The insurgency is raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes, a report concluded.
'Tis the season to start shopping. The day after Thanksgiving–called Black Friday because of the oppressive crowds and their encouraging effects on retailers' profits–is shaping up, as always, to be your local mall's most crowded day of the year.
Everyone loves opening a perfectly wrapped package with a shiny bow. But sometimes once you open that gift, it's not exactly what you expected – or even something you want. And after you feign excitement for the obligatory amount of time, what do you do with it? Well, if you're like most Americans, you regift or pass the less-than-stellar present on to someone else who might enjoy it more. A recent Tassimo survey found that a whopping 78 percent of Americans feel that it is acceptable to regift some or most of the time.
AP - Iraq's leaders promised Sunday to track down those responsible for the war's deadliest attack by insurgents, and urged the country's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians to stop fanning sectarian violence by arguing with one another.
AP - Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as an unexpected truce took hold Sunday, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel.
AP - Sean Bell and his fiancee had already shared a high school romance, then two children. In the early hours of what was to be their wedding day, the reception hall lay waiting, covered in satin and adorned with balloons. But the ceremony never occurred Saturday. Police shot 50 rounds at the groom's car as he drove away from his bachelor party, killing the 23-year-old hours before he was to walk down the aisle.
It would be a lot easier to enjoy your life if there weren't so many things trying to kill you every day. Shadowed by peril as we are, you would think we'd get pretty good at distinguishing the risks likeliest to do us in from the ones that are statistical long shots. But you would be wrong, and it's almost certainly something we can learn to do better.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's planned trip to Iran has been postponed until a Baghdad curfew is lifted and the airport reopened, Iran's semi-official news agency FARS reported Sunday.
Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rocket attacks into Israel Sunday, Israel police and army officials said, hours after a cease-fire in Gaza was agreed upon by the Israeli government and Palestinian factions.