven past 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square. People were security checked before...

N Korea defies missile pressure The Taepodong missile could reach Alaska (archive picture) North Korea has said it is free to carry out a long-range missile test, defying international calls not to do so, Japan's Kyodo news agency says. "This issue concerns our autonomy. Nobody has a right to slander that right," a North Korean foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by Kyodo. The official denied the North was bound by earlier agreements not to launch. The US has said a North Korean test of its nuclear-capable Taepodong-2 missile would be a "provocative act". The missile, which has never...

Hamas defies Abbas call to moderate anti-Israeli strategy By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 06/06/2006) The Hamas-led Palestinian government looked certain last night to defy the moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas and reject his demand to soften its stance towards Israel. With no sign of Hamas meeting a midnight deadline to back the so-called Prisoners' Accord, a proposal recognising the right of Israel to exist within pre-1967 borders, the stage was set for a referendum, which Mr Abbas had promised to hold in 30 days if his plan was rebuffed. Tension between armed factions from Fatah and Hamas is expected to...

Mugabe to speak at hunger debate as he defies EU travel ban again By David Blair in Johannesburg and Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 17/10/2005) President Robert Mugabe flew to Rome in defiance of a European Union travel ban after the United Nations caused outrage by inviting him to address a conference on world hunger today.Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of southern Africa and a major exporter of food, now depends on western aid to avoid starvation. Mr Mugabe will speak at the FAO conference Four million Zimbabweans, a third of the population, need supplies from the World Food Programme....

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved Monday to add about $11 billion to a six-year highway and transit bill, putting it on a collision course with the Bush administration and a threatened veto. Senate leaders said the revised package with the extra money, which would raise spending for the long-delayed legislation to about $295 billion, would be paid for by finding new revenue for the federal highway trust fund. A vote on the bill, including the $11 billion addition, could come by the end of the week. But Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, in a statement put out in anticipation of the...

Refugee who became Dutch MP defies Islam with film about Koran By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 31/08/2004) After describing the Prophet Mohammed as a pervert, Ayaan Hirsi Ali already needs round-the-clock protection from the Dutch security services. Now the Muslim apostate and rising star of Dutch politics has pushed her luck even further with a film exhibiting verses of the Koran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Mrs Hirsi Ali, who has risen from Somali asylum seeker to Dutch MP in 12 years, produced the film broadcast on Dutch television on...

Sharon defies US on West Bank fence to cut into West Bank By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 01 October 2003 The fence that Israel is building to seal off the West Bank will enclose a Jewish settlement deep inside the occupied territories, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, has said. His vow on the settlement in Ariel, in defiance of US pressure, came as William Burns, a State Department official, said the growth of Jewish settlements "could threaten the future of Israel as a Jewish democracy". The "separation fence" is a series of concrete walls and high metal fences. Israel claims...

Iran defies ultimatum by nuclear watchdog By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 23/09/2003) Iran defied international pressure over its nuclear programme last night when it announced it would scale back its co-operation with United Nations inspectors. The announcement came hours after Iranian forces paraded six of the newly deployed Shahab-3 missiles, with a range of around 800 miles, able to reach most parts of the Middle East. The belligerent moves are a reaction to an ultimatum by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, which demanded that Iran come clean about its nuclear programme by the...

Britain defies US on Iran weapons By Robin Gedye, Foreign Affairs Writer (Filed: 20/09/2003) Britain ignored American objections and joined France and Germany in offering Iran a deal to develop a non-military nuclear programme in exchange for dropping attempts to enrich its own fuel, it was disclosed yesterday. The initiative, in a letter to the Iranian foreign ministry in August, was intended to encourage Teheran to agree to the International Atomic Energy Agency's additional protocol providing for unlimited inspections of its nuclear facilities. Britain has long been at odds with the Bush administration in believing that dialogue with Teheran is...

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday defied Bush administration opposition and voted to rescind new regulations allowing large media companies to grow even bigger. The Senate approved, 55-40, a resolution that would roll back the Federal Communications Commission rules allowing television networks to own more local stations and permitting conglomerates to own a newspaper, television stations and radio outlets in a single market. The measure faces a tougher battle in the U.S. House of Representatives and a threat of a veto by President Bush if it reaches his desk. The Republican-led FCC narrowly adopted the new...

Israel defies restraint plea with new strike on Hamas By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 14 June 2003 An Israeli helicopter again fired missiles into a crowded area of the Gaza Strip last night in an assassination of a Palestinian militant. Children were among the 23 wounded by the missile strike. The killing came despite an opinion poll published yesterday which found that 67 per cent of Israelis want the assassinations to stop, at least temporarily, to give the peace process a chance. But the Israeli government pressed on. The deputy defence minister, Zeev Boim, vowed that the government would "wage...