McCain Claims Obama Crowds Call Him Terrorist & Traitor

UPI VIDEO NEWS 02.15.08

Shooting leaves seven dead at Illinois university.

Seven people are dead following a shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University yesterday. More than a dozen others are wounded. The alleged gunman, Steven Kazmierczak, opened fire on a geology class before turning the gun on himself. Kazmierczak was reportedly a former graduate and undergraduate student at the university. A preliminary investigation shows the man had no contact with university police while he was a student there.

Former President George H.W. Bush will endorse John McCain in his bid for the Oval Office. This comes just one day after former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney endorsed the Arizona senator. McCain will most likely travel to Texas next week to accept Bush's nod. The endorsement is reportedly aimed especially at Texas where voters will weigh in next month.

The House has failed to renew a surveillance measure that President Bush says is vital to tracking terrorists. The Senate approved the measure earlier this week, but it's set to expire Saturday at midnight without the House's vote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to schedule a vote on the legislation before breaking yesterday for a week's recess. The bill would give government the ability to work with telecommunications companies to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists calls and emails. Under the legislation, those companies would receive retroactive protection from lawsuits over wiretapping and privacy. Many House Democrats oppose that immunity.

However, the House did vote to issue contempt citations to two Bush aides. White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House lawyer Harriet Miers refused to cooperate in an investigation into the controversial firings of those U.S. attorneys, citing President Bush's executive privilege. Bush has invoked the privilege that protects all former and current White House officials from testifying about this issue. The contempt citations were the first approved by Congress against the executive branch since the Reagan administration.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 02.14.08

Obama wins three more primaries.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is now the winner of eight consecutive nominating contests. That's after he swept the Mid-Atlantic primaries yesterday, winning Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. The Illinois senator's success has reportedly put him ahead of his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton in the number of delegates earned. Obama apparently has 1,215 delegates and Clinton has 1,190. A candidate must receive 2,025 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

And Republican White House hopeful John McCain has beat out former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in all three of yesterday's GOP primaries. The former governor is vowing to stay in the race, pledging to be a solid, conservative, pro-life candidate as an alternative to McCain.

A man who's suspected in some of the deadliest terror attacks around the world and is now dead. Imad Mughniyeh reportedly died in an explosion in Syria earlier today. Mughniyeh was a Hezbollah commander who was considered to be a role model for Osama bin Laden. Hezbollah is blaming Israel for the man's death, but Israeli officials are denying involvement. Mughniyeh was suspected in the 1983 bombing on the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847.

Pro-baseball pitcher Roger Clemens is facing his accusers today at a congressional panel who've accused him of using steroids. That panel is examining performance-enhancing drug-use in baseball. Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee will be there along with Charlie Scheeler, an investigator for that eye-opening report that alleged dozens of players had used the drugs. McNamee says he injected Clemens with performance enhancers.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 01.30.08

Edwards quitting presidential race.

Former senator John Edwards is reportedly bowing out of the Democratic race for president. He's expected to make the announcement in New Orleans this afternoon. Edwards has trailed former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the early primaries.

On the Republican side, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is reportedly planning to quite his presidential run. This comes after Arizona Senator John McCain won Florida's Republican primary yesterday. Giuliani came in a distant third in that race. He's expected to endorse McCain at an event later today.

Congress has passed a 15-day extension of a temporary surveillance law that was set to expire later this week. The law was passed last year when the Bush administration warned of loopholes in its ability to monitor suspected terrorists. The extension is a means to buy time to decide on a permanent fix for the measure. President Bush is expected to sign the extension.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey won't say whether the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding is considered torture. The top U.S. law enforcement official is expected to clash with Democrats today over this issue at a Senate hearing. Mukasey did say waterboarding currently isn't being used by the CIA to interrogate suspected Al Qaeda members. But he said there are circumstances where the technique, which simulates drowning, is questionable as to whether it's illegal.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 12.21.07

Schwarzenegger suing federal government.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to sue the federal government. That's after it decided not to allow a California plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project would have allowed the state to cut emissions faster than a new federal plan the president signed into law earlier this week. President Bush says the decision to nix the project is based on the fact that the new legislation allows for a national strategy. Schwarzenegger says he would like to set a higher standard for California.

Republican Tom Tancredo is bowing out of the presidential race. Instead, he says he'll endorse Mitt Romney's candidacy. Tancredo is a fierce opponent of illegal immigration and kept the issue active in many GOP debates he participated in. However, his campaign struggled to gain popularity. A poll released earlier this week showed the Colorado congressman registered less than one percent support nationally.

Belgium is tightening its security today amid fears of a possible terrorist attack in that country. Fourteen suspected Islamic militants have been arrested in connection with an armed plot to free an Al Qaeda suspect from jail. Authorities believe the weapons and explosives could also be used for other means. There are now increased police patrols at Brussels' international airport, on trains and in shopping centers.

At least 50 people are dead after an attack in a mosque in northern Pakistan. Dozens of others are injured. The bomb targeted a former Pakistani interior minister reportedly over his supervision of militants in the country's tribal areas. The blast left bloody clothes, shoes and pieces of flesh scattered across the mosque.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 12.07.07

CIA says interrogation tapes were destroyed.

The CIA reportedly destroyed tapes of terror suspect interrogations. CIA Director Michael Hayden says the interrogations were videotaped in 2002 and then destroyed in 2005...fearing the footage would be leaked to the public. The Agency apparently wanted to protect the identities of the questioners. Senator Patrick Leahy called the destruction "troubling." Hayden says the House and Senate intelligence committee leaders knew of the tapes and knew that the CIA planned to get rid of them. He added that the interrogation practices were all legal.

President Bush has unveiled a plan to help struggling homeowners. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said yesterday the plan will help about 1.2 million Americans facing possible foreclosures. It will reportedly freeze interest rates on many adjustable rate mortgages for many homeowners. Those who will be affected by the plan are those with loans agreed to from January 2005 through July 2007 that are expected to adjust between January of next year and July 2010.

NASA says the Atlantis space shuttle will stay grounded until at least Saturday. The crew planned on taking off yesterday afternoon but had to be delayed because of problems with the fuel gauges. Mnagers of the space mission have decided to wait until the weekend giving engineers more time to carefully fix the problem. Atlantis is set to visit the International Space Station to deliver a European lab module...used to increase research capabilities.

Shopping malls around the U.S. are expected to start looking at ways to keep shoppers safe. This comes after a man opened fire at a Nebraska mall killing 8 people and himself. A spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Malls says there are often copycats in situations like this and it's important to consider having extra security officers and securing entrances.