Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Complaint Department Michigan Democrat John Conyers appears to be on President Obama’s “naughty” list this year. The second longest-serving member of the House tells The Hill newspaper he received a call from the president several weeks ago expressing frustration with Conyers’ criticism: …

Washington, D.C. – Former President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton has now returned from Pyongyang with Al Gore’s employees, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The two women, reporters for Mr. Gore’s Current TV operation, were seized by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the frozen Tumen River — the …

In the new “G.I. Joe” flick, the character is no longer a typical American soldier. Instead he’s part of some elite international force — kind of like a Benetton ad with grenades. On MSNBC, Donny Deutsch praised this change, saying that the shift from an iconic American character to a …

The latest from the Political Grapevine: Bush Gets Bad Press A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism shows that media coverage over the past 4 months has been substantially more focused on, and mostly negative toward, President Bush. The study shows that 56 percent of media coverage …

In New Jersey earlier this year, a police officer noticed a man who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent dressed in business clothes near a vital bridge. The officer approached the man and found out he was wearing a wet suit under his business suit and carrying a knife …

ROME – Italian police and Europol say eight people have been arrested in a half-dozen European countries for allegedly operating a diesel import scam that avoided taxes by disguising the fuel as it transited across the continent. Italy’s financial police said Thursday that the scam netted 5.7 million euros ($6.2 …

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia is expected to confirm an increase in troop numbers to be sent to Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces to fight the Islamic State group. Media reports that Cabinet had on Monday night approved the deployment as part of a joint Australia-New Zealand training mission …

SINGAPORE – Singapore on Thursday sentenced two German men to three strokes of the cane and nine months in prison after they were found guilty of vandalizing a public train carriage. The attorney-general’s office identified the two men as 22-year-old Andreas Von Knorre and 21-year-old Elton Hinz. They entered a …

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s official IRNA news agency says that Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has been summoned before parliament to explain his recent public stroll with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The IRNA report on Sunday says that 21 parliamentarians have demanded that Zarif explain his 15-minute walk through …

The Malaysian governmentformally declared the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to be an accident Thursday, saying that it believed all 239 people on board had died. Malaysia civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said Thursday that the search for the jet “remains a priority.” The announcement was made in …