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STORY HIGHLIGHTS - The violence spiked after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan to calm the situation - The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 people have died in Syrian violence this year - The Syrian National Council wants U.N. and Arab League action - It says nearly 250 civilians died over a two-day period

SAN FRANCISCO -For gold sellers on eBay, the recent stock market turmoil has been a boon for business. Gold and silver sales on eBay had already been rising steadily over the past several years — so much so that eBay Inc. created a special area in May to make it easier for buyers to find sellers. Now, activity is intensifying as consumers unnerved by the economic uncertainty flock to gold in hopes it will be a stable investment. The stock market just ended one of its most volatile weeks in years. Through most of last week, the average selling price...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices ended at 2-1/2-year highs on Thursday as supply worries tied to fighting in Libya and Middle East turmoil overshadowed demand concerns spurred by a boost in euro zone interest rates and as a major aftershock struck Japan. Brent crude for May delivery rose for a sixth day, settling 37 cents higher at $122.67 a barrel, the highest since August 4, 2008. U.S. May crude futures closed up $1.47 at $110.30 a barrel, the best since September 22, 2008, gaining for the fifth day in six sessions. Brent's premium against U.S. crude, also known as...

(Reuters) - Investors hammered companies that build nuclear reactors and supply them with fuel on Monday as Japan struggled to avert a meltdown at a stricken reactor, on fear that the whole sector could be in for a downturn, in the short and medium term at least. But analysts said the industry could recover from the stock market setback as negative perceptions fade, and the current price slump might be a buying opportunity. "Meltdown is a very big word in people's minds, so I think that the public sentiment is probably going to swing against nuclear power," said BMO Capital...

Drill baby drill, those words have become a national battle cry after Sarah Palin first uttered them.

DAKAR (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people marched through Dakar on Sunday at the start of the annual World Social Forum, an annual leftist gathering taking place as anti-government protests sweep the Arab world. The 11th edition of the forum, an alternative to the elite World Economic Forum held in the posh Swiss ski resort of Davos last week, brings together anti-globalisation activists opposed to capitalism. This year participants are focusing on the popular revolt spreading across northern Africa with demands for democracy and criticism of dire social conditions reflecting the crisis of capitalism. Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales...

Fears that the turmoil in Egypt could disrupt oil shipments passing through the Suez canal and engulf the Middle East drove the price of Brent crude oil through the $100 barrier for the first time in over two years. The price of a barrel of the benchmark Brent crude soared by more than $1.50 to as high as $101.08 a barrel as the protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime intensified. Prices are now at their highest since September 2008, at the start of the financial crisis. Abdullah Al-Badri, secretary general of Opec, the cartel of oil producers, expressed concern about...

WASHINGTON – The petite woman in regal purple edged her way behind a raucous mob of reporters awaiting the next speaker of the House, a brutal midterm election behind her and an unclear future ahead. Attuned for four years to the comings and goings of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, few in the press klatch noticed — and none followed her. The spotlight and the microphones now awaited not the California Democrat, but Ohio Republican John Boehner. Change at the top, the populist battle cry in the 2010 midterm elections, already has taken hold around Pelosi in the final days of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's climate change agenda was thrown into turmoil Sunday after a key Republican abruptly pulled his support for a compromise energy and climate bill in a blow to Democrats. Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican, abandoned what Democrats said was a painstakingly negotiated climate bill in outrage over a decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to move an immigration bill in the Senate ahead of it. White House officials appeared to be taken aback by the move, unsure how to respond to the unraveling of a major component of the president's strategy both for...

Trauma, Turmoil, Chaos, Refiner's Fires, The Redemptive Order of GOD ALONE [Open] Lack of secure ATTACHMENT the first 6 years of life—especially, imho, to a healthy loving DADDY, results in almost or truly terminal insecurities. Said insecurities trigger a lifelong [until arrested and overcome, flushed]—trigger a lifelong pattern, habit, obsession of BEING IN CONTROL of every detail of one’s life and especially one’s relationships [which, of course, causes no end of problems and never results in the security longed for—satan wins again]. And, most often, such obsessive compulsions and needs for CONTROL find a nurturing home in INSTITUTIONALIZED structure,...

A multibillion-dollar experiment designed to curb global warming is stumbling as regulators question whether the program is doing enough environmental good. The United Nations is the main global policeman in an effort by wealthy nations to reduce the impact of their own pollution by paying for cleanups in the developing world. The program, known as the Clean Development Mechanism, is one of the most important coordinated efforts to attack global warming. [Graphic] In recent months, however, U.N. regulators who administer the program have objected to dozens of these developing-world projects, ranging from hydroelectric plants to wind farms, questioning whether the...

The cash-strapped California Republican Party is facing deeply divisive political and financial problems in this critical election year - beginning with a $3 million loan from a furious contributor who was supposed to have been repaid on Friday. The troubles of the GOP in the nation's most populous state - which backers of Sen. John McCain insist could be competitive in the fall presidential election - come at a crucial time. The California party convention is Feb. 22 in San Francisco, and conservatives and moderates will debate the platform and whether independent voters should be allowed to cast ballots in...

Taliban in turmoil after argument over sacking By Tom Coghlan in Kabul Last Updated: 1:10am GMT 31/12/2007 The Taliban leadership are struggling to contain the fallout from an embarrassing public argument after a senior commander was sacked for disobeying orders but then refused to stand down. Taliban spokesmen traded accusations in phone calls to news organisations after Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Islamist organisation, publicly sacked Mansoor Dadullah, the new overall ground commander fighting British forces in southern Afghanistan. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman, said Dadullah was sacked for disobeying orders and conducting activities against the Taliban's rules and...

After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's landslide reelection last year, the California Republican Party is left fighting over millions of dollars of debt, unable to pay the salaries of county executive directors or cash bounties to workers registering new GOP voters. As Republicans prepare for their weekend convention, the dispute has descended into "accusatory and obnoxious" exchanges over politics, finances and the direction of the party, according to e-mails obtained by Political Muscle. Schwarzenegger's campaign is planning two spring fundraisers to get the GOP solvent again. The party is about $4.6 million in debt. ... The dispute represents a larger fight within...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Appeals from religious leaders and an unusual daytime curfew Friday curbed violence that claimed more than 140 lives across Iraq after the bombing of a Shiite shrine. President Bush joined in calling for calm, saying "This is a moment of choosing for the Iraqi people." Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari reached out to Sunnis and Shiites, promising to rebuild the Shiites' Askariya shrine in Samarra and Sunni mosques damaged in two days of reprisal attacks. The daytime curfew kept most vehicles and pedestrians off the streets of Baghdad, preventing many people from reaching mosques for the main...

Iran in turmoil as president's purge deepens Simon Tisdall and Ewen MacAskill Friday November 18, 2005 The Guardian (UK) Iran is facing political paralysis as its newly elected president purges government institutions, bringing accusations that he is undertaking a coup d'état. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's clearout of his opponents began last month but is more sweeping than previously understood and has reached almost every branch of government, the Guardian has learned. Dozens of deputy ministers have been sacked this month in several government departments, as well the heads of the state insurance and privatisation organisations. Last week, seven state bank presidents were...

In major escalation of a simmering dispute, San Diego's retirement board filed suit yesterday in a bid to block City Attorney Michael Aguirre from taking control of the pension system's legal affairs and to retrieve documents he seized from current and former trustees. The Superior Court suit is an aggressive response to Aguirre's claim of jurisdiction over the troubled San Diego City Employees Retirement System and comes at a time of heightened scrutiny by federal investigators. Retirement Board President Frederick W. Pierce IV called Aguirre's actions "illegal, inappropriate and at times outrageous." Aguirre responded by calling the board a "rogue...

Two months from now, the members of the Democratic National Committee will elect a new party chairman. And we welcome the spirited discussion among candidates, activists, and progressive organizations on the direction and future of the Democratic Party. Under Chairman Terry McAuliffe's leadership, the DNC has spent the past four years making the power of grassroots activism a top priority. Thanks to those efforts, the Democratic Party is stronger than it has ever been before. In 2000, the DNC only raised $35 million in small donations. Most of our resources -- over $150 million -- came in large donations. But...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Deputy Chief Resigns From CIA Agency Is Said to Be in Turmoil Under New Director Goss. The deputy director of the CIA resigned yesterday after a series of confrontations over the past week between senior operations officials and CIA Director Porter J. Goss's new chief of staff that have left the agency in turmoil, according to several current and former CIA officials. John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior...