The meeting had been grudgingly scheduled early Sunday morning by the White House just a few hours before Netanyahu was to leave for the US to speak at the 2009 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. The ninth-hour appointment was a clear sign that RELATIONS BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND JERUSALEM REMAIN STRAINED; Netanyahu had requested the meeting weeks ago.

Also in attendance for part of the meeting was Defence Minister Ehud Barak, National Security Council head Uzi Arad, Ambassador Michael Oren and Netanyahu adviser Yitzchak Molcho. US officials included National Security Adviser General (retired) Jim Jones, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Special Middle East Envoy George Mitchell and National Security Council Director for Near Eastern Affairs Dan Shapiro.

On the agenda was the issue of IRAN'S GALLOPING NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, as well as the current paralysis in talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the claim by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he is resigning in January. All three matters are being taken "very seriously" by the Prime Minister's Office, said a spokesman.

Netanyahu had reportedly been planning to tell the president that Israel was willing to be "generous" in scaling back Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, and "means business" about rejuvenating talks with the PA. But the brief statement issued by the White House following the talks said simply that the two leaders discussed "how to move forward on Middle East peace." The White House spokesman added, "The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues."

Afghanistan, where US and NATO forces are battling a Taliban-led insurgency, is TOO FRAGMENTED BETWEEN CLANS TO BE CONTROLLED MILITARILY, Gorbachev, 78, said in an interview today in Berlin. While he said President Barack Obama would be unlikely to take his advice, Gorbachev said he saw no chance of success even with more US troops.

"I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO PROSPECT OF A MILITARY SOLUTION," Gorbachev said in Russian through a translator. "WHAT WE NEED IS THE RECONCILIATION OF AFGHAN SOCIETY - and they should be preparing the ground for withdrawal rather than additional troops."

Obama is considering a military request to send as many as 40,000 more US soldiers to Afghanistan, on top of the 68,000 due to be stationed there by the end of the year. Other North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, comprising personnel from 42 countries, number about 36,000.

THE ONE-HOUR-AND-FORTY-MINUTE PARLEY WAS ACCOMPANIED BY AN UNUSUAL NEWS BLACKOUT, as the standard photo op and press availability were not held. In addition, Netanyahu canceled a scheduled briefing with Israeli reporters and Defense Minister Ehud Barak scrapped plans for radio interviews following the talks. Instead, both sides referred to a brief statement put out by the White House after the Monday evening meeting, about half of which was one-on-one and half of which included four members of staff on each side.

"The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues," said the White House readout. "The president and prime minister also discussed Iran and how to move forward on Middle East peace."

Pressed on the issue, as it is highly unusual for the president to see an Israeli prime minister without any media presence, Gibbs said that "THE PRESIDENT WANTED TO HAVE A MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING." He added, "The contents of the meeting generally seem to be well read out and I trust that this time will be no different." However, after the leaders' evening conversation, the White House did not provide more information than its brief statement.

A brass band played and politicians applauded the gas tanker as it set sail for South Korea, but Saleh's attention was elsewhere — on the attacks that Saudi Arabia's military forces were waging against antigovernment Shi'ite rebels in the north of Yemen. The rebels "are trying to demolish the economy," Saleh tells Time Magazine.

The conflict has rapidly intensified during the past week, since, according to the Saudis, the Houthis crossed into Saudi Arabia and killed a Saudi officer, leading Saudi Arabia to send fighter jets to bomb Houthi territory on November 5. SUDDENLY A LINGERING BATTLE THREATENS TO TURN INTO A WIDER CONFLICT, POTENTIALLY DRAWING IN IRAN, THE REGION'S BIGGEST SHI'ITE POWER. Saleh says he suspects Iran is already involved. "They want to follow the system of Iran," he says of the rebels. "It is impossible. Our people are one people." Using his public speech at the ceremony, Saleh told the crowd, "There will be no compromise or cease-fire until we finish the jihad."

Mounting hostility to Westerners is one reason Total opted to hire thousands of Yemenis to construct its new natural-gas facility, despite the fact that most needed extensive training. The company says Yemenis comprised about 70% of the 11,000 or so people who built the project. TOTAL EVEN NEGOTIATED SEPARATELY WITH EACH OF THE 22 TRIBES whose land the pipeline travels through in order to avoid angering locals.

At full capacity, the port is expected to export about 6.7 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas to Asia, Europe and the US, earning between $30 BILLION AND $50 BILLION FOR YEMEN'S GOVERNMENT over the next 25 years. That's an attention-getting number for any economy. Another notable figure is 500. That's the number of Yemeni soldiers who were hired to guard the heavily fenced facility and pipeline. Because in a country as unstable as Yemen, any symbol of progress is a target.

Married Anglican vicars have been able to convert and join the Rome priesthood since the 1950s, but this is the first time that married non-vicars have been allowed to become priests. The decision to allow Anglican converts to keep their tradition of married priests IS A BREAK WITH RULES THAT HAVE APPLIED IN WESTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES FOR NEARLY 900 YEARS.

The Vatican was at pains to insist that it does not mean a break with the celibacy for clergy nor the first step towards a married priesthood. But leading Anglo-Catholics confirmed that CofE bishops who switch loyalty to Rome will have the power to ordain their own priests and that - with permission from the Pope - some of the newly-ordained priests may be married. Bishop of Fulham the Right Reverend John Broadhurst said the offer from Rome was 'extremely impressive' and added that those who choose to accept 'HAVE A VALID CLAIM ON OUR OWN HERITAGE IN HISTORY.'

Details of the proposals for Anglicans were published by Cardinal William Levada, head of the VATICAN'S CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, a body which centuries ago ran the inquisition into heretics. They follow the announcement last month of an 'Apostolic Constitution' designed to allow tens of thousands of disaffected Anglicans to return to Rome and yet keep their own priests, parishes and traditions.

The gesture goes alongside a welcome package for Anglicans that will mean that converts will be able to worship according to services from the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer. SERVICES WILL BE RE-WRITTEN TO REMOVE REFERENCES TO THE QUEEN AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH AND TO PLEDGE LOYALTY TO THE POPE.

Bishop Broadhurst, who is the CofE's Suffragan Bishop of London and leader of the Anglo-Catholic pressure group Forward in Faith, said: 'I have been horrified that the Church of England while trying to accommodate us has consistently said we cannot have the jurisdiction and independent life that most of us feel we need. WHAT ROME HAS DONE IS OFFER EXACTLY WHAT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND HAS REFUSED.'

Then, when the alleged perpetrator's name and religion were made public (NIDAL MALIK HASAN, A LIFELONG MUSLIM) along with eyewitness reports he had shouted the obligatory pre-terror-attack proclamation, "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is greatest") before commencing his orgy of slaughter, their suspicions were confirmed: THIS WAS SURELY A MAJOR ATTACK ON THE AMERICAN HOMELAND BY A MUSLIM TERRORIST.

Further evidence quickly rolled in: Hasan had reportedly refused to fight fellow Muslims, called the war on terror a "war on Islam," TOLD A CO-WORKER MUSLIMS HAD A RIGHT TO RISE UP AND ATTACK AMERICANS, and reportedly had posted online his astoundingly twisted belief that an Islamic suicide bomber was morally equivalent to a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades. In other words, although THE ARMY HAD MANY WARNINGS HASAN WAS A CERTIFIABLE, AMERICA-HATING, JIHADIST "TICKING TIME BOMB" waiting to go off, it did nothing to avert last week's terror attack. Why?

And why, after the truth about Hasan became undeniable following his mass slaughter, does the government, as well as its mouthpiece the establishment press, agonize in their usual pathetic manner over what could possibly have motivated the Army psychiatrist to coldly, methodically murder 13 and wound 38 others? So, why do we have this stubborn inability to come to grips with Islam? Everyone attributes it to "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS," but I think it's time to move beyond that shallow, passé, near-meaningless phrase. Do we dare admit what is really at play here? THE TRUTH IS ACTUALLY VERY SIMPLE. WE ARE AFRAID OF ISLAM. We are intimidated by Islam. And because we are afraid of and intimidated by Islam, Islam is changing us.

It is appallingly obvious, WE'RE AFRAID TO CRITICIZE ISLAM OPENLY, for fear of having our head cut off or having a fatwa put out on us like the director of the new "2012" film, or we're afraid of being sued by some of the very litigious Islamic organizations like CAIR, or we're afraid of being called a racist, extremist, hater or "Islamophobe" thanks to the tyranny of political correctness, or we're afraid of offending those in power and thereby risking our position, stature or other advantage. This reaction, while perhaps selfish and cowardly, is more-or-less conscious and strategic.

Every time a jihadist like Hasan goes on a terrorist killing spree, invariably all who knew him say they were totally stunned, as he was always so "calm, cool and soft-spoken." AND YET THERE WERE WARNING SIGNS, such that were we not blinded by our fears and cowardice, we would not merely have seen them, we would have acted on them – and prevented last week's terrorist attack.

According to the London Telegraph, in an article headlined, "Fort Hood gunman had told US military colleagues that infidels should have their throats cut". Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who killed 13 at America's Fort Hood military base, once gave a lecture to other doctors in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats. He also told colleagues at America's top military hospital that non-Muslims were infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire. Hasan made these incendiary jihadist comments "IN FRONT OF DOZENS OF OTHER DOCTORS AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTRE IN WASHINGTON, DC" during a talk on the Quran, according to the report.

And how did his fellow doctors respond? Although they were horrified, "ONE ARMY DOCTOR WHO KNEW HIM SAID A FEAR OF APPEARING DISCRIMINATORY AGAINST A MUSLIM SOLDIER HAD STOPPED FELLOW OFFICERS FROM FILING FORMAL COMPLAINTS," reported the Telegraph. Are you with me? "A FEAR OF APPEARING DISCRIMINATORY" CAUSED 51 BRAVE AMERICAN SOLDIERS TO BE SHOT BY AN ISLAMIST MONSTER, 13 FATALLY.

This inordinate fear, implanted in us by the lords of politically correct attitude, the subtle brainwashers of modern, secular society, is to blame. It gets worse, much worse. As ABC now reports, "US INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES WERE AWARE MONTHS ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al-Qaida."

The evil of "political correctness" – the totalitarian manipulation of thought, foisted on us by twisted elitist sociopaths who hate America and everything our soldiers have fought and died for over the last two centuries, and continue to fight and die for – has to end. Now. It's over. THIS NATION MUST RISE UP AND DEFY THE INSANE THOUGHT CONTROL THAT IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES.

Sony Pictures's latest big screen offering "2012" arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar. The doomsday scenario revolves claims that the end of time will come as an obscure Planet X - or Nibiru - heads toward or collides into Earth. The mysterious planet was supposedly discovered by the Sumerians, according to claims by pseudo-scientists, paranormal activity enthusiasts and Internet theorists.

Some websites accuse NASA of concealing the truth on the wayward planet's existence, but the US space agency denounced such stories as an "Internet hoax." "There is no factual basis for these claims," NASA said in a question-and-answer posting on its website. If such a collision were real "astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," it added. "OBVIOUSLY, IT DOES NOT EXIST."

"Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," NASA insisted. Among the other theories NASA has set out to debunk are that geomagnetic storms, a pole reversal or unsteadiness in the Earth's crustal plates might befall the planet. And while comets and asteroids have always hit the Earth, "big hits are very rare," NASA noted. The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, spurring the end of dinosaurs.

"Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, BUT IT STILL REMAINS A MIRACLE," German President Horst Koehler told the leaders of all 27 European Union countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Angela Merkel — GERMANY'S FIRST CHANCELLOR TO BE RAISED IN THE FORMER COMMUNIST EAST — called the events of November 9, 1989 an "epic" moment in history. "For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life," Merkel told a crowd of tens of thousands packed around the Brandenburg Gate. Merkel also recalled the tragic side of November 9 for Germans — the Nazis' Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass — an anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago. At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.

"Both show that freedom is not self evident," Merkel said. "Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again." Merkel, who was one of thousands to cross that night, recalled that "before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered."

She lauded Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union. "You made this possible — you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she said.

MOST OF THE LARGEST AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS IN THE PAST TWO DECADES HAVE FOLLOWED THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY POLICY THAT EASTERN JERUSALEM, Judea, Samaria and Gaza are "occupied territories," the dateline usually used in their articles from those areas.

However, US President Barack Obama's switch of gears from the Roadmap Plan has left his policy in quicksand, according to influential newspaper columnists. The liberal Washington Post surprised observers this past summer with a number of editorials and op-ed articles highly critical of President Obama for driving up expectations in the Arab world by demanding Jews stop all building in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

The newspaper's senior columnist Jackson Diehl wrote three weeks after President Obama's "reaching out to Muslims" speech in Cairo, "How foolish it would be to squander it over a handful of Israeli apartment houses."

Friedman, who once equated Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria with terrorists, wrote Sunday, "The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has become a bad play. This peace process movie is not going to end differently just because we keep playing the same reel. IT IS TIME FOR A RADICALLY NEW APPROACH. And I mean radical. I mean something no US administration has ever dared to do: TAKE DOWN OUR "PEACE-PROCESSING-IS-US" SIGN AND JUST GO HOME."

Mrs Hobson was taken to Scunthorpe General Hospital with an agonising pain in her left eye. Surgeons were forced to remove it and she was later fitted with a prosthetic eye. She said: 'I am devastated and still wake screaming in the night. Both my daughters have had counselling. But if a yob swore in front of my daughter again I'd do the same. To walk away isn't the kind of world we want to live in.'

Last night she urged police to clamp down on people who use obscene language in public, adding: 'It has become acceptable to swear in public. But it's just not on. SUCH HORRIBLE LANGUAGE SMACKS OF A FAILING SOCIETY, WHERE THERE IS NO RESPECT FOR OTHER PEOPLE AND NO CARE FOR CHILDREN.'

She said: 'This has changed my life. I can't work, my prosthetic eye is very painful, and there's a dark area of the sight I do have. My husband has to walk on my left, as I bump into things. I've been run over by a wheelchair twice and burnt myself because I can't see everything.'

Six weeks later two officers came to her home and questioned her about disciplining the youngsters, a boy of 11 and a four-year-old girl. To her horror she then received a letter from the local council saying HER 'CHASTISEMENT' OF THE CHILDREN HAD BEEN 'PUT ON RECORD' FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 14 YEARS.

The shocked mother, a trainee manager in a Christian bookshop, said last night: 'It was an amazing intrusion. I was doing what parents should do, and what thousands do every week - SETTING MORAL BOUNDARIES FOR HOW CHILDREN SHOULD BEHAVE.' The 34-year-old mother does not want to be named, to protect the identity of her children. But she is speaking out to avoid the same thing happening to another parent.

Mike Judge of the Christian Institute think-tank said: 'This woman is a personal friend - and I know she's a good mum. I don't think it's particularly a Christian issue, but we do believe in the family quite strongly, AND GET WORRIED WHEN THE STATE TRIES TO TAKE OVER THE ROLE OF PARENTS.'

It's not often that a historic announcement comes, as an afterthought, almost by accident, at the end of an otherwise stultifying tedious press conference.

Many journalists had already left the small, stuffy windowless room on the first floor of the International Press Center where news conferences were held. Some had headed home, some drifted to the restaurant where the Stasi security police routinely observed foreign reporters by hidden camera. Even though pressure had been building on the East German government for months to grant "Reisefreiheit" - or freedom to travel - Schabowski had nothing to say about that until NEAR THE END OF HIS PRESENTATION WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABOUT TRAVEL RULES by Riccardo Ehrman of the Italian news agency ANSA at 6:53pm.

"Therefore... um... we have decided today... um... to implement a regulation that allows every citizen of the German Democratic Republic... um... to... um... leave East Germany through any of the border crossings," said Schabowski. He appeared scarcely to believe his own words and we were all dumbfounded. What did he just say? Schabowski was asked when the new rule would take effect. "That comes into effect... according to my information.... immediately, without delay," Schabowski stammered, shuffling through the papers spread in front of him as he sought in vain for more information.

IT LATER EMERGED THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE RELEASED UNTIL 4AM THE NEXT MORNING. He also meant to say East Germans COULD APPLY FOR VISAS IN AN ORDERLY MANNER at the appropriate state agency. The sudden rush to the border that so overwhelmed the guards there was the last thing he had in mind.

Increases in the value of securities Freddie Mac held over the period helped buoy its net worth, however, erasing its need to tap government funds for a second straight quarter to stay solvent while continuing to buy and guarantee home loans.

Including a $1.3 billion dividend payment on senior preferred stock bought by the Treasury in previous quarters, FREDDIE MAC'S THIRD-QUARTER LOSS INCREASES TO $6.3 BILLION. Its larger rival FANNIE MAE on Thursday said it would need $15 billion from the US Treasury after A WHOPPING $18.9 BILLION THIRD-QUARTER LOSS.

Results at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are widely watched as A BAROMETER OF THE US HOUSING MARKET since they own or back nearly half of outstanding mortgages.

The storm reached hurricane force again late on Saturday and strengthened to a Category 2 storm on Sunday with sustained winds of near 100 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said in its 4pm EST (2100 GMT) advisory. Some energy companies in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuating workers from offshore platforms, but so far oil and gas output had not been affected.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only terminal in the United States capable of handling the largest tankers, said it would stop unloading ships due to stormy seas. A quarter of US oil and 15 percent of its natural gas are produced from fields in the Gulf and the coast is home to 40 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

The hurricane center set a hurricane watch from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Mexico Beach in northwestern Florida, but did not include the city of New Orleans. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are expected in the area within 36 hours. LOUISIANA GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON SUNDAY, allowing the government to mobilize troops and rescue workers.

How is it possible that Israel only has 17 other true friends in the world, out of 192 countries? AN EVIL WIND IS BLOWING AGAINST THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE. This resolution - WRITTEN BY THE ARAB LEAGUE - calls for a investigation of Israel for "war crimes" during the January 2009 Gaza war in which Israel was defending itself from some 12,000-plus rockets, missiles and mortars that had been fired by Hamas at civilian centers in southern Israel over the course of several years.

YET THE RESOLUTION NEVER EVEN MENTIONS THE WORD "HAMAS." The resolution has no balance, no sense of fair play, and effectively denies that Israel has a right of self-defense, which is, in fact, a basic right affirmed in the UN charter. The resolution affirms the findings of the anti-Israel and ultimately ANTI-SEMITIC GOLDSTONE REPORT and recommends the Secretary General require the Security Council to take up the issue and condemn Israel. After all, the war crimes were committed by Hamas for firing rockets at civilians, for using civilians as shields in Gaza during the war, for using elementary schools, hospitals and mosques as military bases during the war. YET THE UN CARES NOT ONE BIT ABOUT SUCH BITTER TRUTHS.

IF COUNTRIES CANNOT FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISTS IN SELF-DEFENSE, will the US be charged with war crimes for fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan? Will Great Britain? Will Australia? Will Canada? Will other NATO powers?