An influential psychiatrist who was the host of the popular NPR program “The Infinite Mind” earned at least $1.3 million from 2000 to 2007 giving marketing lectures for drugmakers, income not mentioned on the program.

The psychiatrist and radio host, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drugmakers have been uncovered by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Dr. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is the first news media figure to be investigated.

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

"It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI.

The Israeli peace camp was born in sin and died because of a lie: It was born as the legitimate son of the sin of occupation, and died the illegitimate son of the lie that `there is no partner` with whom to negotiate on the other side. Between September 1967 and October 2000, it spent 33 years waging the brave and determined struggle of a minority against a majority, `traitors` against `patriots,` `defilers of Israel` against `lovers of Israel,` David against Goliath. Today, we must painfully admit that it was struggle that did not produce much.

Virtually alone in the press corps, veteran Helen Thomas asks the
tough questions. Other reporters cower for fear they will lose access to government officials.

“We remain committed to our relationship to the Mets; it is important to us,” Steve Silverman, a spokesman for Citi, said in a telephone interview Friday.

Jonathan Pollard, the United States agent sent to jail for giving Israel information critical to the country's security, is entering his 24th year in prison on Friday. His wife Esther says now is the time to ask for clemency.

When President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, along with Governor John Connolly of Texas, on November 22, 1963, the news spread out on the nation and world like a shock wave. It was a national experience like never before. Other presidents had been assassinated, but that was in the days before the media could spread news at a lightning pace. It was only about an hour after the initial flash from Dallas that the followup report of Kennedy's death sent out another shockwave.

General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, 24 November, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977

The European Union is to launch an inquiry into the causes of the Russia-Georgia conflict, papers seen Friday show, amid growing recriminations against Tbilisi over its role in fanning the flames

For centuries, a class of people has made its living by controlling and issuing the currency and credit of nations. That this class holds enormous sway is without question. What is in question is how to work around them so that they can do no more damage to any of us and to limit their power and influence in the material world.

A US military judge in Guantanamo Bay has thrown out the US government's evidence against an Afghan detainee because it was obtained under coercion, a rights group said Friday.

Virtually no food, medicine or other vital supplies have been allowed in to the territory that is home to 1.5 million people. The impact of the siege is most directly observed in Gaza's health sector.

Dr. Zaki Azzaq Zouq, an oncologist, explained, "There is a widespread shortage of essential medicines which we used to give to patients prior to the blockade. Currently, there are no tools for physicians to treat patients who suffer from lung, stomach, colon or brain cancers."

The family of a college student who killed himself live on the Internet say they're horrified his life ended before a virtual audience, and infuriated that viewers of the live webcam or operators of the Web site that hosted it didn't act sooner to save him.

Israeli sources told the Times on Friday that in the past few weeks Tel Aviv has witnessed an increase in the chances of launching an airborne attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Regulators shut Downey S&L, PFF Bank & Trust in Calif.; 22 banks have failed this year

Fast forward to 2001 – just seven years ago – and an American general told us of the imminent victory over the "terrorists" in the mountains, the all but conquered Taliban who were being supported by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Russian was pontificating at the big Soviet airbase at Bagram. The American general was pontificating at the big US airbase at Bagram.

This is not déjà-vu. This is déjà double-vu. And it gets worse.

The deal to disarm North Korea is unravelling

Two Russian strategic bombers are conducting an aerial patrol over the Arctic Ocean, Interfax news agency reported Friday.

Ahead of an expected meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President Bush in Peru this weekend, Russian officials and military commanders continue to make public comments about deploying missiles in Europe in response to U.S. missile defense plans.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visits to Venezuela and Cuba during a week-long trip to Latin America look set to irk Washington, highlighting a foreign policy challenge facing President-elect Barack Obama.

His trip to Venezuela, a key buyer of Russian arms, coincides with the two countries' first joint naval exercise in the Caribbean -- traditionally viewed by the United States as its backyard.

During his stay in Cuba, the Russian leader is likely to demonstrate Moscow's commitment to renew a Cold War-era alliance with Havana, abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Federal regulators will guarantee as much as $1.4 trillion in U.S. banks' debt in a bid to get the distressed financial system pumping again. They also took steps to make it easier for private investors to buy failed banks seized by the government.

Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. voted to approve the bank-debt guarantee program, which is part of the government's financial rescue package. The FDIC program is meant to break the crippling logjam in bank-to-bank lending by guaranteeing the new debt in the event of payment default by the borrowing bank.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Saturday that he was crafting an aggressive, two-year stimulus plan to revive the troubled economy, warning that swift action was needed to prevent a deep slump and a spiral of falling prices.

"If we don't act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," Obama said in prepared remarks for the weekly Democratic radio and video address.

Citigroup Inc has begun talks with the U.S. government as its plummeting share price raises doubts about the bank's ability to survive, a person familiar with the matter said.

The bank has met with officials from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department in recent days to discuss its options, which include an endorsement from the government and another capital injection from the Treasury, the person said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

U.S. economic and political clout will decline over the next two decades and the world will be more dangerous, with food and water scarce and advanced weapons plentiful, U.S. spy agencies projected on Thursday.

Some Defense Department computer networks have been infected with a "global virus" and steps are being taken to mitigate it, the Pentagon said Friday.
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The acknowledgement followed reports that the military has banned the use of removable flash media like thumb drives or memory sticks in any Defense Department computer.

Oprah wants her, and so do Letterman and Leno. Fresh from her political defeat, Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate that would be astonishing for most Hollywood stars, let alone a first-term governor.

Olmert wants to clinch new commitments on Iran from his staunch ally before Barack Obama enters the White House, officials said.

Obama's policy toward Iran has raised concerns in Israel because it appears to take into consideration calls from the foreign policy and intelligence establishments for dialogue with the Islamic Republic.

Iran has executed a man found guilty of spying for Israel, state media reported Saturday.

With Israeli Jewish society drifting towards right-wing extremism, especially with regard to the Palestinian issue, Israeli political parties contesting the upcoming elections, slated to take place on 10 February, are radicalising the tone of their public discourse in the hope of wooing as many potential voters as possible to their respective agendas.

Israel’s planned operation to rescue Shalit could spark a new Intifada

Consider a man who thought it a "good question" to ask whether President-elect Barack Obama is a Marxist. Consider a man who falsely accused Obama of voting "to cut off funding for our troops," said Obama had "not always put country first," and said that the difference between Obama and Sen. John McCain was that "Hamas endorsed Obama."

The money system is society's greatest dispenser of justice or injustice. A good one functions fairly, helping create values for life. A bad, unjust one obstructs the creation of values; gives special privileges to some and disadvantage to others causing unfair concentrations of wealth and power; leading to social strife and eventually warfare and a thousand unforeseen bad consequences - physical and spiritual. . .

By making such “defamation of religion” a crime under international law, nations would be able to seek extradition and trial abroad of persons who make statements critical or offensive to one or all faiths anywhere in the world.

Israeli leaders say they will make sure enough food and fuel get into Gaza to avoid a full-scale humanitarian crisis.

The European Union's executive body said Thursday that the bloc should try to obtain its fair share of oil, gas, minerals and fish exposed by the melting of the Arctic ice cap.

The move is likely to irk Russia, Canada, the United States and Norway, which are issuing new territorial claims in the polar region.

The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.

The guild said it adjourned talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers shortly before 1 a.m. after two marathon sessions with federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez.

SAG, representing more than 120,000 actors in movies, television and other media, said in a statement that it will launch a "full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization."

Space Adventures wants the lawsuit thrown out, saying that Enomoto was disqualified because of a chronic kidney-stone condition. They say his money is nonrefundable.

Enomoto claims the kidney stones were an excuse and that he was not allowed to launch in part because he refused Space Adventures' demands for more money.

Now this same intelligentsia is beginning to howl over Obama’s transition team and early choices to run his Administration. Having defeated Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primaries, he now is busily installing Bill Clinton’s old guard. Thirty one out of forty seven people that he has named so far for transition or appointments have ties to the Clinton Administration, according to Politico. One Clintonite is quoted in the Washington Post as saying – “This isn’t lightly flavored with Clintons. This is all Clintons, all the time.”

Zimbabwe has refused to let Kofi Annan and two eminent colleagues visit the impoverished African country for a humanitarian mission, the three said Saturday.

Zimbabweans are suffering from disease and hunger while political crisis over a power-sharing government occupies its politicians. A current cholera outbreak has killed nearly 300 people in Zimbabwe, the United Nations said.

As tragic as Columbine was, Holder’s reaction to stifle free speech on the internet is nonetheless disturbing. Combine his zeal for what he may consider “reasonable regulations” along with his advocacy for a federal hate crime law(H/T to National Review), and internet users may find themselves in a world of legal woe after the Obama administration takes over in January.

Like automated birds, the kites swoop over the rooftops. Yes, the kite-runners of Kabul, minus Hollywood. At night, the thump of American Sikorsky helicopters and the whisper of high-altitude F-18s invade my room. The United States of America is settling George Bush's scores with the "terrorists" trying to overthrow Hamid Karzai's corrupt government.

Supporters of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, burnt an effigy of George Bush in Baghdad yesterday and gave warning of a return to armed resistance if parliament approves a deal that will allow US forces to remain in Iraq for three more years.

“No, no to the agreement of humiliation,” the followers chanted at a demonstration against the pact in a square in Baghdad where US Marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein after the March 2003 invasion.

A federal grand jury has brought fresh immigration charges against five former supervisors at Agriprocessors, the controversial Postville meatpacking plant.

Defendants in the case unveiled Friday afternoon include three people who already faced charges: Former top executive Sholom Rubashkin, former poultry-line supervisor Hosam Amara and former human-resources official Karina Pilar Freund. The indictment also names two new defendants: former operations manager Brent Beebe and former poultry manager Zeev Levi.

Many of those complaints have been flooding into the makeshift situation room here staffed around the clock by employees of the inspector general’s office of the adult prison system and of the state attorney general’s office.

Since 1999, the following events have either caused or been the symptom of the present economic crises:

Within two months of his transfer, other staff members began reporting that Brookins would talk to boys in his office at night. Brookins insisted he was counseling the boys, and no further investigation took place.

In later claims, the staff members illicitly stated that Brookins and the acting principle John Paul Hernandez were spending time in their offices with the boys, the blinds closed and lights off. Yet again the reports went uninvestigated.

Ok, I'm just blue-skying here, but "what if" Prez-Elect Obama were to ask Ron Paul to act as Treasury Secretary?

Karen AbuZayd, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the human toll of this month's sealing of Gaza's goods crossings was the gravest since the early days of a Palestinian uprising eight years ago.

The war correspondents turned T.E. Lawrence into the uncrowned 'King of Arabia' after his exploits in World War I became public, as we see in this early scene from the 1990 film 'A Dangerous Man' staring Ralph Fiennes.

An internal investigation by the CIA has found that agency officials engaged in a cover-up to hide negligence in the downing in Peru of a private aircraft suspected of carrying illegal narcotics.

The disclosure could lead to the reopening of a probe into whether CIA officials committed crimes in the 2001 attack on the aircraft, which was transporting American missionaries, and then covered it up.

Armed with the same invincible ignorance and arrogance that have for generations led their imperial forbears to bitter defeat in Afghanistan, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have both pledged themselves to a substantial escalation of the Anglo-American adventure in Central Asia. Thus these two self-proclaimed "progressive" champions of benevolent change are guaranteeing more of the same bitter fruit already produced by this misbegotten enterprise: more death, more ruin, more suffering, more corruption – and more violent extremism.

Massiyahu Prison, Lida, Israel (20 November, 2008) - Three Human Rights Observers (HRO) with the International Solidarity Movement will begin a hunger strike tomorrow in protest over their illegal detention by Israel. The three HROs, Darlene Wallach of the U.S., Vittorio Arrigoni of Italy, and Andrew Muncie of Scotland, were forcibly abducted by the Israeli Navy on Tuesday, while accompanying unarmed Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip.