Washington (EON) - Iran has responded to new sanctions imposed by the US which target the Iran Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as well as the banks in the country of Iran.
The Iranian foreign ministry has come out and stated that the new sanctions which have been put into motion by the U.S. will fail.
The new sanctions have not been well received in Europe and both China and Russia oppose the new sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the new sanctions imposed by the US will “mad people wielding razor blades.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that the new sanctions are an attempt to stop threatening behavior building by the Iranians.
The sanctions as stated are on the Iran Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as well as three banks in Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the new sanctions as spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini stated “The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country’s legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure.”
Boston (EON) - A congressional resolution which would declare the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians as genocide was postponed before a vote could ever take place Thursday.
Supporters of the new Armenian genocide bill dropped their call for a vote on Thursday.
Many have been against this measure including a key NATO ally, Turkey. Many around the world agree that the killings of Armenians in World War I did take place but that the designation of genocide was not needed.
Turkish leaders stated that if the vote went through they would cut off U.S. access to key bases needed in Iraq.
The Bush administration, in hopes of getting on the good side of Turkey to stop them from invading Iraq and attacking Kurdish rebels, also opposed the bill.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the House committee Thursday that if this bill were passed it would put forth a huge set of consequences in Iraq. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution earlier in the month.
The sponsors of the bill though have agreed not to push a vote. This does not mean that it could not come back as it is not yet off the table indefinitely.
Washington (EON) - The House of Representatives has defied President George W. Bush as they approved a new bill which would expand a popular insurance program to improve child health care in the U.S., a bill which the White House and Bush have stated he will veto.
This is likely to lead to another huge showdown between the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush. Last week was a troubled week for the House as they could not overturn Bush’s veto of the children’s health insurance bill.
On Thursday though the House made huge progress passing a reworked version of the child health insurance bill which Bush continues to state that he will veto.
The vote passed 265 - 142 which is not enough to meet the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a presidential veto.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stated “This is a good day because we have another opportunity to extend to children - 4 million whom are not covered by health insurance - coverage.”
The child health insurance bill will now head to Senate.
Washington (EON) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton turned 60-years-old on Thursday and celebrated with one heck of a bash on Thursday night.
Elvis Costello and Billy Crystal were among those in attendance at the birthday bash for the now 60-year-old Hillary Clinton. She turned 60 and also raised $1.5 million for her campaign.
The party took place on Thursday night at Manhattan’s Beacon Theater with 3,000 paying guests.
Costello stated “Happy Birthday, Mrs. President!”
Clinton took the stage and threw a blow at Republican Rudy Giuliani and his claim to be cheering for the Red Sox in the World Series stating “I have been a fan — and I remain a fan — of the Yankees, no changes, no looking to curry favor with anybody else.”
Many believe that this new birthday for Clinton will allow her to reach out to a whole new group of older women who may have not supported her before.
Bill Clinton, standing next to his daughter Chelsea, introduced Hillary Clinton, his wife. He talked about how they met at Yale Law School 37 years ago. He stated “She was just 23 when we met - the poor child didn’t know any better.”
Hillary’s 88-year-old mother was also in the front row.
Seattle (EON) - According to a new study nearly a third of all U.S. adults report having extreme stress.
A new survey was held by the American Psychological Association and they found that 32% of all adults in the U.S. reported having extreme stress.
One in every five, 17%, reported having their highest stress level 15 or more days per month.
Around 50% or 48% to be exact stated that their stress level has risen over the last five years.
It appears that for many adults stress is an absolutely natural part of thehir life. Most of the participants, 82%, stated that they can manage stress well but admitted that stress can cause problems with their physcial, mental, relationship, and work health.
77% stated that within the last month they had physical problems from stress.
Work and money stress were the most common causes.
San Diego (EON) - President Bush made his visit to Southern California on Thursday as he was given a tour of the devastation that the wildfires have caused. 16 total fires have been going now for 5 days straight as investigators are looking into how they began.
The investigation is on to look at how these fires began, while many were given a ray of hope with the sign of President Bush arriving in California on Thursday.
Recovery crews moved from house to house in towns where the fires have travelled and found two dead bodies in a home near Poway, northeast of San Diego.
Four immigrants were also found burnt to death trying to cross the Mexican border by border patrol agents.
These are the first confirmed fatalities since Sunday.
Bush joined California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as they joined to look at the devastation. Bush stated “It makes a big difference when you have someone in the statehouse willing to take the lead,” talking about Schwarzenegger.
By Thursday over 1,800 homes were destroyed 60 or so people injured, and over 500,000 acres of land were burned to a crisp.
Bush assured the people of California “We’re not going to forget about you in Washington, D.C.”
Boston (EON) - Britney Spears is off the hook as the misdemeanor hit-and-run charge which she was facing was dropped Thursday.
It appears that Spears reached a financial settlement with the other motorist which allowed her to get off free. She is still faces a charge of driving without a license. The 25-year-old pop princess which always seems to be the focus of media attention, did not appear in court on Thursday in Van Nuys, California.
Her lawyer Michael Flanagan entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. A hearing is set for November 26th for the matter.
Spears was offered a plea deal on the license charge which would only require her to serve probation for one year.
Her lawyer though stated that probation was not appropriate. He stated this because Spears already fixed the situation by getting a driver’s license in California.
The hit-and-run charge came from an incident back on August 6th when she was photographed by paprazzi hitting a car and then checking it for damage on her own car and walking away from the scene. A payment was accepted from Spears for $1,000 to cover damages to the 1999 Mercedes-Benz Station wagon which was owned by Kim Robarb-Rifkin.
Boston (EON) - Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim has been arrested suspicison of drunken driving, a DUI charge. Kim plays Jin-Soo Kwan on the ABC hit show Lost.
He was arrested early on Thursday morning with the incident taking plac ein Hawaii where the show Lost is actually filmed.
Kim was not in the police station for long though as it is known that he posted bail rather quickly. This is amazingly the third DUI-related incident for a star from the show Lost.
Two years ago Lost stars Cynthia Watros and Michelle Rodriguez were both cited for DUI. Adewale Akinyoye-Agbaje was also arrested for driving without a license back in 2006, but it was not related to DUI in any way.
It seems that Lost stars have a had time with the law and continue to have a hard time staying on the straight and narrow path. Whether this has to do with the hit ABC show in any way is not known but it is amazing that all of these arrests have come from the same cast of people on the same show.
Hollywood (EON) - The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers gave an official proposal today to Hollywood’s film and TV writers who are now just six-days away from having the writers contract expire.
The writers and producers have not been making much progress as of late but they are trying to at least keep the negotiating going. They are trying to put together a new contract to replace the one which is set to expire on October 31st. Hollywood studios are getting ready for what could be the first writers strike in almost two decades.
Producers have put out a package of proposals they have changed a bit to try and appeal to the demands of the writers.
Nick Counter, president of the alliance, stated that “It is incumbent on each party to fine the common ground which will result in an agreement.”
Counter represents the studios and television networks. John F. Bowman, chairman of the Writers Guild of America state dthat the package had “minor adjustments to major rollbacks.” He stated that he wants producers to “engage with us on the issues that matter in this negotiation.”
With six-days remaining, it is time to either get serious or get ready for a strike in Hollywood.
Hollywood (EON) - Steve Carell’s new comedy releases in theaters this weekend named, Dan in Real Life, a film which unfortunately does not live up to past quality comedies by Carell such as 40-Year-Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine.
Carell has teamed up with the comedy filmmaker Peter Hedges who is known for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and About a Boy. The film revolves around Carell who plays a newspaper advice columnist who is also a single dad. He falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend during a weekend at the family beach house.
Dan (Carell) and Marie (Juliette Binoche) star in the film in a story which revolves mainly around those two. They meet in a bookstore-cum-bait shop and are attracted to each other, even though Marie is with Dan’s brother Mitch, played by the comedian Dane Cook.
Dan in Real Life is not a bad comedy I do not believe and will probably give a lot of comic relief to many over the weekend as it goes up against some other big guns such as Saw IV and others. Regardless though the apparent lack of character development and story plot as described in many reviews keeps the comedy from being up there with Carell’s other amazing releases such as the 40-Year-Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine.