Gamal Mubarak, son and probable successor of the Egyptian president, visited the US last week, allegedly to renew his pilot's licence. While in Washington, he happened to be passing the White House and decided to drop in and say hello. It's only courteous, and I must try it myself sometime.
Gamal - or Jimmy as his friends call him - had a chat with Steve Hadley, the president's national security adviser, and also met vice-president Dick Cheney and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
While he was having his cup of tea with Mr Hadley, President Bush "dropped by to greet Mr Mubarak and convey his best regards to his father, President Hosni Mubarak", according to a White House spokesman.
What exactly was going on here is still a mystery. "Jimmy" holds no government post in Egypt, though he is assistant secretary-general of the ruling party - not the sort of post that usually opens doors to all the highest people in the United States.
Puppet Masters
Here is the real story on Libya, corroborated by multiple sources. Kaddafi cut his deal in 2003 only after the British and Americans assured him that Bush would settle for "policy change"-that is, giving up his nukes-rather than regime change.
Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard has acknowledged there will be "undercover" inspectors in the province's bars and restaurants to make sure a new anti-smoking law is enforced when it comes into effect May 31.
The new legislation will ban smoking in all public indoor places, including bars and restaurants.
Some critics say the province has not hired enough inspectors to ensure compliance with the new law, but Couillard says that's not true.
The new legislation will ban smoking in all public indoor places, including bars and restaurants.
Some critics say the province has not hired enough inspectors to ensure compliance with the new law, but Couillard says that's not true.
It only took four and a half years, but finally the U.S. government has seen fit to confirm what so many of us have been saying all along - Pentagon security cameras recorded no evidence of a Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon.
Russia and China won't support any resolution of the United Nations Security Council that could lead to military action against Iran, Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday.
The two countries agree that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved "through dialogue," Sergey Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing.
"Russia and China will not vote for the use of force in resolving this issue," Lavrov said.
The two countries agree that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved "through dialogue," Sergey Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing.
"Russia and China will not vote for the use of force in resolving this issue," Lavrov said.
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has decided that Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, will remain in charge of the Iranian nuclear file.
With his decision, Olmert rejected an appeal by the Israeli army's military intelligence service to assume responsibility forIran, the army radio added Saturday, without giving further details.
Known by its Hebrew acronym AMAN, the military intelligence service, with an estimated 7,000 employees, is regarded as Mossad's chief rival.
Olmert's decision comes on the heels of a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan, the hawkish political advisor to former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu.
With his decision, Olmert rejected an appeal by the Israeli army's military intelligence service to assume responsibility forIran, the army radio added Saturday, without giving further details.
Known by its Hebrew acronym AMAN, the military intelligence service, with an estimated 7,000 employees, is regarded as Mossad's chief rival.
Olmert's decision comes on the heels of a meeting with Mossad chief Meir Dagan, the hawkish political advisor to former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu.
WASHINGTON -- The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and remove the North African country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department announced Monday.
The removal from the terrorism list is expected to take place after a 45-day waiting period.
"We are taking these actions in recognition of Libya's continued commitment to its renunciation of terrorism and the excellent cooperation Libya has provided to the United States and other members of the international community in response to common global threats faced by the civilized world since September 11, 2001," said a statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The removal from the terrorism list is expected to take place after a 45-day waiting period.
"We are taking these actions in recognition of Libya's continued commitment to its renunciation of terrorism and the excellent cooperation Libya has provided to the United States and other members of the international community in response to common global threats faced by the civilized world since September 11, 2001," said a statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Running Time: 00:49:02
Download: MP3
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - A gunman on a motorcycle shot dead a U.S. oil executive in an apparently planned assassination in Nigeria's oil heartland on Wednesday, authorities said.
Militants who have been waging a five-month-long campaign against the oil industry said they had no hand in the killing of the executive, who worked for Texan oil services company Baker Hughes. A diplomat and oil industry source said it was more likely to be linked to a work-related dispute.
"The American was shot by a man on a motorcycle. The motorcycle pulled up beside him and shot him," Samuel Agbetuyi, Rivers State Police Commissioner, told Reuters in the southern city of Port Harcourt, where the attack happened.
A spokesman for Baker Hughes, which drills wells and performs other services for major oil companies, confirmed an employee was shot on his way to work on Wednesday.
Militants who have been waging a five-month-long campaign against the oil industry said they had no hand in the killing of the executive, who worked for Texan oil services company Baker Hughes. A diplomat and oil industry source said it was more likely to be linked to a work-related dispute.
"The American was shot by a man on a motorcycle. The motorcycle pulled up beside him and shot him," Samuel Agbetuyi, Rivers State Police Commissioner, told Reuters in the southern city of Port Harcourt, where the attack happened.
A spokesman for Baker Hughes, which drills wells and performs other services for major oil companies, confirmed an employee was shot on his way to work on Wednesday.
Israeli agents used poisoned chocolate to assassinate a senior Palestinian terrorist in the 1970s, according to a new book.
"Striking Back," an expose of Mossad reprisals by Israeli intelligence veteran Aaron Klein, contains a chapter about the killing of Wadi Haddad, chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Wanted for masterminding several airline hijackings, Haddad took refuge in Iraq in 1976.
But Mossad intelligence agents, using a Palestinian turncoat, managed to slip him Belgian chocolates coated in a slow-acting poison that killed him over the course of a few months, Klein claims.
"Striking Back," an expose of Mossad reprisals by Israeli intelligence veteran Aaron Klein, contains a chapter about the killing of Wadi Haddad, chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Wanted for masterminding several airline hijackings, Haddad took refuge in Iraq in 1976.
But Mossad intelligence agents, using a Palestinian turncoat, managed to slip him Belgian chocolates coated in a slow-acting poison that killed him over the course of a few months, Klein claims.
Comment: Sounds like the same kind of scurrilous tactics used by the Mossad to murder Yasser Arafat in November 2004. In fact, even the Jeruslaem Post reported that Arafat had symptoms very similar to the abovementioned Wadi Haddad who was murdered by Mossad poision...
Comment: So the anti-smoking fascists are getting the upper hand in Quebec, long Canada's "smoking section".