WASHINGTON - The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said Thursday that international pressure has failed to weaken Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe.

In the 19th century the United States, which was experiencing great industrial, technological and economic growth, sought to expand to the Pacific Ocean. But, there was one big problem. Mexico was in the way. Western land belonged to Mexico. So, the United States invented a doctrine called Manifest Destiny which said that the nation which could better use the land had the right to it. The United States forcibly took what are now California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from Mexico. This was raw aggression and it was morally wrong. When the United States seized these lands from Mexico they became first U.S. territories ruled directly from Washington D.C. Afterwards, when enough Americans from other parts of the country settled into these territories and formed the majority, the federal government in Washington allowed the people in the territories to vote on statehood and to have their own individual state governments.

KUALA LUMPUR: Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who was defeated in the recent MCA elections, has tendered his resignation from his Cabinet post.

Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women - even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.

A cutting-edge monitoring station to help preserve the ozone layer protecting all life on Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays is to be established in the Persian Gulf country of Qatar under a United Nations-backed project announced today.

Jobs: Gigs: A couple weeks ago on Twitter I said : "I still maintain the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web.