Free Republic

JALPAIGURI: A 36-year-old man married his teenage daughter and made her pregnant, justifying his perverse act by claiming he had divine sanction for his incestuous lust. What's even more galling is that his wife was the prime witness in the nikah of her daughter to her husband. Afazuddin Ali's wedding happened quietly and understandably without fanfare, so none in Kasiajhora village of Jalpaiguri district knew. But now, six months later, as the girl showed signs of pregnancy, eyebrows were raised, tongues started wagging and word finally got out. Outrage and anger swept across the village and there was even talk...

A suspected burglar fell 30 feet from a top-storey window of a London hotel after being disturbed by guests. He is fighting for his life after plunging face first on to the pavement from the second-floor window of the building in Victoria. Five men, all of whom are believed to be tourists and guests at the hotel, are being interviewed by police. "Two men have been arrested and are being held at a central London police station," a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said. Witnesses heard shouting and smashing noises from the top floor of the building just before the man fell...

Colleges face dilemma deciding fate of mentally ill students http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA042007.01A.campus.mental.health.35bbf82.html http://tinyurl.com/3xtbcl Web Posted: 04/20/2007 12:30 AM CDT Melissa Ludwig Express-News Campus administrators, health professionals and police, caught between federal privacy and anti-discrimination laws and the need to protect their campuses, face a daunting challenge deciding the fate of mentally ill students. Before 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui gunned down 32 students and teachers Monday, his violent, lurid work in a creative writing class sparked a string of efforts to get him help. In 2005, after complaints from two female students that Cho was harassing them and a tip that...

(Maryland) ..... Joy Morrow-Hargrove, 32, a long-term substitute Spanish teacher at Clarksburg High School, is accused of having a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old boy, who was one of her students. Two group home counselors also were arrested on allegations they had sexual relations with the Clarksburg High School student. The boy lived in the M.S. Youth Services Group Home in Germantown, where the two female counselors allegedly had sexual relations with him, charging documents state. Morrow-Hargrove and counselors Koreen Allen Avery, 38, of the 19300 block of Hottinger Circle in Germantown, and Robin Denise Lawrence, 24, of the 4500...

UT professor who outraged readers says antiwar activists like him were right about 9/11 We all remember where we were and what we felt on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I also have a clear recollection of the morning of Sept. 14, 2001.I got to my office early, and the red message light on my phone was already blinking. My voice-mailbox was full of angry condemnations of an essay that had run in the Houston Chronicle that morning ("U.S. just as guilty of committing own violent acts," Outlook), in which I sharply criticized past U.S. policy and warned that...

We have ample reason to be concerned. The situation of Muslims in Western societies has, for the last twenty years, been fraught with difficulty. If anything, this situation has worsened over the last five years. The “war against terror” launched after the events of September 11, 2001, along with repeated terrorist attacks throughout the world, increased tensions arising from social problems or from immigration have combined to portray Islam-and Muslims in general-as a threat to the societies of the West. Fear, and its accompanying emotional and often irrational reactions, has become a part of the public mindset. Such reactions, while...

California's Attorney General has begun hauling the CEOs of major oil companies into his office - demanding, in closed door sessions, that those executives tell him, under oath, why gas prices are higher in California than almost anywhere else in the nation. "This is legal thievery in my view," California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer told CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes. "It's because it's an oligopoly: it's when you have a handful of companies, seven exactly, that control almost the entire California market." Those companies insist they're operating within the law, and not trying to gouge their customers. California drivers...

The alleged Victim in the Duke Lacrosse Gang Rape has a substance abuse problem, here license has been suspended 3 times, she has an eluding police conviction, a larceny conviction, she has spent time in jail. And there are so many inconsistencies in her story, the timeline, and the 911 calls it's absurd. None of this has been reported, mind you. Okay, her record has been reported on a small, local station and they did not broadcast this report. Web-site only. The woman told the News and Observer and the National Media that she was nervous and new to stripping....

Change foreign policy - top Muslims 22 July 2005 Senior Muslims have warned the Government that it needed to revise British foreign policy if it wants to put an end to the violence. Dr Azzam Tamimi, from the Muslim Association of Britain, said the country was in real danger and that this would continue so long as British forces remained in Iraq. He described the July 7 bombings and the attempted attacks in London on Thursday as "horrifying" but said it was not enough to simply unite in condemnation of the bombers. Dr Tamimi, speaking after a Sky News debate...

As an actress, Nicole duFresne had roles in dozens of way-off-Broadway productions. But it was an unfortunate real-life line witnesses say duFresne uttered before her slaying — "What are you going to do, shoot us?" — that has brought her to the public's attention. Authorities have refused to speculate whether the 28-year-old actress and playwright's defiant stand against a bandit prompted him to shoot her to death last week on a New York City street. "Regardless of what the victim said or did not say, the person responsible for her death is the one who pulled the trigger," Police Commissioner...

Christopher Pye was convicted last year of sexual assault-- KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CP) -- A man caught trying to have sex with a dog told police he did it because he had been wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing a child and wanted to do something bad if he was going to jail. Christopher Pye pleaded guilty last month to bestiality. He was also convicted in provincial court last year of sexual assault on a nine-year-old girl. Judge William Sundhu reserved his decision Tuesday on Pye's sentence on both matters until Feb. 28. Pye was arrested after two people reported seeing a...

Grass Valley Drivers Could Be Charged for Leaving Keys in Cars Police in Grass Valley are cracking down on the rising number of car thefts in the Nevada County town. At the beginning of the new year, they will also crack down on car owners who play a "key" role in the crimes. As of January 1, a driver who leaves the key in the ignition of an unoccupied car could face a misdemeanor charge. In recent months, car thefts have risen at an alarming rate in Grass Valley. According to police, about half the cases involved keys left...

A new bombshell revelation in the Kobe Bryant case threatens to destroy the credibility of the prosecution’s key witness - whose testimony could send the basketball superstar to jail for years. Sources told GLOBE that the 19-year-old woman who has accused Bryant of rape told them she had sex with the prosecution’s star witness Bobby Pietrack - a week before she met Bryant. Pietrack, a 23-year-old bellhop at the resort where the alleged rape took place, is the first person Katelyn Faber told about her encounter with Bryant. He can testify about her emotional state and physical appearance at the...

Americans who value the Constitution should stand with Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and oppose George Bush's attempted power grab in conjunction with establishing a Department of Homeland Security. The Bushies are trying to frame the debate as either protecting bureaucracy or providing security for Americans. In fact, the debate is about preventing an authoritarian president from sacrificing the Constitution in the name of providing security. Let me remind you that those who prefer security to freedom will lose both. Bush wants to be able to disregard labor contracts and civil-service rules, as well as move money within the department as...