Plot to blow up shopping malls on Easter in the U.K. thwarted.
Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend. Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann’s Square.
Pirates captured a U.S.-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew including 10 Italians on Saturday in the latest hijacking in the busy Gulf of Aden. “We can confirm that 10 Italians were kidnapped but we have no further details,” an Italian foreign ministry official said. Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said the crew were believed to be unharmed on the tugboat, which he added was operated from the United Arab Emirates.
Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint. Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy’s daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid. She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job.
Bad timing kills five U.S. soldiers in Iraq suicide truck bombing.
Five US soldiers were among seven people killed in a suicide truck bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today, according to the US military, in what was the deadliest attack against US forces this year. A sixth US soldier and 17 Iraqi policemen were also wounded in the blast that took place near the national police headquarters in south-western Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city and al-Qaida’s last urban stronghold.
The $787-billion economic stimulus plan signed into law in February could have been 20 percent larger, or about $943 billion, according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. (snip) During his speech to the NCAF, Congressman Frank made a case for the legislation. He said the “deregulation” of the last eight years under President George W. Bush helped cause the current financial crisis.
Karl Rove to Joe “I was shot at in Iraq” Biden, shut up you damn liar!
Vice President Joe Biden said he gave then-President George W. Bush an earful in the Oval Office. Former Bush adviser Karl Rove says Biden’s version of that encounter is at best an exaggeration – at worst a lie – and part of a pattern. “It’s a habit he ought to drop,” Rove said.
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Amid protest from journalists groups, the Veterans Affairs Department agreed late Friday to return a radio reporter’s recording equipment that it had seized three days earlier as he attempted to interview an injured veteran about VA health care. In a written statement to The Associated Press, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the department “regrets this incident occurred” and as a result would hand back the flash drive that it took from WAMU reporter David Schultz at the VA Medical Center in Washington. WAMU is a National Public Radio affiliate in the capital.
For the first time since they moved into our White House the Obama are going to church.
Come Easter Sunday, President Barack Obama will attend a local church for the first time since taking office, but aides say that won’t necessarily be the church he and his family join. The White House wouldn’t say where Obama will be on Sunday – but did say that the Obamas search for a more lasting spiritual home in the capital has been going on for some time. Friends have been quietly checking out churches in the Washington, D.C., area to see which might be a good fit for the family, one aide familiar with the process said.
For the second time, Alaska Senate Democrats have rejected Gov. Sarah Palin’s choice to fill the empty seat in the state Senate. And it’s causing tension within the Democratic ranks, with senators Lyman Hoffman and Donny Olson saying their colleagues are playing politics instead of voting on appointees based on their qualifications.
Chicago bank employees charged with ripping off ten of thousands from trusting elderly customers.
A suburban banker befriended some of her elderly customers, then used the trust she had gained to steal more than $100,000 from their accounts, DuPage County authorities said Friday. Amy R. Esposito used the money she stole from her customers to pay for everything from her children’s orthodontic work to jewelry purchases to her own credit card bills, authorities contend.
Here’s an interesting look at the Obama’s finances from the American Thinker.
An examination of the Obama’s finances show that they were living off lines of credit along with their salaries until 2005, when the book royalties came through and Michelle received her astonishing 260% pay raise at the University of Chicago. This reexamination of the Obama’s finances was triggered by a Chicago Tribune story on whether the Obama’s should refinance their home in Chicago. In addition, it is tax time with tea parties and that is another good reason to take another look. As we first reported here last year, the Obamas received a better mortgage rate from Northern Trust than the market rate when they bought their mansion in the upscale Kenwood area of Chicago with the aid of now-convicted felon, Tony Rezko. The Tribune story asked mortgage experts if the Obama’s should refinance and the answer is “no”.