(IsraelNN.com) A group of Republican senators has introduced a bill calling for the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital.
The bill calls for the government to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is not identified as part of any country on official documents issued by the State department. Similar bills have been introduced the several years, and Presidents George W. Bush and his predecessor Bill Clinton both have postponed target dates to move the embassy.

Read More

By Aluf Benn and Amos Harel
 
The SA-18 missiles Russia is selling Syria "will of course make it difficult to fly over the residence of the Syrian president," Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly stated yesterday. "It will make flying low difficult," implying what has long been believed to be the reason for the sale of the anti-aircraft missiles: Syrian embarrassment over Israeli air force planes "buzzing" presidential palaces in Syria to issue warnings to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

 The Russian president, who gave an interview to Channel One ahead of his historic visit next week to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said the sale of the missiles to Syria would not upset the balance of power in the Middle East.

Read More

Spano Spells Out Details In State Of The County
UPDATED: 10:56 am EDT April 22, 2005

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Westchester County may soon be using a global positioning system to track the movements of convicted sex offenders, County Executive Andrew Spano said Thursday.
In his annual State of the County speech, Spano said the county probation department can use the system "to restrict a sex offender's movements, set up exclusion zones to restrict access to children and know exactly where a sex offender is 24 hours a day."
Read More

David Shambaugh
YaleGlobal, 20 April 2005
WASHINGTON: In a recent poll of Australians conducted by the Lowy Institute in Sydney, 69 percent of those surveyed had "positive feelings" towards China, while only 58 percent had such sentiment for Australia's staunch ally, the United States. Equally striking is that 72 percent of respondents agreed with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's expressed view that the United States should not automatically assume Australia's assistance in the event that US becomes embroiled in a conflict with China over Taiwan.
Other surveys over recent months in South Korea and Thailand – which, together with Australia, the Philippines, and Japan are the formal US allies in Asia – have revealed similar shifts in perceptions. The Thai and South Korean publics clearly hold very positive images of China, while their esteem for the United States has declined.

Read More