Pentagon Sees a Threat From Online Muckrakers

To the list of the enemies threatening the security of the United States, the Pentagon has added WikiLeaks.org, a tiny online source of information and documents that governments and corporations around the world would prefer to keep secret. The Pentagon assessed the danger WikiLeaks.org posed to the Army in a report marked “unauthorized disclosure subject to criminal sanctions.” It concluded that “WikiLeaks.org represents a potential force protection, counterintelligence, OPSEC and INFOSEC threat to the U.S. Army” — or, in plain English, a threat to Army operations and information. WikiLeaks, true to its mission to publish materials that expose secrets of all kinds, published the 2008 Pentagon report about itself on Monday.

Revealed: Ashcroft, Tenet, Rumsfeld warned 9/11 Commission about ‘line’ it ’should not cross’

Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU. The notification came in a letter dated January 6, 2004, addressed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and CIA Director George J. Tenet. The ACLU described it as a fax sent by David Addington, then-counsel to former vice president Dick Cheney.

White House urged to end Israel row on settlements

The Obama administration on Tuesday came under congressional pressure to end its diplomatic row with Israel over its housing-expansion plans in occupied East Jerusalem, with legislators from both parties expressing concern about the future of the relationship and the peace process.

Obama: 'No crisis' in Israel ties

Israeli plans to build more homes near East Jerusalem are not helpful for the Middle East peace process, but the recent row over the issue does not amount to a crisis in US-Israeli relations, Barack Obama has said. In his first public comments on the issue, the US president told the Fox News network on Wednesday that despite the recent spat over settlement construction, Israel remains "one of our closest allies".

Russia to start up Iran nuclear plant mid-2010 - Putin

VOLGODONSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia will start up the nuclear reactor it is building at Iran's Bushehr atomic power plant in mid-2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Silvio Berlusconi caught out trying to stifle media
Wiretap transcripts lead to investigation of Prime Minister and TV regulator

Ramat Shlomo: Inside the town that will test Obama to the limit
The US President wants the expansion of Ramat Shlomo to stop immediately. But its Jewish residents tell Donald Macintyre that the land was given to them – by God

Ask Rabbi Sam White what he thinks of the global political row over plans to expand the community in which he lives, prays and studies, and he answers bluntly: "I don't see the problem. God gave us the land of Israel." The notion that the location of Ramat Shlomo, on land occupied after the 1967 Six Day War and officially expropriated six years later, might belong to another people is wholly alien to the 32- year-old Salford-born rabbi. "There's no question. It's in the Torah, which says that God gave the land to the Jewish people."

[Florida] lawmaker files bill to end ban on adoptions by gays

TALLAHASSEE - A day after Democrats lawmakers tried to bring attention to the state ban on gay and lesbian adoption, a representative from West Palm Beach announced she has filed a bill that would lift the ban. Democratic Rep. Mary Brandenburg made the announcement Wednesday backed by supporting legislators and members of Equality Florida, a group that advocates on behalf of gay, lesbian and transgender residents. Brandenburg called the adoption ban a triumph of bigotry over the needs of 2,000 children now awaiting adoption in foster homes.

Arkansas Sues Health Discount Marketer
Company allegedly told consumers they were buying health insurance

A health discount card is not health insurance, a distinction sometimes lost on consumers, especially if the marketer intentionally misleads them. The State of Arkansas accuses one company of doing exactly that. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel sued Consumer Health Benefits Association, alleging that the company tells potential clients it offers health insurance, but instead only offers a health discount card with limited benefits.

Wal-Mart 'appalled' at announcement telling blacks to leave store

Great Britain Stars in Its Own Greek Tragedy

Greece's budget deficit is impossibly high. But Great Britain's is even higher. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has his work cut out for him in this election year -- and the coming cuts will be painful. For the darkest hours in the fight against Adolf Hitler, the British Ministry of Information -- which existed for the duration of World War II -- had set aside a special poster. Intended to bring calm to the home front, it depicted the crown of King George VI against a red background, with the words "Keep Calm and Carry On" printed beneath the image.

U.N. chief chides Israel for confidentiality breach

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday criticized Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for releasing information about what Ban said was a confidential telephone call between the two men.

That controversial House health care plan — it's been done before

WASHINGTON — House of Representatives Rules Committee staff continued to lay some groundwork Tuesday for passing Senate health care legislation without actually passing the Senate legislation. Under a procedure being considered by House Democratic leaders, the controversial Senate health care bill would be "deemed" as passed if the House approves rules of debate for a second, more palatable health care bill.

Lehman whistleblower lost his job weeks after raising alarm

A worried accounting executive at Lehman Brothers, who raised the alarm about what he saw as dubious number-crunching at the doomed Wall Street bank, lost his job barely a month after alerting the auditor Ernst & Young, his lawyer claimed yesterday, in a case prompting calls for tighter protection for corporate whistleblowers. Matthew Lee, a senior vice-president in Lehman's finance division, outlined six allegations of unethical accounting in a memo sent on 16 May 2008 to Lehman's senior managers, who asked Ernst & Young to investigate. In discussions with partners at Ernst & Young, he highlighted controversial "repo 105" transactions that artificially boosted Lehman's balance sheet by $50bn (£33bn).

Worse Than Peak Oil? We're Quickly Running Out of a Chemical Essential to Growing Food

"P" is for phosphorus, the stuff of life, and “p” is for “peak phosphorus” by 2030, ecologists say, unless — presto! — pee can be turned into gold through modern-day alchemy. Unremarked and unregulated by the United Nations and other high-level assemblies, the world’s supply of phosphate rock, the dominant source of phosphorus for fertilizer, is being rapidly — and wastefully — drawn down. By most estimates, the best deposits will be gone in 50 to 100 years.

Campaign stunt launches a corporate 'candidate' for Congres

Murray Hill might be the perfect candidate for this political moment: young, bold, media-savvy, a Washington outsider eager to reshape the way things are done in the nation's capital. And if these are cynical times, well, then, it's safe to say Murray Hill is by far the most cynical. That's because this little upstart is, in fact, a start-up. Murray Hill is actually Murray Hill Inc., a small, five-year-old Silver Spring public relations company that is seeking office to prove a point (and perhaps get a little attention).

Appeals court upholds $20,000 in sanctions against birther movement attorney Orly Taitz

California attorney and “birther” proponent Orly Taitz must pay $20,000 in sanctions, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. In the two-page decision, the appeals court states that after considering Taitz’ arguments, “we find them unpersuasive and therefore affirm the district court’s sanctions judgment.”

Burnishing a Tarnished Image
Georgia Mounts American PR Campaign

George W. Bush once celebrated Mikhail Saakasvili, but President Barack Obama has given him the cold shoulder. Now the Georgian president is seeking to polish his image in the United States through an expensive Washington PR firm and by promoting the development of a Hollywood film starring Andy Garcia and Val Kilmer. The sense of irritation in John Bass's response was palpable. The US ambassador to Tbilisi said the decision by Georgian television station Imedi to broadcast a faux news report of the Russians on their way to invade the country had been "irresponsible."

Judge shows impatience with Everglades cleanup

Eighteen months ago, the federal judge overseeing Everglades cleanup progress tentatively endorsed a state bid to buy sugar fields for restoration projects, calling the opportunity to ``buy out the polluters'' a logical solution to long-standing problems. Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno made it clear Tuesday that his patience was nearing an end -- both with delays in the controversial land deal and the glacial pace of the cleanup.

Commentary: Liz Cheney's attack on American law

Israel Rejects U.S. Demands on Building in East Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — The discord between the United States and Israel over Jewish building in East Jerusalem deepened Tuesday with Israeli officials rejecting demands by Washington and expressing anger over the public upbraiding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Obama administration. On a day of scattered — although, in spots, fierce — disturbances by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, news emerged that Israel was moving ahead with a second building project there. A notice on the Web site of the Israel Lands Authority invited developers to bid on construction of 309 new homes in the Jewish suburb of Neve Yaakov, in northeast Jerusalem.

Obama runs out of patience with Israel
Settlement issue provokes 'biggest crisis in relations for 35 years'

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday strongly defended Jewish settlement construction in East Jerusalem in the face of US pressure and what one of his own top diplomats described as the worst crisis in relations with Washington for more than three decades. A defiant Mr Netanyahu appeared to be digging in despite clear indications that the Obama administration is now demanding the scrapping of plans for 1,600 new Jewish homes, whose announcement overshadowed last week's visit to Israel by the US Vice-President Joe Biden.

ADL: US Criticism of Israel troubling

WASHINGTON - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says it is shocked by the harsh public criticism recently directed at Israel by the US Administration. "We are shocked and stunned at the Administration’s tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in a statement.

Israel First?

The America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has done a very unwise thing: It has issued a statement criticizing the Obama Administration, rather than Israel, for its reaction to the Netanyahu government's recent announcement of more illegal settlement blocks in East Jerusalem--an announcement that was made during Vice President Joe Biden's visit last week, an act of extreme rudeness on top of its unquestioned illegality.

US Army considered attack on Wikileaks
Mole hunt mulled

It is claimed that leaked documents show the US Army felt sufficiently threatened by security breaches on Wikileaks that it considered ways it might wreck the site. A 2008 report by the Army Counterintelligence Center, classified Secret, calls for a mole hunt and prosecutions to undermine potential sources' trust in Wikileaks.

Corporate Debt Coming Due May Squeeze Credit

When the Mayans envisioned the world coming to an end in 2012 — at least in the Hollywood telling — they didn’t count junk bonds among the perils that would lead to worldwide disaster. Maybe they should have, because 2012 also is the beginning of a three-year period in which more than $700 billion in risky, high-yield corporate debt begins to come due, an extraordinary surge that some analysts fear could overload the debt markets.

Suspicion over Murdoch’s pan-Arab foray in Egypt

CAIRO -- The tie-up between Arab entertainment giant Rotana and pro-Israel media mogul Rupert Murdoch is viewed in Egypt not only with suspicion but as signalling the decline of Arab film and art heritage. In a country where film and television attract some of the largest audiences across the Arab world, the tycoon's foray into the Middle East is widely seen in cultural circles as a ruse to benefit Israel.

Handing out flyers could get you handcuffed [in Florida]

Free speech advocates are up in arms about a House bill that would harshly penalize individuals handing out flyers on property owned by hoteliers. The bill (PCB PSDS 10-03) would allow the seizure of cars, computers or items in cars if a person has been caught more than three times handing out fliers, such as those organizing unions.

Study: Drilling debate over state’s Gulf waters has wider implications

Florida's debate over whether to open its narrow strip of waters in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling is really about a much bigger decision, according to a report done for the state Legislature. Lifting the Florida ban on drilling "might weaken the state's position when protesting oil and gas activities in submerged lands under federal jurisdiction," concludes the study, conducted by the Collins Center for Public Policy at the request of Senate President Jeff Atwater.

Break the law and your new Facebook 'friend' may be the FBI

WASHINGTON: The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too. U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting. Think you know who's behind that ''friend'' request? Think again. Your new ''friend'' just might be the FBI.

Strapped States May Be Slow To Issue Tax Refunds
But California, other states, insist checks are in the mail

Netanyahu: no limitations on building in Jerusalem

(Reuters) - Defying the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected on Monday placing any curbs on building homes for Jews around Jerusalem. "For the past 40 years, no Israeli government ever limited construction in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem," he said in a speech in parliament, citing areas in the West Bank that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed to the city. Netanyahu made the remarks after Israeli media reported that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had demanded Israel cancel a project to build 1,600 settler homes in East Jerusalem, a plan that has caused a crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations.

US-ISRAEL: Tiff or Tipping Point?

WASHINGTON, 13 Mar (IPS) - "Condemn" is not a word that rolls trippingly off the tongue of a U.S. politician addressing anything having to do with actions, however objectionable, by Israel. So it was no surprise that close observers of U.S. Middle East policy sat up a lot straighter in their seats when Vice President Joseph Biden used the word not once, but twice, during his visit to Israel this week in reference to the Israeli Interior Ministry's announcement that it intends to build 1,600 new housing units for Jews in an Arab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, Mideast peace and a return to the Axis of Evil

The prime minister's speech last night returned the Middle East to the days of George W. Bush's "axis of evil." Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a patriarchal, colonialist address in the best neoconservative tradition: The Arabs are the bad guys, or at best ungrateful terrorists; the Jews, of course, are the good guys, rational people who need to raise and care for their children. In the West Bank settlement of Itamar, they're even building a nursery school. No empathy for the refugees from Jaffa who lost their entire world, not a word for the Muslim connection to Jerusalem ­- neither a fragment of a quote from the Koran, nor a line of Arabic poetry.

Relying on GM crops to battle climate change 'suicidal,' Indian activist charges

LONDON (AlertNet) - Faced with growing demand for food and increasingly unpredictable weather, many developing nations are debating whether to relax restrictions on the use of genetically modified crops. Seed developers promise that a coming generation of genetically modified (GM) food crops will have climate-resilient features, from drought resistance to saltwater tolerance. But widespread adoption of GM varieties by small farmers would be "suicidal in terms of climate change," said Vandana Shiva, an Indian social activist, environmentalist and proponent of small-scale farming.

International Probe Targets Secretive Catholic Group

(March 14) -- As sex abuse scandals rock the Vatican, the results of an investigation into a rich, ultra-conservative and secretive Roman Catholic order founded by a priest accused of pedophilia and incest are due to be filed in Rome on Monday. The sordid story of the Legion of Christ, whose late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a close ally of Pope John Paul II before being forcibly retired by the Vatican in 2006, is a microcosm of the crisis currently enveloping the church.

Normalizing the police state (and how it ends with taser-firing drones)

Bob Herbert recently wrote about the overzealous enforcement of “peace officers” assigned to New York City schools. The officers are accused of detaining, searching, handcuffing, and arresting students for silly things like drawing on desks, or handling — not using, but handling — cell phones in school.

Sarkozy faces reform setback after midterm vote

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy will find it harder to win support for his plans to reform pensions and rein in France's yawning budget deficit following a heavy defeat for his centre-right party in regional elections. The opposition Socialists came out well ahead of Sarkozy's UMP in the first round of the regional ballot on Sunday, pointing to a significant defeat for the president's party in the decisive second-round runoff on March 21.

Final destination Iran?

Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.

DoD Official Tied to Private Spy Effort

WASHINGTON --- A Defense Department official is under investigation for hiring private contractors to gather intelligence on suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The New York Times reported Sunday. That information was then supplied to military units and intelligence officials, the Times said, citing anonymous military and business sources in the United States and Afghanistan. The scheme violated U.S. policy against using contractors as spies.

Continental Airlines to charge for food

ATLANTA - Continental Airlines is ending free hamburgers, barbecue and sandwich rolls for many of its passengers in favor of a food-for-sale program that mirrors what other carriers are already doing. A spokesman said Monday that the airline, based in Houston, expects a $35 million annual benefit, from cost savings and added revenue. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines are among carriers that already charge for food on flights.

Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration. It's time to start cashing them in. For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.

Marco Rubio's lavish rise to the top

Marco Rubio was barely solvent as a young lawmaker climbing his way to the top post in the Florida House, but special interest donations and political perks allowed him to spend big money with little scrutiny. About $600,000 in contributions was stowed in two inconspicuous political committees controlled by Rubio, now the Republican front-runner for the U.S. Senate, and his wife. A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald analysis of the expenses found:

State wants to take sin out of film incentive

Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum

[Texas School] Board member Cynthia Dunbar wants to change a standard having students study the impact of Enlightenment ideas on political revolutions from 1750 to the present. She wants to drop the reference to Enlightenment ideas (replacing with “the writings of”) and to Thomas Jefferson. She adds Thomas Aquinas and others. Jefferson’s ideas, she argues, were based on other political philosophers listed in the standards. We don’t buy her argument at all. Board member Bob Craig of Lubbock points out that the curriculum writers clearly wanted to students to study Enlightenment ideas and Jefferson. Could Dunbar’s problem be that Jefferson was a Deist? The board approves the amendment, taking Thomas Jefferson OUT of the world history standards.

Conservatives Re-Write Declaration of Independence

The Civil Rights Movement created "unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes" among minorities, according to Texas conservatives trying to rewrite American history textbooks. They want students to learn that bit of undemocratic, phony history. Imagine Thomas Jefferson opening the Declaration of Independence with, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, no one should have unrealistic expectations of human equality..."

Russian invasion scare sweeps Georgia after TV hoax
Imedi TV broadcaster provokes panic with report claiming Russian attack in progress

Switching on their TV sets at 8pm on Saturday, Georgians were greeted with incredible news – Russia had invaded. The pro-government Imedi TV station reported that Russian tanks were once more trundling into Georgia. Not only that, but the country's pro-western leader Mikheil Saakashvili had been murdered, the station said. For the next half an hour there were scenes of absolute panic, as the mobile network collapsed, Georgians spilled on to the streets, and friends and relatives desperately tried to reach each other and seek out information. In fact, they needn't have bothered. The report, it turned out, was a hoax. The Kremlin hadn't invaded and Saakashvili, it emerged, was very much alive. Not since Orson Welles persuaded Americans that the Martians had landed, during his hysteria-sparking War of the Worlds radio broadcast, had a whole nation been so duped.

US ponders denying Israel arms needed for Iran war

With Israel making apparent efforts to build a case for war on Tehran, the Obama administration reportedly considers denying Tel Aviv the military items needed for an attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had reportedly required the urgent delivery of a long list of US-made military equipment, including systems needed by the Israeli Air Force, certain types of missiles and advanced electronic war equipment; military sources told DEBKA on conditions of anonymity. During a recent visit to Washington, Barak had reportedly criticized his hosts for stalling the delivery of the military items for the past three months, during which Israel was making preparations for a strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Did the CIA test LSD in the New York City subway system?

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.] Albarelli, [a former lawyer in the Carter White House] spent more than a decade sifting through more than 100,000 pages of government documents and his most startling chestnut might be his claim that the intelligence community conducted aerosol tests of LSD inside the New York City subway system. “The experiment was pretty shocking — shocking that the CIA and the Army would release LSD like that, among innocent unwitting folks,” Albarelli told The Post.

Justice's wife launches 'tea party' group
The nonprofit run by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to test notions of political impartiality for the court.

The move by Virginia Thomas, 52, into the front lines of politics stands in marked contrast to the rarefied culture of the nation's highest court, which normally prizes the appearance of nonpartisanship and a distance from the fisticuffs of the politics of the day. Justice Thomas, 61, recently expressed sensitivity to such concerns, telling law students in Florida that he doesn't attend the State of the Union because it is "so partisan." Thomas, who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush, has been a reliable conservative vote since he joined the court in 1991.

Vatican chorister and usher in gay prostitution scandal
One of Pope Benedict's ceremonial ushers and a member of an elite choir in St Peter's Basilica have been implicated in a gay prostitution ring, in the latest sexual scandal to taint the Vatican.

Ghinedu Ehiem, a Nigerian, was dismissed by the Vatican from a prestigious choir after his name appeared in transcripts of police wiretaps. In the wiretaps, Mr Eheim is allegedly heard negotiating over the procurement of male prostitutes. The wiretaps were carried out in connection with a probe into corruption in contracts to build public works, including the planned venue in Sardinia of last year's G8 summit. Among four people arrested last month in the corruption probe was Angelo Balducci, an engineer who is a board member of Italy's public works department and a construction consultant to the Vatican. Balducci is also a member of an elite group called "Gentlemen of His Holiness" – ushers who are called to serve in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on major occasions such as when the pope receives heads of state or presides at big events. Balducci was arrested on corruption charges and the allegations of prostitution emerged only later.

Is the Pope Toast?

Trouble, trouble. Not-going-away trouble. Run-out-of-office trouble. It’s a potentially transformative moment in matters of religion and of power, wherein even the infallible turns out to be vulnerable. Some of us live for such moments. It’s the priest sex story, the same one we’ve already done—and done. But now it’s popping up in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, all markets which make the American news media yawn. But come on. The priest sex story is one of the best we’ve had. It’s one of the ones that the media of our time is going to be remembered for. It’s the ultimate destruction of facade; the giving of voice to silence; the catching of deer and hypocrites in the headlights. It’s our triumph.

Israeli Historian: Israel Could Find Itself Forced To Wipe Out Europe

Noted Israeli military historian Martin Karfeld stated that Israel could find itself one day forced to exterminate the European continent using all kinds of weapons including its nuclear arsenal if it felt its demise neared, stressing that Israel also considers Europe a hostile target. This came in a press interview broadcast by the seventh Hebrew radio and was translated on Wednesday into Arabic by the press information analysis and study center.

Drones Are Lynchpin of Obama's War on Terror

CIA drones are killing terrorists -- and civilians -- in Pakistan almost every day. The unmanned aircraft are becoming the weapon of choice in the fight against al-Qaida and its allies. But the political, military and moral consequences are incalculable. SPIEGEL ONLINE has investigated Barack Obama's remote-controlled campaign against terrorism.

Israel orders demolition of Nablus mosque

Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of an under-construction mosque in the northern West Bank village of Burin on Sunday, head of the Palestinian Authority's settlement portfolio said.

Could Lehman's Dick Fuld end up behind bars?

What can Obama do to respond to Israel's slap at Biden?

JERUSALEM — President Barack Obama faces what may be the biggest test to date of his credibility in the Middle East after Israel greeted Vice President Joe Biden with an announcement that it will construct 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem, diplomats and analysts said Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said the announcement's timing wasn't intentional. However, Netanyahu also appears to be betting that he'll get little pushback from a U.S. president who's avoided public confrontation with Israel and is concentrating on building Democratic support on domestic ssues such as health care.

[Disgraceful Biden:] 'US has no better friend than Israel’

US Vice President Joe Biden tried to put the furor over announcement of plans to build 1,600 units in Ramat Shlomo behind him, saying during a speech Thursday at Tel Aviv University that he condemned the move because as a friend he was compelled to "deliver the hardest truth," but adding that he appreciated the clarifications he received on the matter from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyhau. He opened the speech by stressing the importance of US-Israel friendship and Washington's commitment to the security of the Jewish state, saying that "US President Barack Obama and myself know that the US has no better friend in the community of nations than Israel."

Palestinians snub peace talks because of Israeli homes expansion

Mahmoud Abbas 'not ready to negotiate' after Israel announces 1,600 new homes for East Jerusalem

The Palestinians pulled out of a new round of indirect peace talks last night, even before they had begun, as a protest at Israel's decision to announce approval for hundreds of new homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. The decision to pull out, announced in Cairo by Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, represents a major setback to months of diplomacy by the US administration and comes after the US vice-president, Joe Biden, delivered an unusually strong rebuke to Israel.

Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

House rejects bid to pull troops from Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives rejected a resolution Wednesday that called on President Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by year's end. However, the 65 to 356 vote highlighted the willingness of liberal Democrats to abandon the president on a major issue even as important votes loom on health care, and signaled that many in his party are weary of waging war.

French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment

In 1951, a quiet, picturesque village in southern France was suddenly and mysteriously struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations. At least five people died, dozens were interned in asylums and hundreds afflicted. For decades it was assumed that the local bread had been unwittingly poisoned with a psychedelic mould. Now, however, an American investigative journalist has uncovered evidence suggesting the CIA peppered local food with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as part of a mind control experiment at the height of the Cold War.

Poll: Half of Israeli high schoolers oppose equal rights for Arabs

Nearly half of Israel's high school students do not believe that Israeli-Arabs are entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel, according to the results of a new survey released yesterday. The same poll revealed that more than half the students would deny Arabs the right to be elected to the Knesset. The survey, which was administered to teenagers at various Israeli high schools, also found that close to half of all respondents - 48 percent - said that they would refuse orders to evacuate outposts and settlements in the Palestinian territories.

Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors

A little–noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old. Social Security benefits are off–limits to creditors, such as credit–card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Soc

Powerful Catholic quietly shapes abortion, health care debate

WASHINGTON — Richard Doerflinger doesn't look the part of a high-powered political strategist. Bearded and bespectacled, he works in a small, cluttered office out of one of Washington's less-fashionable neighborhoods, far from the lobbying bastions of K Street. Yet as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' point man on abortion, Doerflinger has emerged as a major player in the health care debate, one who's likely to play a pivotal role in the outcome. It was Doerflinger who orchestrated the bishops' successful campaign late last year to add a tough anti-abortion provision to the House of Representatives' legislation. The Senate adopted less-stringent language. Now, as President Barack Obama begins his last-ditch effort to pass final legislation, Doerflinger and his bosses are sending a clear message: If the Democrats want to succeed, they must include the House provision, or something equally restrictive, on abortion.

Ambassador, you are spoiling our view of the Thames with this boring glass cube

With a billion dollar budget and a prime site on the banks of the Thames, the plans for the new US embassy in Britain were intended to cement Washington's "special relationship" with London for decades to come. But tonight's long-awaited unveiling of designs by US ambassador Louis Susman for one of the most expensive embassies ever built threatened to be overshadowed by a high-level spat.

No-Fly List Includes the Dead