Free Republic

An online auction to join a man on his honeymoon after he split with his fiancée has reached £1,800. Instead of cancelling his holiday for two to the Dominican Republic, John Whitbread decided to offer the chance to join him to the highest eBay bidder. After an "overwhelming" response from 65 bidders, he has said he will donate some of the money to charity. Although the offer is only open to women, the 32-year-old insists he is not looking for romance.

HERZLIYA, Israel (AP) - Israeli traffic this weekend was really for the birds. In the central Israeli town of Herzliya near Tel Aviv, an escaped emu ran through traffic Sunday on a main road between cars in the rain. Local authorities say the bird escaped from a private farm. Passer-by Iliya Zelser filmed the bird's run. He says the experience made him feel like he was in a cartoon. Zelser says he expected to hear the "beep beep" of the cartoon Road Runner. The 27 year old told The Associated Press: "I said to myself in a second, a coyote...

Primetime TV Shows That Flopped Find International Success On Viki As a global TV site, Viki doesn’t just offer subtitles to make popular TV shows understandable, it’s now helping shows that don’t do well in their home countries capture loyal fans from unsuspecting places in the world. Filipino shows, for example, are finding success in Japan. When the Japanese film, “Tragedy of W” first aired in 1984, it flopped in its home country, but was a hit once it appeared on Viki—particularly in Europe. Similarly, the Korean TV show, “Playful Kiss,” didn’t take off in Korea initially, but is now...

In any case, Skype's Translator and its rivals have some way to go before they can match the abilities of a skilled human linguist. You would not want them involved in vital negotiations between world leaders for example. But over the next decade, you can expect to chat to friends whose language you don't share without stopping to flick through a dictionary.

NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that denial of the Nanjing Massacre will not be allowed by the Chinese people or peace-loving people anywhere in the world. The Nanjing Massacre, committed by Japanese aggressors, was one of three major massacres during WWII. It was an atrocious anti-human crime and a dark page in the history of humanity, Xi said while addressing a state ceremony for China's first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. "Anyone who tries to deny the massacre will not be allowed by history, the souls of the 300,000 deceased victims, the...

Following on from the success of its original dramas House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Netflix is banking on its next series, Marco Polo, being a similar hit. The adventures of famed explorer Marco Polo in 13th Century China are being told in a new series for Netflix. Set in Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan's court and with a rumoured $90m (£57m) budget, its epic nature, battle scenes and sexual content has inevitably drawn comparisons to Game of Thrones - although creator John Fusco points out Polo's books came first. Starring British actor Benedict Wong as Kublai and...

Robert Irvine takes on his biggest challenge yet! He's headed to the Double H Ranch, a 320-acre camp in the Adirondack Mountains of New York for kids with serious or life-threatening illnesses, where, in just three days, he will makeover the single largest space he's ever done. It's an enormous undertaking, but, for these kids, Robert's willing to take on the impossible! (

A huge fire has destroyed an apartment building under construction in central Los Angeles, shutting two major cross-city freeways. More than 250 firefighters tackled the overnight blaze in the downtown area, which was brought under control early on Monday. There were no reports of injuries, and it is not thought anyone was in the seven-storey building at the time. A huge blaze in downtown Los Angeles There were no reports of any injuries or deaths The fire could be seen from miles away, but no cause has been identified. "It's a large building, about a block long. The whole building...

The values that are pre-eminent for Republican Party voters are probably freedom, independence, autonomy, limited government and self-reliance, and a strong belief in the powers of capitalism and a free market,” Cross said. “We see them in the South: the calls or less government, the call for people to take personal responsibility, the inveighing against the dependent class.” And in Louisiana and other energy-producing states, he said, the perceived antipathy of national Democrats for the oil and gas industry helps swell Republican ranks. “We’re looking at something more than just a bad year,” said Charlie Cook, the Shreveport native who...

What do you have going on tomorrow?” asks Craig, who is himself a state senator and was his daughter’s campaign manager. “I might see some friends. I have to write those thank-you letters.” The letters are to her supporters, some of the 18,000 West Virginians Saira will be representing in the 59th District — a mostly rural, mostly Republican region two hours from Washington. She won the election in November by beating her opponent, a 44-year-old attorney, with 63 percent of the vote, and since then she has become the most famous state legislator in the country, as well as...

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Republicans are not satisfied with winning 62 percent of the white vote. To counter the demographic growth of Democratic constituencies whose votes threaten Republican success in high-turnout presidential elections, Republicans have begun a concerted effort to rupture the partisan loyalty of the remaining white Democratic voters. Their main target is socially liberal, fiscally conservative suburbanites, the weakest reeds in the Democratic coalition. These middle-income white voters do not share the acute economic needs of so-called downscale Democratic voters and they are less reliant on government services. The Republican strategy to win over these more culturally tolerant, but still financially pressed,...

None of this is a shock in the world of Israeli politics - the current coalition government is the 33rd to be created in the 66 years since the foundation of the state. You do not need the powerful graphics computer of an election night TV programme to tell you that two years is around the average life of a coalition arrangement. At least one poll has suggested that most Israelis are not convinced that it was really necessary to dissolve Parliament and the influential newspaper Haaretz has described the coming elections as superfluous. (snip) One unpredictable factor is the...

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Prominent Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya has been named an officer of the French Legion of Honour, the country’s highest honor. Ulitskaya is expected to be awarded the medal, which traces its roots to Napoleon Bonaparte, at a formal ceremony to be attended by French Ambassador to Russia Jean-Maurice Ripert later on Friday. “France pays homage to the spirit of freedom, openness and tolerance, which interfuse all her writings,” said Madeleine Courant, a press counsellor of the French Embassy in Russia. Ulitskaya is the author of Kukotsky's Case novel, which was awarded Russian Booker Prize in 2001,...

In 2013 Mattel brought Barbie back to the Chinese market. Only this time instead of clothes by Oscar De La Renta she had a violin and you could buy Barbie for the much more affordable price of $13 (£8.20). This year there was another launch - a "specialty" Barbie doll in the likeness of Chinese actress Fan Bingbing. Heralding the launch of the doll Mattel declared: "[Fan Bingbing's] collaboration with Barbie will give purpose and meaning to play and help ignite the spark inside girls across China to 'Shine Your Way'." So it's clear that Barbie has learnt that to...

A fast-food restaurant in Tripoli was bombed on Wednesday night after a video shared on social media showed a migrant worker defiling food in its kitchen. In the video, a worker masturbated over food and said he was "putting HIV sperm" in the meals.

It should properly be called “Affirmative Action Looting.” Having lectured the world for decades that American blacks should not be expected to obey the law or conform to the standards of behavior applicable to others, that black crime is a protest against social injustices, that blacks cannot succeed because of white skin privilege and never mind that there is a black president, the liberal establishment might as well be torching they buildings and cars in Missouri all by itself. The liberals have “Tawana Brawleyed” themselves into oblivion. They seriously believed that a grand jury could be bullied into indicting an...

First of all, Israel must say emphatically: the Palestinian Authority established on the basis of the Oslo Accords is an enemy entity, an enemy whose goal is establishing an Arab state in place of Israel, not alongside Israel, but on its ruins. That is the reason the Oslo Accords were violated so blatantly and thoroughly by the other side, resulting in them being declared null and void.. In addition, Israel must cease funding the PA on the basis of economic agreements derived from the Oslo Accords. There is no other country that funds an enemy entity, and there is no...

Early Wednesday morning, the IDF Engineering Corps demolished the east Jerusalem home of the terrorist who killed a three-month-old baby girl and a woman from Ecuador last month when he rammed his vehicle into a crowd of people in the capital. Abdel Rahman al-Shalodi, a convicted Palestinian terrorist from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan was shot by police and died in hospital after the October attack that killed the baby Chaya Zissel Braun, as well as Karen Yemima Mosquera, a 22-year-old Ecuadorian. A demolition notice signed by the IDF Home Front Command was given to al-Shalodi's family last week.

By the time the last troops returned home, beards were the mark of a hero. Men who had never seen any military action began to grow beards. Within a few years, it was almost impossible to see a beard-free male face in Victorian Britain - except in Buckingham Palace, as Prince Albert refused to conform to the fashion. In America, the return of the beard began at around the same date. This was partly fuelled by fashion plates from British magazines, which were read avidly in America for the latest word in European fashion. Many American men, however, also decided...