WASHINGTON, Dec. 4  -- A Florida congresswoman, certain she was the victim of a joke, hung up on President-elect Barack Obama -- not once, but twice.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., told that Obama wanted to speak with her, cut the caller off, telling the person on the other end she thought "this is a joke" by a radio station known for pulling pranks, CNN reported Thursday.

Obama's White House chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel -- who served with Ros-Lehtinen in the U. S. House of Representatives -- called to let her know she really was talking to the next president. She hung up again -- again thinking it was a crank call.

Montreal  - Prime Minister Stephen Harper won an important and historic tactical victory Thursday in his no-holds-barred confrontation with combined forces of the opposition.

But the crisis has also whipped political sentiments in Canada up to a level of aggression not seen for decades in Canadian politics, with strident and searing comments about treason and sedition against an opposition alliance with Quebec separatists.

Washington  - Outgoing US President George W Bush and his wife Laura plan to return to their roots after an eight-year stint at the White House and have bought a new home in Dallas, the White House said Thursday.

The couple will move into the new house after Bush surrenders his White House quarters to president-elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and two children on January
20, according to First Lady Laura Bush's press secretary Sally McDonough.

Bush also owns a ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he spent many vacations during his years as president. McDonough said they would still spend time in Crawford but would live in the new Dallas home.

Jerusalem  - Israeli State Prosecutor Moshe Lador on Thursday closed a corruption case against caretaker prime minister Ehud Olmert in connection with Israel's Bank Leumi, citing lack of evidence.

Lador stated that there was not enough evidence to prove that Olmert in 2005, in his then role as finance minister, interfered in the privatization of the bank for the benefit of a businessman friendly to Olmert.

Lador stated that any conflict of interest on Olmert's part in the case had been relatively mild.

The Bank Leumi investigation, however, is only one of several probes Olmert is facing.

Geneva  - Israel came under intense criticism Thursday, mostly by Arab and Muslims states, during a periodic country review at the United Nations' Human Rights Council.

Much of the focus was placed on Israel's activities in the Palestinian territories, including the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the state of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as the presence of a security barrier and checkpoints in the West Bank.

The Palestinian representative called on Israel to "end its occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories and respect the rights of the people there."

Washington  - Apparently, Barack Obama is quite good at impersonating himself.

A Republican congresswoman from Florida hung up on the US president-elect - twice - when he telephoned to discuss policy, believing it was actually a hoax from local pranksters.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen received a call on her mobile phone Wednesday from an aide to Obama, who asked her to hold for the president-elect.

"A gentleman sounding like Obama introduced himself when Ros- Lehtinen cut him off and said that 'Im sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks' and hung up," according to a press release from the congresswoman's office.