Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate and ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson endorsed Nikki Haley on Saturday, days before she tries to take on frontrunner Donald Trump in the New Hampshire primary. Hutchinson is a conservative whose opposition to Trump became central in his longshot bid for the GOP primary before he dropped out Tuesday. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Hutchinson said: “Anyone who believes Donald Trump will unite this country has been asleep over the last 8 years. Trump intentionally tries to divide America and will continue to do so.” Haley’s campaign did not immediately...

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein manipulated the United Nations oil-for-food program so that his regime received $1.8 billion in illicit payments, a U.N.-backed independent report said Thursday. The investigation, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said kickbacks came from some 66 member states and illicit surcharges came from 40 member states. The report also said Marc Rich & Co. financed 4 million barrels of oil under a 9.5-million-barrel contract awarded to the European Oil and Trading Co. (EOTC), a French-based shell company. "Surcharges were imposed on the oil," the report said, and "Marc Rich & Co. directed BNP...

Clinton-pardoned fugitive billionaire Marc Rich has turned up in the middle of the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, with his name on a roster of companies authorized to participate in the corruption-plagued arrangement. "One of Marc Rich's companies was on the United Nations list that was approved to trade and transport Iraqi oil," Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn reported Tuesday. "And it appears that Mr. Rich's firm, Marc Rich & Co. Investments AG, may well have been given that approval by the U.N. before the presidential pardon," Shawn added. That means the U.N. was ready to do business with America's most-wanted...

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is shown (obviously alive) on North Korean last night, (Korean time), on 17 November 2004, recently inspecting (date unclear) the North Korean Peoples Army "Unit 754".However, as South Korean TV reporters from YTN-TV in the voice-over in this clip note, the traditional Korean-language title of "Great Leader" is absent from the usual script. This is the first time that such an honorific title is missing, when describing Kim Jong-il, in their national press.The video clip starts with the South Korean TV female announcer for 30 seconds who introduces a very short file clip showing...

CEO casts his net for downtown City, Fertitta bank on Kemah theme By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Meet the P.T. Barnum of fried shrimp. With the chutzpah of a sideshow barker, Tilman Fertitta, the one-time seller of women's dresses and vitamins, has used Ferris wheels, aquariums, miniature trains, dancing waiters and mechanical gorillas to transform two sleepy Houston-area seafood eateries into an international restaurant empire. A boaster, a benefactor, a friend of Bill Clinton, Fertitta has propelled his Landry's Restaurants Inc., which also owns Joe's Crab Shack, Willie G's and Rainforest Cafe, to revenues topping $756 million. Recent...