HOBART | Joe Negron and his 7-year-old son, Nicholas, wore matching smiles Tuesday as the two were reunited after nearly eight months."It's great to be back," beamed Joe Negron, a Navy serviceman who completed his fourth tour of duty in the Persian Gulf on Friday.Joe Negron's visit to John Wood Elementary School at the end of the day was done to surprise Nicholas, a second-grader, who hadn't seen his father since June."It's super Tuesday for the Negron boys," quipped Cheryl Negron, Nicholas' mother.Joe Negron couldn't fly into Chicago Midway Airport on Monday night as planned because of the fog, said Maryann Reynolds, Cheryl Negron's mother.But Joe Negron arrived in the area Tuesday morning and wanted to surprise his oldest son, who had been bummed out by the delay, she said.The surprise was a hit with Nicholas, who couldn't stop looking at his father and giving him an occasional hug."It's awesome," Nicholas said of his father's return.Cheryl Negron and her sons, Nicholas and Michael, 4, have been staying with her parents, Maryann and Gordon Reynolds, who live in rural Crown Point.The Reynolds family moved there from Lansing, where Cheryl Negron attended high school."This is a wonderful thing," Maryann Reynolds said while videotaping the father-and-son reunion.In coming days, the Negron family plans to get reacquainted by dining out at Joe's favorite pizza place, the Home Run Inn in Chicago, and hanging out at home playing video games.Cheryl Negron said family members have a lot of catching up to do since they didn't spend Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's together."This is very surreal.

The Empire State Building and Brides.com Announce Couples for 'The ...

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- This Valentine's Day, love prevails as The Empire State Building and Brides.com marry 14 couples on the most romantic day of the year in the most romantic setting -- atop the Empire State Building.

Weddings on Valentine's Day have been a tradition at the Empire State Building since 1994. Since the first couples got hitched, there have been over 200 weddings in what is considered to be one of the most romantic buildings ever. Featured in over 90 movies, such as Sleepless in Seattle, An Affair to Remember and King Kong, the Empire State Building epitomizes the love story.

THE TORTURE MYTH

Linked to numerous terror plots, he is believed to have financed the first World Trade Center bombing, helped set up the courier system that resulted in the infamous Bali bombing, and cut off Danny Pearl's head.

A second was Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the head of al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf. He allegedly played a role in the 2000 millennium terror plots and was the mastermind behind the USS Cole attack, which killed 17 Americans.

The third was Abu Zubaydah, said to be Osama bin Laden's top man after Ayman al Zawahri and al Qaeda's chief logistics operative. It is believed that Zubaydah essentially ran al Qaeda's terror camps and recruitment operations.

After he was waterboarded, Zubaydah reportedly offered intelligence officers a treasure trove of critical information.

CBHD Announces Last Minute Registration for 'Extending Life ...

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD) announces last minute registration for "Extending Life: Setting the Agenda for the Ethics of Aging, Death, and Immortality." "Extending Life" is CBHD's 1st conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and will be held at the Grace Inn, March 6-8, 2008. The focus of this conference will be to explore the implications of Judeo-Christian Hippocratism for end-of-life issues, as well as the emerging discussions surrounding life-extension technologies. Preconference Institutes, which include the conference, will be held March 3-6 with lectures from leading thinkers in bioethics, including William P. Cheshire, Jr., MD; Dennis Hollinger, PhD; C. Ben Mitchell; PhD, Robert D. Orr, MD; and D. Joy Riley, MD. Continuing medical education opportunities are also available