WikiLeaks continues to drop files from its trove of diplomatic cables, but for those who can't sit through a quarter-million documents leaked at a slow pace the story has quickly turned from gossip about foreign leaders to gossip about the site's elusive (though certainly not quiet) leader Julian Assange. Yesterday Interpol put the 39-year-old Australian on its most-wanted list for questioning regarding rape charges he is facing in Sweden (his lawyers claim he is being unjustly persecuted) and Ecuador rescinded its offer of safe haven, all of which has his mother quiet upset. more ›

Based on apparent signs that Al Qaeda is looking to attack European cities, the State Department issued a warning to U.S. citizens in Europe today, telling them to be aware "of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure." more ›

The controversy over the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team's effort to fly overseas with their tribe-issued passports has brought up issues about what it means for Native American's to have national sovereignty. Though the State Department offered to expedite U.S. issued passports for the team, the team manager said traveling with anything but their Haudenosaunee confederacy passports would be an insult to their culture. Now, the issue is dividing Native American nations across America. more ›

After a passport dispute that left the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team stranded in New York City for three days, the team will be able to travel with their own passports, thanks to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At her request, the State Department dropped a demand that the Iroquois athletes must use formal U.S. passports to enter and exit the country, rather than their Haudenosaunee confederacy-issued passports. However, the allowance is a "one-time-only waiver." more ›

Eric Spiegelman put together this amazing stream of 130 photos of Obama posing with dignitaries during this week's U.N. meetings (long video after the jump). And Obama's smile never changes. Of course you may suspect some Photoshopping, but Spiegelman defends himself by directing us to the State Department's flickr site. [Via Daily Intel] more ›

Foreign governments will no longer have to pay property taxes on some of their diplomatic buildings in New York after a change in policy by the U.S. State Department. The NY Post reports the policy reversal will cost the city "untold millions in future lost revenue" as well as $260 million in unpaid back taxes—including a check from the Hungarian consulate worth $32.5 million that was canceled only days after the State Department's policy change. Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy explains to the Post the decision was made because other countries don't ask the U.S. to pay taxes on its overseas property: "Those countries have come to us and said, 'Wait a minute. Why is New York taxing us when we don't tax you?'" But, besides the loss of potential income, what has some surprised about the new policy is the political U-turn it represents for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who previously championed the city's right to collect those taxes when she was a senator. Though the decision may not win her much popularity at City Hall, she'll no doubt have a few new friends at the Indian and Mongolian embassies, both of which are now off the hook after losing a federal court battle over $46 million in back property taxes last year. more ›

It's the Hillary Clinton we all know and love! The NY Times reports that the Secretary of State-designate is seeking to make the State Department "more powerful... with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis." However, "Given Mrs. Clinton’s prominence, expanding the department’s portfolio could bring on conflict with other powerful cabinet members." In other HRC news, she is not expecting to receive her $13 million loan to her presidential campaign yet, since she, via papers filed with the Federal Election Commission, is formally writing off the loan. more ›

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has left NYC, it's time to pay the NYPD overtime bills. According to the NYPD, the State Department will reimburse the city for 50-60% of the costs associated with making sure the pope was safe throughout his 3 days in the city. more ›

As the Stuyvesant community remains concerned over the health of two students and a coach who were seriously injured after a track team van crash, it now seems that the trip was not authorized by the school. more ›

Crews are working to remove oil from Long Island shoreline that spilled into the ocean sometime on Thanksgiving Day and started washing ashore. Surfers called the Coast Guard to report "tar-like balls of oil." A number of agencies, including the Coast Guard and NY State DEP, are working on the cleanup. The spill seems to be about 500 gallons of no. 6 oil, an unrefined bunker oil, and Newsday reports the samples from the spill... more ›

Governor Spitzer said that the NY State Department of Health's response regarding the Nassau County doctor exposed over 600 patients to hepatitis C and HIV was "unacceptably slow" and ordered an investigation. Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, reused syringes and multiple-dose medicine vials between January 2000 and January 2005; some patients learned they had contracted hepatitis in 2005, but the state and Nassau County officials waited 34 months to contact other patients. It turns out... more ›

The NY State Department of Taxation and Finance is pretty sneaky. After years of observing the Yankee captain's comments, lawyers are saying that DJ owes hundreds of thousands in back taxes. Though Jeter's Yankees salary is partially taxed by NY State, he has claimed that his primary residence is in Florida, which has no state tax. The argument from tax officials is that Jeter has made statements "professing his love for New York" and that... more ›

The hunting season only started on Saturday, but one New Yorker is already in a lot of trouble after some pretty stupid moves. Rosebank resident Alfons Ndokaj was charged with unlawfully hunting a bear cub amongst a number of other violations. more ›

A school in Aberdeen, NJ, was locked down yesterday after a deer jumped through a classroom window. More specifically, it was a buck that joined a fifth grade class that was finishing up a vocabulary lesson. more ›

Early Sunday morning, an 86-year-old man was found driving in the opposite direction as traffic on the Belt Parkway. Luckily no one was hurt, but the highway patrol had to divert traffic in order to stop Bernard Hummel. more ›

Yesterday morning, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice visited Community School 154 in Harlem. Accompanied by Representative Charles Rangel, Rice, former Provost at Stanford, encouraged the students to dream big, “One thing that I want you to promise me is that you won't let anybody else tell you what it is you ought to be interested in. You'll find what you are interested in and you'll pursue it and you won't let anyone say 'Why would you want to be interested in that? You’re from Harlem.'" more ›

The NY Times has a slide show of assorted items that could be perfect wedding gifts for book lovers. Suggestions range from whimsical bookshelves to personalized book plates. more ›

Earlier this week, Governor Spitzer said that a quick review of the state's bridges showed that all are basically safe, including ones with similar designs to Minneapolis' I-35. However, some bridges, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, rated low on a 7 point scale (7 being the safest) for safety. Still, Spitzer touted the fact that this year's budget added another $900 million to the $18.8 billion infrastructure plan. more ›

It appears that the iPhone day incident between a television news producer and a charity mascot seems to be more than that it appears. The mascot, from a group that calls itself Hungrr was involved in a verbal altercation with the producer and was then asked to move along by the police. Watch the video for yourself, here. more ›

The city's Health Department is investigating three hepatitis C infection in people who "received intravenous (IV) anesthesia from the same NYC-based anesthesiologist." Oh, dear. The incidents occurred in August of last year, and it seems like the anesthesia was given in an out-patient (not a hospital) facility. The DOH is contacting about 4,500 patients who received IV anesthesia between December 1, 2003 and May 1, 2007 at the 10 outpatient facilities the doctor worked in to recommend they get tested. more ›

Yesterday, a suicidal man on he George Washington Bridge caused traffic delays up to two hours. Newsday reported that the man was "armed with a box-cutter razor climbed a bridge cable, slashed his arms and wrists repeatedly and threatened to jump," but police officers were able to talk him down. We wrote about New York bridge jumpers last month. more ›

Gothamist is hoping for an inch of rain today. It's not going to happen, but we're hoping anyway. Why? An inch of rain would make this the wettest April ever, topping the 14.01 inches that dumped on Central Park in 1983. The rain from the nor'easter a couple of weeks ago alone was enough to make the current month the fifth wettest on record. Add to that Friday's two inches and we were within striking distance of the April milestone. more ›

A public school is facing a mini-crisis because students and a teacher went to Cuba for spring break. The Beacon School on West 61st Street has had a tradition of "extravagant overseas trips with complementary semester-long classes," involving places like France, South Africa, and Venezula, but a trip headed by history teacher Nathan Turner may have violated travel restrictions - the group of kids was detained by customs officials on the return! more ›

The Mayor touted the news that NYC's unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% last month, saying, "News that our average unemployment rate in 2006 was the lowest on record is yet another example how New York's recovery from 9/11 is exceeding our wildest dreams." The unemployment rate has been below 5% September through December, which Crain's says is the "first below-5% performance since the 1980's." (The record low was in October, when the rate was 4.1%.) And in December of 2005, the NYC unemployment rate was 5.8%. more ›

Last week, the virtues of organ donation were extolled with news that actor Jerry Orbach had made sure to donate his eyes to two New Yorkers. But making sure that people know you would be a willing organ donor is not so easy. The Daily News points out the license format is not very donation-permission friendly. The surface quality of the licenses which is meant to prevent counterfeiting does a good job of not registering pen ink. (And it also turns out that simply signing the back of your license "doesn't constitute full legal permission to harvest organs, but it may at least indicate a desire to do so.") more ›

The intersection of 94th Street and Ditmars Boulevard in Queens became the scene of a violent confrontation last night. An off-duty corrections officer shot another man during a struggle that stemmed from road rage. more ›

The murder of beloved Bronx pediatrician Leandro Lozado may be solved: Police arrested Bronx resident Samuel Sanders for the crime. Lozado's body was found on Wednesday in his Yonkers home, with Lozado shot in the head multiple times. Police looked into Lozado's finances and found that he bought his house from Saunders - and the house had been in foreclosure. more ›

Sometimes Gothamist comes across a news story that makes our head hurt. Such is the story of the excess security doors the city bought six years ago, which were never installed, and now have been given to the State Department. more ›

Towards the end of the year, it becomes sport to wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be. It's sort of like wondering who will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or who People's Sexiest Man Alive is (both are also Time Inc. publications, as it were). Time tried to get its readers excited, asking them to vote online for who they thought should be the Person of the Year, with choices being George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Kim Jong Il, Al Gore, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Nancy Pelosi, and The YouTube Guys. Well, if you bothered to vote, you never had a chance - Time decided to make "You" the Person of the Year. more ›