The Saudi religious police launched Thursday a nationwide crackdown on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentine’s Day, a Saudi official said. Members of the feared religious police were inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red, and ordering storeowners […]
Saudi Arabia wants Taliban to expel bin Laden – AP
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia will not get involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban stops providing shelter and severs all ties with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida movement, officials said Tuesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting Saudi Arabia hoping for an active Saudi role in his plan to persuade Taliban […]
McCain says campaign finance reform is dead – AP

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain says the movement he led to reform how political campaigns are financed is dead. McCain says the Supreme Court has spoken on the constitutionality of political contributions by corporations. The Arizona Republican had sought to regulate them with a landmark campaign finance law he wrote with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. […]
Poll: 7 in 10 Afghans support US forces – AP
Nearly seven in 10 Afghans support the presence of U.S. forces in their country, and 61 percent favor the military buildup of 37,000 U.S. and NATO reinforcements now deploying, according to a poll released Monday. Support for U.S. and NATO forces, however, drops sharply in the south and east where the fighting is the most […]
CIA bomber’s wife says war must go on against US – AP
he Turkish wife of a Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan says her husband was outraged over the treatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Defne Bayrak, the wife of bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said in an interview with […]
Geithner’s New York Fed Pushed AIG To Keep Sweetheart Deals Secret – Huffington Post
An arm of the Federal Reserve, then led by now-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told bailed-out insurance giant AIG to withhold key details from the public about overpayments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs. The sordid tale unfolds in a series of e-mails […]
Conn. Sen. Chris Dodd to retire? – AP
Democratic officials tell The Associated Press that Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd won’t seek re-election this fall. The five-term Democrat is expected to make an announcement Wednesday. The officials who disclosed his plans would speak only on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Dodd is facing troubling poll numbers and his popularity has dropped since […]





















Air America Radio closing, filing for bankruptcy – AP
LOS ANGELES – Air America Radio, a radio network that was launched in 2004 as a liberal alternative to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative commentators, on Thursday shut down abruptly due to financial woes. The network once boasted hosts such as Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, but struggled from the outset, including multiple management shake-ups, […]