Free Republic

The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hizbollah was and incorrectly described al-Qa'eda as deriving from the Shia rather than Sunni sect of Islam. Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamic groups that are the principal targets of America's intelligence agencies. "Al-Qa'eda is what – Sunni or Shia?" Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly magazine's national security editor, asked Mr Reyes. "Al-Qa'eda, they have both," came the reply. "You're talking about predominately?" the congressman then asked, before venturing: "Predominantly...

Controversial stop and search powers introduced by Labour were facing the axe last night after being dismissed as virtually worthless by Britain's leading anti-terror policeman. Andy Hayman said the searches caused 'so much pain' to the community - but delivered hardly any arrests. It leaves Home Secretary John Reid under enormous pressure to scrap or limit use of the searches, which were introduced in the Terrorism Act 2000. They were used to detain peace protester Walter Wolfgang, then aged 82, after he was ejected from last year's Labour Party conference for shouting 'nonsense' at then foreign secretary Jack Straw. They...

NEW YORK - Her on-off relationship with Jude Law made her an overnight celebrity, but Sienna Miller says that wasn’t her goal. “I was just never desperate to be famous, which I know sounds cliched and probably like a lie, but it is, in my case, very true,” the 24-year-old actress says in the January issue of W magazine. “And that’s the irony of my situation. “It was always about acting, and now it’s all about everything but that. I fell in love with someone very, very famous, and that’s beyond all of our control. Strategically I probably could have...

The dream of a white Christmas has prompted the sale of a lorry load of snow via eBay. Bids for the 10-tonne home delivery stood at nearly £700 on the auction site today. The offer also includes a decorated Christmas tree, a front door wreath and Christmas lights. They will be delivered on December 24 along with the snow, which will be placed outside the buyer's home by "trained staff", the eBay listing says. The snow will be provided by UK company SNO!zone which runs three indoor ski slopes. It will be delivered in refrigerated trucks to any property in...

Dissident republican terrorists have been plotting to assassinate Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, it has been claimed. The new attempt to murder the West Belfast MP was aborted because of his own security arrangements, according to a report. Police went to his home in the last few days to alert him that a possible shooting was being planned. Mr Adams claimed the threat was because of internal party discussions over whether to take the historic step of publicly endorsing Northern Ireland's police service for the first time. It followed earlier warnings to other senior Sinn Fein representatives Gerry Kelly and...

It has often been accused of being a stronghold for political correctness. But even the Commission for Racial Equality, it seems, has a sense of humour when it comes to Christmas. The watchdog's official card this year features a nativity scene with all the usual religious characters. The traditional design, however, is presented as a 'draft' - and is lampooned with a series of scribbled suggestions or notes. One states: 'The snow looks hideously white' while another says: 'Sheep should look more diverse.' Pointing to the stable, one suggestion reads: 'Stable not compliant with housing code - where is disabled...

Gordon Brown's chief lieutenant today heralded the sell-off of UK plc. Treasury minister Ed Balls said the Government will not block an American takeover of the London Stock Exchange. And in an interview with the Evening Standard, he declared that no ordinary City firm should be immune to a foreign takeover. "I think we gain from having the best talent and expertise - and that applies whether we are talking about investment banks, insurance companies or exchanges," he said. His pro-market comments come amid worries that a possible takeover of the LSE by Nasdaq would expose it to tougher US...

Hollywood film-makers are threatening to snub Britain after the Government’s decision to withdraw tax breaks for films that are not “culturally British”. The Times has learnt that new rules imposed by the European Commission would mean films such as Star Wars, Caligula and Batman Begins — which were all made in Britain — would not qualify in future for a tax break because the storyline is not set in Britain. Now all films hoping for a subsidy from the Treasury must pass a test set by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and approved by the European Commission. The...

If you plan to travel the world expecting to get by on English, think again. The language you need is Globish, according to a French author who says that the British are failing to seize the mother tongue of international communication. Globish is a simple, pragmatic form of English codified by Jean-Paul Nerrière, a retired vice-president of IBM in the United States. It involves a vocabulary limited to 1,500 words, short sentences, basic syntax, an absence of idiomatic expressions and extensive hand gestures to get the point across. Mr Nerrière, 66, originally sought to help non-English speakers — and notably...

More single women and lesbians could get IVF under Government plans to scrap the requirement for doctors to consider a child's 'need for a father'. Currently doctors can only give fertility treatment if they believe their patient has taken into account a child's need for a father-figure. But now it has emerged that ministers are likely to drop this in a shake-up of Britain's embryology laws expected to be announced this week. They fear making clinics consider a child's 'need for a father' could open them up to accusations of unfair discrimination. Ethical campaigners reacted angrily to the move warning...

A tornado has hit a North London street, injuring six people and severely damaging houses, cars and street furniture. Eyewitnesses said it lasted only a few seconds, but it ripped off entire roofs and tore down the walls of houses. Emergency services were sent to the scene in Harlesden, north west London, after reports came in at 11am. Resident James Miles told Sky News the experience had been "very, very frightening". Tornado was 'frightening' "I was talking outside with a friend when all of a sudden there was a flash of lightning and a huge big bang, then two minutes...

An American mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for opening his Christmas present early. Brandi Ervin called the police after discovering that the youngster had repeatedly disobeyed her by taking a Nintendo Game Boy from its hiding place at his great-grandmother's house and played with it. Officers in Columbia, South Carolina, handcuffed the boy and took him to the police station on petty larceny charges. Mrs Ervin, who picked her son up after church, said she had done it to teach him a lesson. "He's been going through life doing things... and getting away with it," she explained. She added...

Juries are reluctant to convict men of rape in cases where the alleged victim has been drinking, research published today suggests. They appear to believe that it is reasonable for a man to assume that a woman’s silence amounts to consent, even if it is due to her intoxication. Even if a woman’s drink has been spiked, they are reluctant to find a defendant guilty of rape. The findings suggest that juries, as much as the Crown Prosecution Service or police, are responsible for the low rate of rape convictions. Fewer than 6 per cent of rape allegations result in...

British detectives have questioned a Russian businessman who entertained Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel on the day the former spy fell ill. At the same time Scotland Yard confirmed that the investigation into Litvinenko’s death by radiation poisoning had become a murder inquiry. Police have been following the trail across London left by Dimitri Kovtun and his close friend, Andrei Lugovoy. It includes a number of locations where polonium-210 has been found. Mr Kovtun was interviewed by Russian prosecutors yesterday in the presence of the British detectives, who arrived in Moscow on Monday. He and and Mr Lugovoy were...

Germany yesterday unveiled a master plan for resurrecting the European Union constitution, setting the stage for a pitched political battle with Britain pushed firmly into the front lines. Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on Jan 1 and the chancellor, Angela Merkel, has pledged to use it to resurrect the constitution, which has been in the deep freeze since last year's No votes in France and Holland. However, Mrs Merkel has conceded that the treaty will have to lose the name "constitution", to avoid frightening voters. At a summit next June, Germany plans to hand EU leaders...

Press your nose against the windows of some high street stores and you could be forgiven for thinking that Betjeman's Christmas has been banished. In an era when the traditions of Christmas are increasingly under fire, many shops appear to have abandoned their traditional displays in favour of less "culturally specific" images. Instead of wise men, Santas and reindeer, shoppers are being enticed with topiary, skeletons and suspenders. Church leaders believe the move reflects a worrying trend in Britain to turn Christmas into the secular celebration of Winterval. Yesterday, in London's Oxford Street, the displays ranged from the austere to...

Radiation has been found at the British Embassy in Moscow, it emerged yesterday. On Monday, officials said a room there would be tested as a precaution after former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi went there to deny involvement in poisoning Alexander Litvinenko. Mr Lugovoi and another Russian businessman reportedly met former spy Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, on November 1, the day he was apparently poisoned. A spokesman said: 'A team of experts have concluded a precautionary check of the British Embassy. 'They have found no danger to public health. Small traces of radiation were found...

Channel 4 is to reignite controversy over the wearing of the veil - by featuring a Muslim woman in full niqab giving the broadcaster's alternative Christmas message. The woman, today named only as Khadija and said to be a lecturer in Islamic studies, will go head-to-head with the Queen when she gives her annual speech to the nation on 25 December. Producers are said to have "discovered" her after a month-long search for a suitable candidate. A spokesman for the channel added: "We felt it fitting that Channel 4's alternative Christmas message should be given by a Muslim woman in...

Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp on Monday awarded medals to soldiers whose withdrawal from the U.N. enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 led to the massacre of 8,000 Muslims, Europe's worst killings since World War Two. In Bosnia the awards were met with incomprehension, and the presidency said it had summoned the Dutch ambassador to lodge an official protest. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague calls the massacre an act of genocide and has charged 20 people in connection with the killings. The Dutch government led by Wim Kok resigned in 2002 after a report on...

MIGRANTS hoping to settle in the UK are to be taught how to rake in state hand-outs. They will be shown how to claim benefits, demand equal rights, make full use of the NHS and get parental leave. Labour will expect immigrants to know such information as part of the Government’s “Britishness test”. But if applicants fail, they will not face removal – they will merely be told to keep resitting the exam until they pass. The Britishness test is being expanded to apply to immigrants seeking indefinite leave to remain, even if they are not asking for citizenship or...