Gates On $50 Billion War Funding Request: "This Is News To Me" - Huffington Post
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Friday, August 31, 2007
Bush E-Mail Mystery Deepens: White House Won't Name Tech Contractor
Excerpt:
"The White House will not identify a private company which appears to be involved in the disappearance of millions of White House e-mails.
The company was responsible for reviewing and archiving White House e-mails, a White House official told congressional staff in May, according to a letter yesterday from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Congressional investigators asked then for the name of the company and "have repeatedly requested" the information since then, according to Waxman."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/bush-e-mail-mys.html
Iraq Gov't Asks Militias to Halt Attacks - The Associated Press
Sphere: Related ContentForbes: Merkel most powerful woman
Excerpt:
"Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel tops Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 most powerful women for the second year in a row, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slipped to fourth from second last year.
Merkel "continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits," Forbes said.
The magazine cited her work getting leaders at the Group of Eight summit to agree to goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and persuading European Union leaders to get moving on a treaty to replace their failed constitution.
China's vice premier Wu Yi was No. 2, and Ho Ching of Singapore, chief executive of Temasek Holdings, was third ahead of Rice."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070831/ap_on_re_eu/most_powerful_women
Thursday, August 30, 2007
By BARACK OBAMA - Hit Iran where it hurts
Excerpt:
"Americans need to come together to confront the challenge posed by Iran. Yet the Bush administration and an anonymous senator are blocking a bill with bipartisan support that would ratchet up the pressure on the Iranian regime. It's time for this obstructionism to stop.
The decision to wage a misguided war in Iraq has substantially strengthened Iran, which now poses the greatest strategic challenge to U.S. interests in the Middle East in a generation. Iran supports violent groups and sectarian politics in Iraq, fuels terror and extremism across the Middle East and continues to make progress on its nuclear program in defiance of the international community. Meanwhile, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared that Israel must be "wiped off the map.""
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Hillary Hatred Is "Hard For John To Talk About, But It's The Reality"
Excerpt:
""The media goes to this very engaging story about a legitimate woman candidate and a legitimate candidate with an African-American heritage, and that drives up their fund-raising numbers," says Elizabeth, the unfiltered voice of the campaign, during an interview on the bus a week before that speech."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/08/30/hillary-hatred-is-hard-f_n_62461.html
Justice Dept. Investigating Gonzales's Testimony - Huffington Post
Sphere: Related ContentClinton to Give Away Funds From Donor With Outstanding Warrant
Excerpt:
"Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton will donate to charity the $23,000 in direct contributions she has received from "Hillraiser" Norman Hsu, her campaign announced last night, citing concerns about published reports that Hsu faces an outstanding arrest warrant in California.
Hsu, who owns a number of New York clothing concerns, has over the past few years emerged as a major donor and fundraiser for numerous Democratic congressional candidates. But the bulk of his energies over the past year have been dedicated towards getting Clinton elected president."
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A More Pessimistic Report on Iraq
Excerpt:
"Add another assessment of the Iraq surge to the pile. A draft of a progress report requested by Congress from the Government Accountability Office is “strikingly negative” and questions a more optimistic report by the administration in July, according to The Washington Post, which obtained a copy.
Five benchmarks separated the two reports. In July, the White House said eight benchmarks were met satisfactorily; the G.A.O. puts the figure at three."
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Pakistan's Sharif to End Exile, Oppose Musharraf (Update3)
Excerpt:
"Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's former prime minister, will return to the country on Sept. 10, ending almost seven years in exile in an attempt to block President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
``On the 10th of September we will be landing at Islamabad and from there onwards we will go to Lahore,'' Sharif told a news conference in London today. Sharif said he was answering ``the call of duty'' and wanted to see a Pakistan that respected the rule of law and was free from ``military dictatorship.''
Pakistan's Supreme Court in an Aug. 23 ruling rejected the government's argument that Sharif couldn't return until December 2010 under the terms of an exile agreement."
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Collins responds to Gonzales resignation - MaineToday.com
Excerpt:
"Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said errors in judgment doomed the leadership of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who announced his resignation on Monday.
“The Attorney General’s decision to step down is a positive step forward for the Department of Justice,” Collins said in a written statement.
“Attorney General Gonzales’ ability to lead the Department of Justice had been undermined by his serious errors in judgment and conflicting statements. I am hopeful that the President will name a strong successor who will begin to restore confidence in the Department.”"
http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/015062.html
Castro's tip: Clinton-Obama the winning ticket
Excerpt:
"Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is tipping Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to team up and win the U.S. presidential election.
Clinton leads Obama in the race to be the Democratic nominee for the November 2008 election, and Castro said they would make a winning combination.
"The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate," he wrote in an editorial column on U.S. presidents published on Tuesday by Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma."
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Beijing police launch virtual Web patrol - Cartoon officers to offer warnings to surfers to abide by the law
Excerpt:
"Police in China's capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content.
Starting Sept. 1, the cartoon alerts will appear every half hour on 13 of China's top portals, including Sohu and Sina, and by the end of the year will appear on all Web sites registered with Beijing servers, the Beijing Public Security Ministry said in a statement.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20477258/
Report: Bush to seek $50B more for Iraq - United Press International
Sphere: Related Content47 Million Americans Without Health Insurance, Census Report - Medical News Today
Sphere: Related ContentOlmert and Abbas discuss core issues of contention
Excerpt:
"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, discussed the core issues of contention between their peoples at a meeting here Tuesday, but it was unclear how detailed their talks had been.
The core issues are the final borders of the two states, the status of Jerusalem and the Old City and a solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees.
The meeting took place at Olmert's official residence here, after a previous meeting three weeks ago in the West Bank city of Jericho."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/28/africa/mideast.php
U.N. Secretary General to Meet Sudanese Leader
Excerpt:
"Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday that he would travel to Sudan, Chad and Libya next week to press for an end to fresh violence in Darfur and for speedy deployment there of a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force.
“I want to go and see for myself the very difficult circumstances under which our forces will operate,” he said in a news conference at United Nations headquarters. “I also want to know, firsthand, the plight of those they seek to help.”"
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Clinton grabs major union endorsement
Excerpt:
"Democrat Hillary Clinton on Tuesday grabbed a key endorsement from a major transportation union, in a new boost to her front-running 2008 White House campaign.
The New York senator promised to be an advocate for American workers in the White House, as she snapped up the politically valuable vote of confidence from the United Transportation Union -- the first endorsement by a top labor union.
"The UTU has a long history of picking winners early. Hillary will be a president that America's working families can count on," said UTU President Paul Thompson in a statement sent out by the Clinton campaign."
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Firefighters Endorse Dodd
Excerpt:
"Senator Christopher J. Dodd is set to accept the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters tomorrow. The union’s decision — in choosing Mr. Dodd over the top tier of Democratic candidates — lends a little heft to the Connecticut lawmaker’s campaign, which emphasized how the organization’s support helped Senator John Kerry’s 2004 campaign in Iowa.
“The endorsement of America’s firefighters isn’t just a great validation for Senator Dodd’s leadership, but also is going to provide the boots on the ground in the early states that are going to make the difference,” said Hari Sevugan, the campaign’s communication director. “One of the reasons we’re so excited about this endorsement is because firefighters have proven that they know how to win.”"
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/firefighters-endorse-dodd/
Musharraf nears deal with Bhutto
Excerpt:
"General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, and Benazir Bhutto, his exiled rival, have almost reached a power-sharing agreement, a minister said today.
The two have been conducting not-so secret negotiations for months on such a deal, with Ms Bhutto, who has lived outside of Pakistan since 1998, calling for Gen Musharraf to step down as head of the army and become a civilian president.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the railways minister and a close ally of the general, said the issue had been settled."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2158268,00.html
Ain't gay & won't quit, says Senator Craig
Excerpt:
"Disgraced Sen. Larry Craig insisted he's "not gay" yesterday, defying demands he resign even as fellow Republicans demanded a probe of his airport rest room rendezvous.
"Let me be clear, I am not gay and never have been gay" and "did nothing wrong," said the 62-year-old Idaho lawmaker, who's accused of coming on to a handsome young cop at a notorious gay cruising spot in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
As his wife, Suzanne, looked on, Craig offered the bizarre excuse that he pleaded guilty in the airport incident because he was "under stress" from being hounded by the local newspaper's investigation of his sex life."
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Schumer claims scalp in latest Bush win
Excerpt:
"The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has many of the familiar features of President Bush's high-profile second-term failures: the firm resistance, the partisan acrimony, the eventual surrender.
And one hallmark of second-term executive train-wreck: the fingerprints of New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.
The Brooklyn Democrat has been a singular scourge of Bush's unhappy second term."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0807/5538.html
Obama supported by Wilder
Excerpt:
"Douglas Wilder of Virginia, who made history as the nation's first elected black governor, is preparing to campaign aggressively for Barack Obama, and predicted in an interview that the charismatic young candidate could shatter the Republican Party's virtual lock on the South.
"He's not race-less," Wilder said of Obama, "but the skin color is of no moment. I don't think he would be an easy target for the Republicans."
The unstinting embrace by Wilder, now the mayor of Richmond, could be important in Virginia and other southern states, where his reputation still looms large and the African-American vote could prove decisive in the Democratic nominating contest."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0807/5518.html
China's top 100 companies - Banks with hot IPOs, plus surging energy demand, propelled a dozen new arrivals onto our list of China's largest companies
Excerpt:
"(Fortune Magazine) -- A rush of listings on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges added a dozen newcomers to Fortune's annual list of China's 100 largest publicly traded companies. One of them had the largest share offering in the world: Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which raised $21.9 billion last October. As China's biggest bank by revenue and Asia's most profitable bank, with profits of $6.2 billion last year, it grabbed the No. 4 spot on this year's list.
The Bank of China, which also had a successful IPO, debuted at No. 5. While China's economy grew nearly 11 percent last year, the revenue cutoff for this year's list rose 46 percent, to $1.9 billion, compared with last year's $1.3 billion."
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Thompson pushes communications director out
Excerpt:
"Fred Thompson's communications director Linda Rozett has been let go, a sign of new campaign manager Bill Lacy exerting his authority and yet another indication of the uncertainty within the still-undeclared Thompson campaign."
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Bill Clinton to Be Interviewed by Oprah
Excerpt:
"Former President Clinton will appear on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show next Tuesday, Sept. 4, his first interview to promote "Giving," a book on philanthropy and civic action coming out the same day.
Clinton's appearance was announced Monday in an e-mail _ "The first interview about his new passion!" _ sent to members of Winfrey's book club.
Winfrey, who interviewed Clinton in 2004 for his memoir "My Life," has good reason to think highly of the new book. "Giving" praises Winfrey's "Angel Network," which has donated millions of dollars around the world, from money for schools in Africa to relief aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070827/oprah-clinton/
By Mia Farrow - The Dying Continues
Excerpt:
"My first visit to Darfur was in 2004. It changed the way I needed to live my life. I have just returned from my seventh trip to the region. I don't think I have the words to adequately represent what I have seen and heard there.
Incomprehensibly, it has now been more than four years since the killing began. Some experts believe a half a million human beings have died thus far. Others bicker about the exact death toll -- as if it makes a shred of difference to how we must respond. Only the perpetrators dispute that hundreds of thousands of innocent men women and children have been killed, in ways that cannot be imagined or described. It is all the more appalling that we cannot know -- that no one is yet able to count the dead. And the dying continues."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-farrow/the-dying-continues_b_62055.html
GOP Senator Enters Guilty Plea Over Lewd Incident In Public Men's Room
Excerpt:
"Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon."
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