"Welcome Home" should extend to other cities. Thank you, heroes!

...Several hundred veterans, (click title to entry - thank you) many dressed in camouflage, walked alongside military vehicles, marching bands and even the Budweiser Clydesdales. People in the crowd held signs reading "Welcome Home" and "God Bless Our Troops," and fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted three huge American flags along the route.

"It's not necessarily overdue. It's just the right thing," said Maj. Rich Radford, who became a symbol of the event thanks to a photo of his young daughter taking his hand while welcoming him home from his second tour in Iraq in 2010....

Transocean exonerated from liabilty in BP Gulf Oil Spill

Tim Probert (r.) of Halliburton is sworn in along with officials from BP and Transocean before May 11 Senate hearings on the Gulf oil spill.

Published on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 11:25 

By FNNO Staff 

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) is advancing (click title to entry - thank you) after a judge ruled that Transocean (NYSE:RIG) will not have to pay any clean up costs and economic losses caused by the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Transocean's indemnity agreement with BP (NYSE:BP) protects the company from having to pay compensatory damages, the judge found.

Meanwhile, BP has sued Halliburton, which was the cement contractor for the well that triggered the Gulf spill, for all of the damages and costs caused by the disaster. Similar to Transocean, Halliburton has countered by saying that its contract with BP indemnifies it from all damage claims related to the disaster.

In mid-morning trading, Halliburton gained $1.09, or 3.01%, to $37.25, while Transocean rose $0.89, or 1.88%, to $48.15 and BP fell $1, or 2.23%, to $43.77....

The Arab League needs help, which, indicates there are sincere problems in Syria.

A member of the Free Syrian Army (click here) gestures during a patrol in the western border town of al-Zabadani in this undated still image taken from amateur video obtained by Reuters. (Reuters)

Assad has no intention of giving up his thrown.  Oh, sorry, his office.  It would appear as though the circumstances in Syria are escalating without regard to human life.  There are door to door attacks now.  The attacks seem indiscriminate and somewhat for revenge as woman and children are killed as well.  There are no trials occurring in Syria, just assault by government forces.

...For the first time (click title to entry - thank you) since the team of monitors was deployed in mid-December, mainly to oversee a cease-fire between Syrian forces and the armed opposition, the league said Syria's government was "in complete contradiction to its commitments" to stop the violence. The news comes as fighting has intensified in several suburbs of Damascus, a new phase of Syria's conflict that holds the potential to move the capital toward chaos.

For the first time in the country's 11-month uprising, commanders of the dissident Free Syrian Army said they have fought back the military for stretches of hours or even days in some Damascus suburbs over the past week, using "hit-and-run" operations that are supported by lightly armed civilians.

The Arab League's mission, which had been extended for a second month, had a mandate to observe the implementation of a peace plan across Syria. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in protests against the rule of President Assad, which began in March. Syria, which blamed the violence on armed militants seeking the overthrow of the government, said 2,000 of its security forces have been killed.

The Arab League's decision is likely to escalate diplomatic efforts by the Arab League and Western nations to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution to stop the violence. The efforts have faced opposition from Moscow, a longtime ally of Damascus....