President Obama’s Statement On Fighting In Tripoli

Obama issued the statement after conducting a conference call with members of his national security team: Tonight, the momentum against the Qadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant. The Qadhafi regime is showing signs of collapsing. The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit [...]

A Mini-Housing Boom For Miami, With Foreign Flavor

While housing demand sputters among Americans, foreign buyers are flocking here for cheap deals. For the 12 months ending in March, sales to foreign buyers totaled $82 billion, up from $66 billion in 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors. And while international buyers are unlikely to turn the US housing market around, they [...]

Terror Probes Have FBI’s Informant Numbers Soaring

In today’s post 9/11 America, there are 15,000 informants working with the FBI. That’s nearly three times as many as there were 25 years ago. Over the years, when there has been a surge in the number of informants the FBI recruits and uses, there’s a specific target in the FBI’s sights — first organized [...]

Should The Government Subsidize Your House?

Say you own a house in Gainesville, Fla., or St. Paul, Minn. It cost you $172,000 — that’s the median sales price of a single family home in the United States. You put 20 percent down when you bought the house, and you’re able to make your monthly payments — but just barely. This property [...]

Thirty Years Later, Say Hello To “Operation Farewell”

Thirty years ago this summer, President Ronald Reagan was at an economic summit in Canada when his French counterpart, Francois Mitterand, pulled him aside to deliver startling news: the French had a mole, a high-level KGB colonel. Could the US make use of him? Richard Allen was Reagan’s National Security Advisor at the time, and [...]

A Ramadan Story Of Two Faiths Bound In Friendship

It’s Ramadan, the month-long holiday when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk as a way to cleanse the soul and reflect on their relationship with God. The faithful usually flock to their local mosques for prayer during the holiday, but last year, the Muslims of Cordova, Tenn., just outside Memphis, didn’t have a place to [...]

Master Hacker Kevin Mitnick Shares His ‘Addiction’

Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick was 12 years old when he realized he could talk his way to glory and free bus rides. Mitnick figured out he could ride for free if he found a way to punch his own transfer. He conned a bus driver into telling him where to buy a punch, dug a [...]

Cuddling With 9, Smooching With 8, Winking At 7

British author and math enthusiast Alex Bellos tells me he’s got more than 30,000 responses so far to his survey, What’s Your Favorite Number and Why? As I said in a recent blog post, people are writing him from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia (Antarcticans, being mostly penguins, have shown little interest). As of [...]

A Battle Is Under Way For The Forests Of Borneo

A spry 80-year-old cruises through the thick vegetation of western Borneo, or western Kalimantan, as it’s known to Indonesians. Dressed in faded pinstripe slacks and a polo shirt, Layan Lujum carries a large knife in his hand. The chief of the island’s Sekendal village is making his morning rounds. Layan is a member of an [...]

New Policy Gives Hope To Some Facing Deportation

The Obama administration on Thursday said it would review the deportation cases of 300,000 illegal immigrants. The policy might make a difference to thousands of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children because the administration wants to put high priority on removing convicted criminals, and low priority on cases that involve people [...]