Pat Dollard

Embedded video from CNN Video

SpaceWar: Israel has intensified its efforts to block the sale of advanced Russian air-defense missiles to Iran that would be a serious obstacle to any Israeli airstrikes against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear infrastructure, according to media reports in Tel Aviv and Moscow. The outcome of that effort could have immense ramifications for the Middle East [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Like the wool sweater that emerges from the dryer a size too small, global warming seems to be shrinking sheep. On average, wild Soay sheep on Scotland’s island Hirta are 5 percent smaller today than they were in 1985, according to a team of researchers led by Tim Coulson of Imperial College [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) – On the eve of a trip to Moscow, President Barack Obama chided Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday for keeping “one foot in the old ways of doing business.” By contrast, he said Putin’s handpicked successor as president understands that Cold War behavior is outdated. In a White House interview with [...]

BAGHDAD (AP) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on Thursday to visit U.S. soldiers, just two days after all American combat troops withdrew from Baghdad and all of Iraq’s cities and towns. During his visit, Biden will meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. A White [...]

Washington Times: Pakistan’s top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say. A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the [...]

July 2 (Bloomberg) — Employers in the U.S. cut 467,000 jobs in June, the unemployment rate rose and hourly earnings stagnated, offering little evidence the Obama administration’s stimulus package is shoring up the labor market. The payroll decline was more than forecast and followed a 322,000 drop in May, according to Labor Department figures released [...]

The Wall Street Journal: WASHINGTON — Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands. The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and [...]

About four thousand U.S. Marines and 650 Afghan forces poured into Taliban-controlled villages in southern Afghanistan on Thursday in the first major operation under President Barack Obama’s strategy to stabilize the country. One Marine was killed in fighting after troops hiking through searing heat took fire from small pockets of militants. This is the first [...]

Insurgents have captured an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan after he walked off post with his three Afghan counterparts, officials said Thursday. Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier disappeared Tuesday. The U.S. military is offering a $25,000 reward to any Afghan national for information about the soldier’s whereabouts. “We have all available resources out [...]

WAPO’S The Fix: After enduring months of derision within Republican circles for her role as the party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee and her uneven performance as a national figure this year, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is experiencing something of a rebound among the D.C. chattering class in the 48 hours since the release of a [...]

About a week after Obama turned down Schwarzenegger’s request for financial help… SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The California governor’s office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state’s budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks. But the National Park Service warned [...]

And what happens when the government passes laws to make it easier for its insurance company to be profitable than for private companies to be profitable? WASHINGTON (AP) – Determined to advance President Barack Obama’s health care agenda, key Senate Democrats are calling for a government-run insurance option to compete with private plans, as well [...]

BREAKING NEWS — South Korean media report that North Korea has test-fired two short-range missiles. Yonhap news agency reported Thursday the North fired two ground-to-ship missiles from its eastern coast. “One was fired at 5:20 p.m. and the other at 6:00 p.m. from Sinsang-ni” near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, South Korean defense ministry [...]