Federal Examiners Say Religious Decoration Inappropriate. What in the world are they thinking over at the Federal Reserve? The privately-owned central bank that runs the U.S. economy is now forcing local banks to remove every shred of Christian faith from their establishments. When Federal Reserve examiners recently visited a local bank in Perkins, Oklahoma they demanded that the bank take down a... 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union was fined 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) for breaching party donation rules, adding to the CDU’s difficulties as it prepares to fight seven state elections. The fine was imposed by the lower house of parliament in Berlin, the Bundestag, for party funding violations in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the time of a regional... 

Environmental groups had called on the Obama administration to restore wilderness protections. The US is to make millions of acres of public land eligible for wilderness protection, officials have said. The order reverses former President George W Bush’s policy forbidding the government from doing so. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday said the new policy would help to protect public... 

Mistaken identity... Carnita Matthews outside court with a friend A BURQA-CLAD mother of seven who claimed she was the victim of mistaken identity has been jailed for six months for making a false complaint against a police officer. Magistrate Robert Rabbidge dismissed Carnita Matthews’ allegations that a highway patrol officer was racist after he pulled her over for a Random Breath Test and... 

An Israeli child plays with Christmas decorations at a market stall in Nazareth in 2009. The mayor of a Jewish suburb of Nazareth sparked outrage on Wednesday after refusing to allow Christmas trees to be placed in town squares, calling them provocative. The mayor of a Jewish suburb of Nazareth sparked outrage on Wednesday after refusing to allow Christmas trees to be placed in town squares, calling... 

One of the police officers arrested a street preacher Telling a street preacher that it is against the law to affirm the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality is costing a team of British policeofficers some $11,000 – plus legal fees. That was the resolution announced by The Christian Institute in a case that it fought on behalf of a street preacher, Dale Mcalpine, who was arrested and detained... 

Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994 and has been dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”. A Belarusian human rights organization says seven of the candidates who ran against the country’s authoritarian leader face charges that could lead to 15 years in prison in the wake of post-election violence and massive arrests. Ales Belyatsky of the human rights center Vesna said the charges... 

The European Commission has come under fire for producing more than three million copies of an EU diary for secondary schools which contains no reference to Christmas but includes Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim festivities. More than 330,000 copies of the diaries, accompanied by 51 pages of glossy information about the EU, have been delivered to British schools as a “sought after” Christmas... 

Policemen arrest an activist from the Belarus youth organization Mlady Front (Young Front). Security forces in Belarus have detained over 600 people, including seven opposition candidates, after smashing a mass rally protesting fraud in the landslide re-election of president Alexander Lukashenko. Western governments have been quick to condemn the vote and the crackdown, with the United States saying... 

The Israeli market for donor livers has been well-documented. Most international trafficking rings have involved wealthy Israeli patients on ‘transplant tours’. It is fitting that the man described as the “fixer” in Kosovo’s alleged organ ring was an Israeli of Turkish descent. Moshe Harel, a fugitive wanted by Interpol in connection with the case, is accused of matching... 

Lady Gaga’s famous eccentricity took a less-than-festive turn last night when she tore the head off a stuffed Santa Claus at her O2 show.Halfway through her set, the singer, 24, made it plain that she loathes Christmas. She seized the Santa doll and told the audience: “I hate the holidays. I’m alone and miserable you f**king stuffed little toy”, This is London informs. Dressed... 

Robert Mugabe’s addresses his Zanu-PF party conference in Mutare. Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe says his country will nationalise all US and UK companies operating in the country unless Western sanctions are removed. He told his Zanu-PF party’s annual conference it was time to fight the sanctions imposed on him and party leaders. Mr Mugabe also said it was time to end power-sharing... 

Officers will start random bag inspections on the sprawling Washington subway system, the Washington Metro Transit Police said on Thursday, a week after a man was arrested for making bomb threats to the rail system. Metrorail police officers plan to randomly select bags before passengers enter subway stations and they will swab them or have an explosives-sniffing dog check the bags, according to the... 

Army Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., left, leaves a military court after being found guilty of missing a flight for deployment Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 at Fort Meade, Md. Lakin refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he does not believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States and therefore questions his eligibility to be commander in chief. An Army doctor who disobeyed... 

Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday that Christians suffer more religious persecution than any other group, denouncing lack of freedom of worship as an “intolerable” threat to world security. The message reflected a pressing concern by Benedict in recent months for the plight of Christian minorities in parts of the world, especially in the Middle East. “Sadly, the year now ending has...