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Beit Lahia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The scene on Tuesday morning in the northern Gaza Strip could at first look incongruous -- a group of women in black niqab veils sewing Santa Claus dolls for Christmas. They work at a small factory in the Palestinian enclave that is providing employment to women, many of whom are forbidden from leaving their village due to conservative values. Around 20 young women are employed at the factory, which is a project of the Zeina Cooperative in the village of Umm al-Nasser, close to Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

NEW YORK (AP) - A man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square spent a decade on the path to respectability before abandoning his house in Connecticut and deciding to supplement his business degrees with explosives training in Pakistan, authorities say. A court hearing was canceled Tuesday in part because of [Faisal] Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Congress is considering a pay raise for federal workers that will cost more than $1 billion over the amount President Obama requested, budgeters say. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that Congress' removal of language specifying different pay increases for civilian and military employees will cost the government an additional $1.3 billion, USA Today reported Friday. Obama's budget called for a 2 percent pay raise for non-military federal workers and a 2.9 percent hike for military employees. "It feels like this is not a good time to be taking a pay increase,"...

Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctionsby John in DC - 9/07/2006 06:02:00 PM This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble. Read it, then read my analysis of it below:September 7, 2006 Mr. Robert A. Iger President and...

Gold-Dealers conscripted to spy on you? Alex Wallenwein Email: awallenwein@houston.rr.com December 9, 2003 Just forget about buying and owning gold and other precious metals in privacy, as you have been able to do until now. A new intelligence spending bill (HB 2417) has reportedly just passed Congress and is awaiting the President's signature by this coming Saturday, December 13, 2003. Tucked inside that bill is a provision that allows the FBI to serve so-called "national security letters" on a broader range of "financial institutions." National security letters require these institutions to reveal their customers' private financial as well as general...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Presidential candidate Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) has charged that President George W. Bush misled Americans in repeating intelligence he knew to be suspect as well as withholding other important information. Graham said on Fox News Sunday, "Clearly, if the standard is now what the House of Representatives did in the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the actions of this president [are] much more serious in terms of dereliction of duty." When asked to explain how the "16 words" deceived a Congress that had previously voted to authorize the President to go to war, Graham said, "Well, there's...

June 16, 2003 To Interview Former P.O.W., CBS Dangles Stardom By JIM RUTENBERG [T] he race to land the most sought-after interview of the war in Iraq intensified as soon as Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch arrived at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in April, after her rescue from an Iraqi hospital. Katie Couric of NBC News sent Private Lynch, now 20, a bundle of patriotic books, including Rudolph W. Giuliani's memoir, "Leadership." Diane Sawyer, of ABC News, sent a locket with a photograph of Private Lynch's family home in Palestine, W. Va. But CBS News, in addition to the...

Harding Cited for Drunken Driving Sat Apr 20, 9:04 PM ETBATTLE GROUND, Wash. (AP) - Former figure skater Tonya Harding (news - web sites) was cited for drunken driving early Saturday after she crashed her pickup into a ditch, police said.Neither Harding nor her passenger was hurt in the 1:30 a.m. accident, in Battle Ground, just northwest of Portland, Ore. Deputies from the Clark County Sheriff's office who arrived on the scene thought Harding appeared under the influence of alcohol, and she failed a field sobriety test and breath test. Authorities did not release Harding's blood-alcohol content. Harding's life has...