A clash of words and wills -- if not yet of weapons -- is coming fast between the U.S. and an Iranian regime that believes the end of the world is rapidly approaching and that the way to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah is to launch a global jihad against the U.S. and Israel.
Read more | People

NEW YORK - Five years after terrorists wrought death from clear skies, the nation began its observation of a solemn anniversary Monday, with plans for silent reflection and fresh mourning for the nearly 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. On the 16-acre New York City expanse where the World Trade Center once stood, four moments of silence were planned for 8:46, 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29 a.m., the times when jetliners struck each of the twin towers, and when each tower fell.
Read more | Memorials

The NY State Court of Appeals ruled that gay marriage is not allowed. The Court of Appeals heard a NYC case in which Judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that gay marriage was allowed. The city appealed, and the case made it way up to the highest court in the state. Here's the ruling (PDF) and here's some of what it...
Read more | Marriage

On a Web site for gay South Asians, 27-year-old Syed Mansoor uploaded the following message last summer: "Hi, I am looking for a lesbian girl for marriage. I am gay but I would like to get married because of pressure from parents and society. I would like this marriage to be a 'normal' marriage except for the sex part, please don't expect any sexual relationship from me.
Read more | Homosexuality

by PEGGY NOONAN . . . I recently found out through one of her daughters that my grandmother spent her first night in America on a park bench in downtown Manhattan. She had made her way from Ireland to Ellis Island, and a cousin was to meet the ship. It was about 1920. The cousin didn't show. So Mary Dorian, age roughly 20, all alone, with no connections and no relatives interested enough to remember her arrival in the new world, spent her first night in America alone on a bench, in the dark, in...
Read more | Immigration

NEW YORK (AP) - The Assemblies of God, the Mormon church and the Roman Catholic Church were the fastest-growing major denominations in the United States last year, according to the just-released 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal church, grew 1.81 percent to just under 2.8 million members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints increased 1.74 percent to nearly 6 million people. And the Catholic Church, by the far the largest...
Read more | Church Growth

NEW YORK - Rabbi James Rudin is less scared by global terror threatening American democracy, or by the conservative administration based on a pious president in the White House, which is threatening individual liberty and the freedom of worship. He is more bothered by the campaign currently being conducted for the takeover by the Christian religion of all areas of life in the United States. This is "the most significant internal struggle since the Civil War," says Rudin, a Reform rabbi who is...
Read more | Religion and Politics

Buffalo, N.Y. (February 9, 2006)—One of North America’s largest and longest-running Christian music festivals, Kingdom Bound, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a stellar line-up of just announced headliners, including MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Third Day and Newsboys. Kingdom Bound 2006 will be held at Six Flags Darien Lake amusement park and camping resort, in Darien Center, New York (near Buffalo-Niagara Falls) August 6-9, 2006.
Read more | Music / Worship / Outreach Festivals

NEW YORK - Authorities stepped up security Thursday after receiving what city officials called a credible threat that the New York subway could be the target of a terrorist attack in coming days. But Homeland Security officials in Washington downplayed the threat, saying it was of "doubtful credibility." The threat involved the possibility terrorists would pack a baby stroller with explosives, among other potential subway bombing methods, a law enforcement official said, speaking on...
Read more | Terrorist Activity

By Shane Harris and Richard E. Cohen ++ Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican descended from Irish police officers, says he knows what it's like to live in a city under attack. More than 100 of King's friends and constituents perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11, and he has written a controversial novel, Vale of Tears, that imagines future acts of terrorism against New York City. King, however, was actually a dark horse to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee...
Read more | Homeland Security

AN INTERNAL CIA report, on Friday, criticized ex-CIA chief, George Tenet, and several other former and current CIA officials, for not dealing effectively with al-Qaeda before the September 11 attacks. Tenet, who resigned in July 2004 after seven years at the top, was censured for failing to develop and carry out a strategic plan to take on al-Qaeda in the years before the attacks, two people familiar with the report said.
Read more | War, Conflicts

By ANNE E. KORNBLUT Howard Dean, once a party outsider, rode to an easy victory to become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. ~~ ASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - Howard Dean, once a grass-roots outsider, rode to an easy victory on Saturday to become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee with support from hundreds of party insiders and operatives he carefully cultivated during an uphill two-month campaign.
Read more | Politics/Govt

NEW YORK (AP) ? The NBA has indefinitely suspended Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers and Ben Wallace of Detroit for their roles in last night's full-scale brawl at The Palace at Auburn Hills.
Read more | Sports

WASHINGTON ? Bill Clinton as secretary-general of the United Nations? It has been talked about in U.N. circles and among the former president's insiders for more than two years. And now, according to a United Press International report, Clinton "definitely wants to do it." READ more !
Read more | Politics/Govt

~ Ceremonies planned for New York City, D.C. and Pa. ~ NEW YORK - Last year, children?s voices echoed across ground zero. This year, it is the bereaved parents and grandparents of World Trade Center victims who will read aloud the names of those lost on Sept. 11, 2001. See - Listen - Remember - the Darkest Day. ~ MSNBC
Read more | Terrorist Activity

For now Americans seem to be split 50-50 over the reelection of George W. Bush. Such a hotly contested election is hardly new. We saw races just as close in 1960, 1968, and 1976. Had Ross Perot not run in 1992 ? and perhaps even in 1996 ? Bill Clinton (who didn't receive a 50 percent majority in either of his presidential races) may well have found himself in the same predicament as Gore did in Florida, 2000 ?
Read more | Politics/Govt

Hartford -- A man from Vernon was recently driving through New York when he saw something suspicious but when he called police to alert them he says no one seemed to care. [ Always be alert to your surroundings and report suspetious activity to the police or FBI. Click here ]
Read more | Terrorist Activity

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Read more | Media