Washington

The excitement is beginning to build in Qatar, as officials and drivers from the United States of America arrive in Doha to make their final preparations for this weekend’s Oryx Cup UIM World Championship, the final round of the ABRA Unlimited Hydroplane World Championship and the first event of its kind to be staged outside the Americas.
Ten of the world’s most exciting racing boats arrived in Qatar just under two weeks ago and now sit centre stage on the Corniche, near the Doha Sheraton, as the countdown begins to the first Unlimited test session on the Doha Bay course from 9.30hrs on Thursday morning and the two days of frenetic Unlimited heat action on Friday and Saturday, which culminates with the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship at 4pm on Saturday.

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Obama defends abuse photos U-turn

The release of more photos of prisoner abuse by US soldiers is "of no benefit" and may inflame opinion against the US, President Barack Obama has said.

The pictures were not "sensational" and every case of abuse had been dealt with by the military, with action taken where appropriate, he said.

The White House previously said it would not fight a court ruling ordering the release of the pictures.

US civil liberties activists accused Mr Obama of adopting Bush-era policies.

The pictures were due to be released by 28 May, according to the court order.

is the title of the last book written by James Rosapepe - former US ambassador in Romania.
Book Launch Festivity at Romanian Embassy in Washington.

NEW YORK — The family of the alleged Fort Hood shooter held his mother's funeral at the same Virginia mosque that two Sept. 11 hijackers attended in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there.

Whether the Fort Hood shooter associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The family of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 and wounded 29 at the Texas military base, held his mother's funeral at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., on May 31, 2001, according to her obituary in the Roanoke Times newspaper.

Hi All, Aslam o Alikum,

Heading to Houston on direct QA flight, next week, wondering what's the experience like for those who went before?

I had taken a return direct from Washington last year and it was good experience as manage to get some sleep.

also any latest gadgets etc to bring? Is getting iphone worth or it does not matter any more. Thanks,

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.

From a professor who just testified in Congress, to a White House adviser appearing before a Jewish group and a former Marine driving home from work, Muslims across the country were shocked, angry and afraid that the attack would erode efforts to erase anti-Islamic stereotypes.

Many Islamic leaders said the Fort Hood tragedy that left 13 dead and 30 wounded including the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could likely post the sternest test for U.S. Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country, a poll showed Tuesday.
Residents of sub-Saharan African countries were the most likely to want to move abroad permanently, the polls conducted in 135 countries between 2007 and this year by Gallup showed.
On average, 38 percent of the adult population in sub-Saharan Africa, or around 165 million people, said they would up stakes and head for another country if they had the chance.
The most popular destination was the United States, where nearly a quarter of the 700 million -- around 165 million people -- said they would like to settle.

WASHINGTON - No need to curse that bad driver weaving in and out of the lane in front of you -- he cannot help it, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

They found that people with a particular gene variant performed more than 20% worse on a driving test than people with a different DNA sequence.

The study may explain why there are so many bad drivers out there -- about 30% of Americans have the variant, the team at the University of California Irvine found.

"These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," Dr. Steven Cramer, who led the study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, said in a statement.

This shows that political expediency takes precedence over ethics and morality. We should all be ashamed of our leaders :O(

British and American officials rushed to congratulate Mr Karzai as the country's "legitimate leader" as the international community tried to draw a line under months of paralysing political limbo following the Aug 20 vote which was mired in fraud.

But London and Washington also made clear that they expect him to make immediate moves towards bolstering the ranks of the armed forces, tackling corruption and giving the defeated opposition a role within his new government.