When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more

Securing sufficient assurances U.S. spies will not access Europeans' personal data indiscriminately once it is transferred across the Atlantic has been a big sticking point in two years of talks between Brussels and Washington on a new framework for protecting data shifted to the U.S. Revelations two years ago from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance programs caused a political storm in Europe, leading the European Commission to demand changes to Safe Harbour.   read more

He was seen as a hardliner in Colombia’s fight against leftist rebels and spent much of his tenure directing Colombia’s fight against the FARC. “I want to...put pressure on illegal armed groups," he said upon his appointment as defense minister. "I want Colombia to be the most hostile territory in the world to the drug trade.” It was under his leadership that the Colombian military also scored successes against the ELN and BACRIM criminal organizations.   read more

Beginning in 2000, Chalyi was an adviser to Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on foreign relations issues. In 2009, he went to work for President Viktor Yanukovych as deputy minister for foreign affairs. Chalyi resigned in 2010 in protest of Yanukovych’s policies. Yanukovych was chased from office in 2014 for siding too closely with the Russians as Ukraine oriented itself toward the West. Chalyi returned to the Razumkov Center as its deputy director general for foreign policy.   read more

In 2013, bin Mubarak was named secretary general of the National Dialogue Conference, which worked for more than a year to establish a new political system for Yemen. He worked hard to have women included in the new government, urging that a quota for women’s participation be set. In October 2014 he was appointed prime minister. However, he resigned after 33 hours because of opposition from Houthi rebels, who were to withdraw from the capital Sana’a upon the appointment of a prime minister.   read more

"This issue must be resolved immediately or the consequences could be enormous for the thousands of businesses and millions of users impacted," warned the two largest American and European trade groups. Under EU law, companies cannot transfer EU citizens' personal data to countries deemed to have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the U.S. is one. Revelations two years ago of mass U.S. surveillance programs set the stage for the European Court of Justice ruling.   read more

David Craig got the letter last week from his son Lynn Craig, who returned safely from Iraq in September 2005. The missing letter, dated March 14, 2005, was written about a month after Lynn Craig had been in Iraq. At that time, he was a lance corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps. He's still part of the Reserve. The Craigs say they'd like to know where the letter has been all this time.   read more

Phokeer started in politics around 1983 when he joined the MSM (Militant Socialist Movement) party, led by Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth. Phokeer won a seat in parliament in 1991. The MSM lost power in 1995, but when it won elections in 2000, Phokeer was appointed ambassador to Egypt, where he served for four years. He returned to Mauritius in 2004 and was appointed special adviser to the minister of agriculture.   read more

De Sousa's lawyer said there were no grounds for extradition and he would appeal to Portugal's top court. De Sousa was arrested in October at the request of Italian prosecutors, who want her to serve a six-year sentence. She was one of 26 people convicted in absentia on charges of snatching Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a street in Milan in 2003 and taking him to be questioned in Egypt. The case focused attention on the treatment of suspects moved around the world for CIA interrogation.   read more

“The USA FREEDOM Act ended bulk collection, but this report leaves us guessing just how good a job it did,” said Open Technology's Robyn Greene. Under a replacement program that took effect on Nov. 29, NSA and law enforcement agencies must get a court order and ask communications companies to authorize monitoring of call records of specific people. While some Republicans vying for the White House have criticized the shutdown of the bulk program, other Republican contenders have defended it.   read more

Robins Air Force Base officials issued a statement saying King's picture on the flier was "an honest mistake." The shooting session is scheduled for Monday, the annual national holiday to commemorate King's birthday. "We offer our heartfelt apology to those affected by our thoughtlessness," base spokesman Roland Leach said. "We hold the legacy of Dr. King in the highest regard. We're deeply sorry for any offense or harm caused by our insensitivity..."   read more

According to the park the famed Ahwahnee Hotel, which was built in the 1920s, would be renamed The Majestic Yosemite Hotel and Curry Village would be called Half Dome Village. Notable guests of the Ahwahnee have included Queen Elizabeth II, U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, as well as entertainers Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland and Will Rogers, according to the historic-hotels-lodges.com website.   read more

Author and humorist Sean Carter, who practiced law for 10 years, said the poem was a bit graphic and the humor may have been better used in a corporate security lawsuit, but the poem did not affect the legality of the decision. "There is no grounds for appeal because a judge is silly," Carter said, adding, "You would not want to read this opinion over lunch."   read more

The last decade, the networks' evening newscasts never showered a presidential campaign with the kind of attention they gave Trump a year before the White House vote even takes place. Thanks to over 24 hours of Trump interviews on Fox News the past seven months, Trump received nearly $30 million in free media. Last year, he received nearly three times as much network coverage as Hillary Clinton. while Bernie Sanders received a total of 20 minutes of newscast coverage compared to Trump's 327.   read more

The race was an odd one: Michaud ran as an anti-abortion Democrat and faced a pro-choice Republican, Kevin Raye. Michaud won the election, which was the closest one he had in his congressional career. He became the first Franco-American elected to federal office from Maine. Late in 2013, as he ran against Maine’s Republican governor, Paul LePage, Michaud came out as gay. He did it, he said, because of rumors about his sexual orientation and he wanted it not to be an issue in the election.   read more

For a time, Faye held the Gambian record in the 100 and 200 meters and he competed internationally, even representing his country at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as the Gambian team captain. He went into the Gambian National Army in 1983, leaving in 1994, about the time it staged a coup installing Yahya Jammeh as the country’s leader. Faye ended up in Atlanta, Georgia, where, some sources say, he sought asylum. He worked as a security guard and utility-line locator in the United States.   read more

In August 2000, he became director general of International Economic Affairs and Coordinator of the negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement with Mexico. He was named ambassador to the Netherlands in August 2003, and permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Criminal Court. On July 11, 2005, Gianelli was named ambassador to the United States for the first time. He served in Washington until July 2012, when Carlos Pita replaced him.   read more