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Amajor squash tournament in Malaysia has been cancelled, the sport's governing body said, after the Muslim-majority country sparked anger by refusing to grant visas for Israeli players. It is the latest instance of the Southeast Asian nation, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, barring the country's athletes. The World Team Championship for men had been due to take place in Kuala Lumpur on December 7-12 with 26 squads participating. But the World Squash Federation (WSF) and Malaysia's squash body said that it had been axed ...

Pope Francis celebrates five openly Marxist organizations: ‘You are…a veritable invisible army’'You are, as I said in the letter I sent you last year, a veritable invisible army; you are a fundamental part of that humanity that fights for life against a system of death,' Pope Francis told a number of openly professed Marxist groups in a video published on the Vatican News YouTube Channel. The text below is the script for the video report.(Lepanto Institute) A few weeks ago, the Lepanto Institute produced a report showing the direct connections the Vatican has with an international Communist organization called the...

Quote: www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1305834568650.shtm Department of Homeland Security Announces "If You See Something, Say Something™" Campaign Partnership with Washington State Ferries Release Date: May 19, 2011 For Immediate Release WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) "If You See Something, Say Something™" public awareness campaign to the Washington State Ferries (WSF)—a partnership that will help to ensure the safety and security of riders, customers and crew members throughout the WSF system. "Every citizen plays a role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats," said Secretary Napolitano. "Expanding the 'If You See...

Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela — Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who just announced that she is weighing a run for Senate, plans to protest again outside President Bush's Texas ranch, Venezuela's president said today with Sheehan by his side. Hugo Chavez, his arm around Sheehan's shoulders, told a group of activists that Sheehan had told him that during Holy Week, in April, "she is going to put up her tent again in front of Mr. Danger's ranch." "She invited me to put up a tent. Maybe I'll put up my tent also," Chavez said, to applause from activists invited to...

Cindy Sheehan said she will be part of the live audience during the president's State of the Union speech to congress Tuesday. Bay Area Congresswoman Lynn Woosley gave anti-war activist a gallery pass late Tuesday, just hours before the planned State of the Union speech. Sheehan was in Washington to protest the president during his national address, but then came word she was invited to see the speech live. A spokesman for Sheehan says she decided to accept the invitation two hours prior to the speech. The spokesman also said that Sheehan will be respectful and listen to the address...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- The World Social Forum ended in Venezuela, with President Hugo Chavez warning that to remain relevant, the annual gathering must take bolder steps, such as addressing the role of militaries in defending against U.S. "imperialism." The Venezuelan leader dominated attention Sunday on the final day of the event as he spoke for hours to liberal activists and forum organizers. "We need militaries that don't allow the people to be trampled upon and that don't sell themselves to the [U.S.] empire," Chavez told forum organizers, as he described a brief coup in 2002 by dissident military officers...

Social forum wraps up in Caracas with Sheehan calling Bush a 'terrorist' 12 minutes ago The six-day World Social Forum wrapped up in Caracas with US anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan calling President George W. Bush a "terrorist" during an event hosted by Venezuela's leftist leader. "By his own definition, he is a terrorist," said Sheehan, the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq, who gained notoriety for setting up a protest camp outside the US president's Texas ranch last year. "George W. Bush is responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people and his definition of a terrorist...

CARACAS, Venezuela Activists at the World Social Forum plan a demonstration against U-S proposals to extend a wall along the Mexico border and toughen immigration laws. They say the demonstration against the measures will start in southern Mexico and culminate in El Paso in May. Activists at the forum in Venezuela accuse the governments of the United States and Mexico of "violating human rights" and not protecting migrants. A House bill proposes building 700 miles of additional fences along the border while making illegal entry a felony. It would enlist military and local police to help stop undocumented migrants. The...

World Social Forum activists converge to push broad agenda Tue Jan 25, 2:19 PM ET World - AFP PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AFP) - Thousands of greens, pacifists, economists, libertarians and union activists will open a fifth, bolder World Social Forum here Thursday, aiming to push forward an agenda that is as ambitious as it is broad. AFP Photo The movement began in November 1999, when 40,000 people wreaked havoc on the city of Seattle, on the US West Coast, to protest globalization, as the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) met to kick off a new round of talks....

Yesterday's arrest of four Washington State Ferry System employees caught stealing fares has finally put a human face on the repeat audit findings against the Department of Transportation's ferry division. For nearly two decades, the Ferry System has failed audits due to inadequate controls over ticket sales and revenue collection. The finding dates back to 1986. Eighteen years later, officials still don't know how many passengers ride the ferries, or where all the money collected from passengers ends up. Without consequences, agencies don't care about audit findings. Consider DOT's flippant response. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) was particularly concerned with...

BOMBAY : Anti-globalisation activists called for the world to unite against the United States as 100,000 people from 130 countries met off a Bombay highway in the movement's first forum since the Iraq war. The World Social Forum, billed as a counterweight to the World Economic Forum of business and political leaders which opens Wednesday in Switzerland, is holding discussions and demonstrations on issues from Iraq to child labour. But the common thread for the diverse set of activists is opposition to US President George W. Bush, whom forum leaders accuse of endangering world security and bending trade rules...