Free Republic

The niece of Osama Bin Laden has posed for provocative photographs for an American magazine. Wafah Dufour, the al Qaeda leader's niece, who took her mother's maiden name after the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11 is an aspiring musician struggling to make a name for herself, GQ magazine wrote. She appears stripped to ostrich feather lingerie, and in a bubble bath, in photos for American GQ magazine. She says she has never met Osama bin Laden. "Everyone relates me to that man, and I have nothing to do with him," she said in the article. "There are...

New Orleans' mayor on Friday proposed building a casino zone near the historic French Quarter to jump start the hurricane-ravaged city's economy, saying a bold move was needed to restore lost tax revenue. "I'd like to have another solution for the citizens ... but I don't know what else we can do at this point," Ray Nagin told a news conference. New Orleans is struggling to rebound from Hurricane Katrina in August which fractured flood walls and flooded 80 percent of the city. Hurricane Rita hit the Gulf Coast on September 24, triggering renewed flooding in parts of the city....

A private club violates California’s law prohibiting discrimination by businesses if it fails to extend to members’ registered domestic partners the same privileges it grants to spouses, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday. While the granting of special privileges to married couples by businesses is consistent with longstanding public policy, Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for the court, the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003—operative Jan. 1 of this year—requires that those privileges extend to domestic partners who have registered with the state. “The Legislature has made it abundantly clear than an important goal of the Domestic Partner...

LONDON (Reuters) - Militant Islamists will continue to attack Britain until the government pulls its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the country's most outspoken Islamic clerics said on Friday. Speaking 15 days after bombers killed over 50 people in London and a day after a series of failed attacks on the city's transport network, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed said the British capital should expect more violence. "What happened yesterday confirmed that as long as the cause and the root problem is still there ... we will see the same effect we saw on July 7," Bakri said....

As well as being extraordinarily popular, the [Harry Potter] books have encouraged millions of children to start reading for the first time.... For those who have a problem with the idea of fantasy and alternative universes alongside ours, we need to recognize that almost all children play imaginative games in their minds starting at a very young age and have no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between fantasy and reality.... Additionally, the Harry Potter books send a strong message about moral order. There are beautiful and enjoyable human relationships among the characters, and there is a depth of commitment and service...

London -- At about 10 a.m. on a sunny, summery Friday morning, London crossed a once-unthinkable line in its unfolding war on terror. In a city where most police officers do not carry guns, the shock from the shooting death of a man in a subway car was palpable. It raised questions about police firearms practices, kindled uncertainty among Muslims and deepened the anxiety of a city that looks, these days, under siege. The police said they had trailed a man, described as South Asian in appearance, from a house in Stockwell, a hardscrabble neighborhood of South London. He was...

LONDON (Reuters) - Police were engaged in one of the biggest manhunts in British history on Saturday, scouring London's streets and houses for four suspects who botched their attempts on Thursday to bomb the city's transport network. Police released photographs of the suspects hours after plain-clothes officers shot and killed a man in front of shocked passengers on an underground train following a chase. Armed officers later swooped on an apartment block in south London, arresting a man in connection with Thursday's failed attacks while rooftop snipers covered them. It was one of a series of raids across London by...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A moderate Democratic senator who helped broker a deal over President Bush's judicial nominations said Thursday that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts doesn't seem to be the kind of right-wing candidate they feared the president would select. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of 14 senators who helped avoid a confrontation over judges, said their message to Bush essentially was, "Don't send us an extremist that's going to blow the place up, and first look is that that's exactly what he has not done." "In other words, he's sent us somebody that's got impressive academic and legal credentials and...

Top 50 Most Influential Churches The 2005 survey was sent to 2,000 church leaders with the goal of ranking the nation’s fastest growing churches and churches with more than 2,000 weekend attendance. The 127 churches nominated for the 50 Most Influential Churches survey were located in 32 states and represented 27 affiliation groups and/or denominations. The term affiliation is used to include networks of unaffiliated, independent churches.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The bankruptcy filing of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane raises the prospect that some or all of the 82 parishes could be sold to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests. It could also prompt Catholic schools to close; Catholic cemeteries to be sold and the bodies disinterred; and charities tied to the Catholic church to scale back their work. That has outraged some Catholics who wonder why they must pay for the depredations of a few pedophile priests. "Do 90,000 innocent people deserve to be punished for the sins of those few," said Robert Hailey,...

Paris Hilton's parents; the Rev. Al Sharpton; the guy who gave us "Fear Factor;" and Rep. Jim McDermott. At first glance, they don't have a lot in common. But they are linked for eternity in a new book, "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken Is # 37)." McDermott, as it happens, is No. 38. The Democratic congressman from Seattle apparently doesn't pose as big a threat to democracy as comedian-and-leftist radio talkster Franken. But McDermott presents more of a problem than, say, feminist Gloria Steinem, at No. 42, or Enron's disgraced chief executive, Kenneth Lay, who...

A Florida surfer said he acted as ''bait'' to try to distract the shark while he wrestled the 14-year-old girl onto his surfboard: ''I've never been so scared in my life.'' The teen later died. Off Miramar Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida's Panhandle, longtime surfer Tim Dicus has seen the dark, lithe shadows dart beneath the water -- the glistening gray fins split the waves. He was once even bumped by a shark, he said. But Saturday was different. Dicus tussled in the water with what experts say was most likely an 8-foot-long hungry bull shark hellbent on...

The U.S. Congress is all knowing. Just ask the leadership. The most recent proof is the proposal by the chairman of the House International Relations Committee. The Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of 2005. This legislation would "require" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press for restructuring that international body. Or else. The "or else" is the United States would hold back 50 percent of its U.N. dues and obligations (an estimated $439 million in 2006). Some of Hyde's proposals make sense, such as the creation of a U.N. ethics office or increased oversight and auditing. But this...

Whooping Cough Outbreak Communities throughout the U.S. are experiencing whooping cough (pertussis) outbreaks - the worst in 40 years. If the school nurse or the health department informs you that there is a pertussis outbreak in your school or community, you may need to call your pediatrician. The school or health department will tell you if your child was directly exposed and requires antibiotics. Health departments across the country are acting quickly to prevent the spread of pertussis, so your cooperation in contacting your pediatrician is crucial. Please follow the instruction of the health department. The care of children in...

The Palestinian Authority could receive more direct aid from the United States, a Bush administration officials and congressional aides said Wednesday ahead of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' meeting with President Bush. Abbas is hoping Bush will reaffirm his commitment to the internationally backed road map peace plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and creating a Palestinian state. Abbas is concerned that U.S. support for Israel's unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza has diverted attention from the road map. On Wednesday, the Palestinian leader sought support on Capitol Hill, hoping to convince lawmakers that he was serious about democracy, peace, and...

The decision by the Israel army to retaliate immediately against any Palestinian attack has weakened the mutual cease-fire. Top-level Israeli military officers met as Palestinian armed group HAMAS attacked Jewish settlements, and decided on immediate reprisals for these kinds of attacks. Anti-Sharon slogans were chanted at the funeral of a Hamas member, who was killed by Israeli troops as Palestinian groups committed two counter attacks on Israeli settlements by using Qassam missiles. One person was injured in the attack. Meanwhile, the Israeli Military Court sentenced an Israeli Sergeant to 18 months imprisonment for killing a Palestinian trying to fix a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former commander of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq blamed a ranking officer for introducing the use of human pyramids and dog leashes in the abuse of detainees and said in an interview on Thursday that abuse may be continuing there. Col. Janis Karpinski, a former one-star Army Reserve general who was punished in the scandal, blamed Gen. Geoffrey Miller for the methods that were used to humiliate detainees. Miller headed the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and was sent to Iraq to recommend improvements in intelligence gathering and detention operations there. "I...

Kabul: Three people were killed and at least 60 injured when police clashed with more than 5000 Afghans infuriated by reports that US soldiers had desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay prison camp. "We have two dead in our hospital and 47 wounded. Three of the people injured are in a serious condition," said Mohammed Ayob, deputy director of the public health hospital in the eastern city of Jalalabad. "The medical university hospital, the second hospital of the city, has registered one dead and 12 wounded are in hospital. Some other people with light injuries were cared for and have...

MOSCOW -- President George W. Bush joined leaders from around the world Monday in Moscow for the 60th anniversary of the Allies' victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. An estimated 27 million Soviets died during the conflict known in Russia as the "Great Patriotic War." Bush sat alongside Russian President Vladmir Putin during the parade marking the allied victory over Nazi Germany 60 years ago. It featured goose-stepping soldiers and flags with the old Soviet hammer-and-sickle. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said it demonstrates "how far we've come in the world." Ten years ago, then-President Bill Clinton came...

The factors behind the political opening from Baghdad to Beirut, and beyondWASHINGTON – The letters came from the Committee on the Present Danger - an international group established to support the war against terror - and carried the imprimatur of such figures as former Secretary of State George Shultz and "Velvet Revolutionary" Vaclav Havel. One letter invited Egyptian prisoner Ayman Nour, leader of the political opposition party Al Ghad, to join the organization. The other asked President Hosni Mubarak for permission to meet with the jailed leader. On Saturday, under the mounting international pressure, Mr. Nour was released on bail....

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena returned home Saturday after being wounded by U.S. gunfire shortly after being released by her Iraqi captors. She told her colleagues at the daily Il Manifesto newspaper that she was never treated badly by her Iraqi abductors, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. On Friday, Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder and an Italian secret service agent was shot dead by U.S. forces at a Baghdad checkpoint. Her brother Ivan Sgrena, told reporters she was very happy to be back in Italy, but was "very sorry and sad" about the death of intelligence officer Nicola Calipari,...

WASHINGTON — Howard Dean won the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) yesterday, vowing to lead a crusade back to power by competing for values-minded voters in "red" Republican states while continuing blistering criticisms of President Bush that rank-and-file Democrats love. "Today will be the beginning of the re-emergence of the Democratic Party," the former Vermont governor and presidential candidate said to cheers and applause from party activists and leaders. "We are going to take this country back for the people who built it." The 447-member DNC elected Dean by acclamation, his triumph locked up in recent weeks as...

PORTLAND — The FBI knows of "jihadists" who have trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan and are now living in Oregon, the agency's Oregon chief said in an interview with The Associated Press yesterday. "We don't have an imminent threat that we're aware of. But I will say this: We have people here in Oregon that have trained in jihadist camps in bad areas. In the bad neighborhoods of the world," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Jordan. Asked what he meant by "bad neighborhoods," he said Afghanistan, as well as several other countries he would not specify. During...

MINA, Saudi Arabia - Millions of white-robed pilgrims threw pebbles at pillars yesterday, symbolically stoning the devil in an act of purification - a ritual made safer this year because of remodeling that widened bridges and reduced congestion. The construction work was undertaken to prevent the crushes of people that have led to fatal stampedes in the past - such as the ones that killed 1,426 pilgrims in 1990 and 244 last year. The stoning, which lasts several days, is one of the main rituals in the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Across the Muslim world, the faithful marked the...

  Charlotte HillTribuneTribune reporter Jeremy Fowler's three-part series will explore how Albuquerque high schools are working to provide tougher checks for male coaches, how female players are being protected, and what exactly is appropriate between coaches and players. Dan Simmons will win you a basketball game. Hire him and he produces - just as he did with the Rio Grande High School girls program, which he molded from a 1-23 squad in 1991-92 to a state champion by 1998. "He was the type of coach who built rapport with his players," said Pete Pino, now Rio Grande's athletics director...

A North Carolina National Guard member thought to be the first U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi said he "snapped" and shot the 17-year-old boy after they had consensual sex, according to court-martial records released this week. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private, whose name the Army withheld. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank. He will be dishonorably discharged. Army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court-martial was...

Phone conversations between a teacher and the 14-year-old student she allegedly had sex with have been made public. The boy's voice has been altered.Link to video: http://wnbc.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=30857

Bell-ringers and red kettles are a familiar site around retail centers each holiday season. But some activists hope to put a dent in the collections of the Salvation Army for what they say are the religious charity's anti-gay policies. For the fourth consecutive year, the PFLAG chapter in Genesee County, Mich., will protest the Salvation Army red kettle program, hoping their supporters will drop enough dollar bill-sized protest notes in the kettles to make an impact in the fund-raising, which brought in $93 million last year. This isn't a project the national office is sponsoring, but we're happy to direct...

FREEP THIS POLL!!! The US Fallujah offensive will: [ ] smooth the road for democracy in Iraq [ ] increase violence and chaos in Iraq LINK TO POLL: www.muslimwakeup.com

The bluest skies I've ever seen are in Seattle ... As the dust settles from this past election cycle, the Seattle horizon is thick with the whirlwinds of post-mortem analysis rife with out-of-touch incredulity. Out of this analysis, one clear though counterintuitive theme emerges: George W. Bush kept the presidency because he was the more progressive candidate. Some assert that the Republicans carried this election by pandering to their far-right extremist base. Nonsense. Elections are lost, not won, by catering to the fringes. Despite many attempts, Ralph Nader has seen declining support of his presidential bids. Whoever best embodies the...

Photo : AFP LONDON (AFP) - US pop star Madonna made a rare foray into politics, calling for her home country to withdraw its troops from Iraq during an interview with British radio."I just don't want American troops to be in Iraq, period," she said on BBC Radio."My feelings are 'can we just all get out?'," said the 46-year-old star, who lives mainly in London with British film director husband Guy Ritchie, who said she believes the US-led war will not help in the fight against terrorism.

Campaign ToastOh! Seattle, Seattle. Drink a cup of Jim Jones Kool-Aid. Call in the grief counselors. Close the Volvo dealerships. Break out the French wine and Prozac. Throw yourselves on a burning pyre of stolen and vandalized Bush-Cheney yard signs. Open your windows, hear the cheers — Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! And live with it! -- Warren Peterson, Seattle

Thank you Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth. You good men came to the aid of your country - again. Heroes for a new generation.We are indebted to you.A debt a grateful nation can never repay. May God bless you and your legacy. http://www.swiftvets.com

Swiat za Kerrym, Polska za Bushem "The World is for Kerry, Poland is for Bush"http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,53004,2278483.html MORE GREAT HEADLINES FROM POLAND:http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/0,53004.html HEADLINES: Bush & Kerry Fight for Votes Teresa Heinz Kerry is not embarassed that she gets her eyes done at a cosmetician to look younger/sexy. ___________________________________________________ POLL: Sondaz Który z kandydatów ma, po serii debat, wiêksze szanse na wygran¹? "Who has the best chance of getting elected?" BUSH 51% KERRY 49% ____________________________________________________

Pimp (pimp) n. One who provides means and opportunities for unlawful sexual intercourse; a panderer, v. to act as a pimp or pander; to pander, to scrounge off; to take advantage of. — Oxford English Dictionary ST. LOUIS — As Halloween revelers head into this weekend of festivities, they can expect to see lots of pimps, or at least people pretending to be pimps. Dressed in colorful, often-garish costumes will be teenage pimps, adult pimps, female pimps, even children dressed as pimps, thanks to a Los Angeles-based firm that has been selling thousands of the outfits for the past two...

MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has concluded that at least five Arab nationals participated in the bloody takeover of a high school in August. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said an investigation determined that five Arab nationals participated in the Beslan attack by Al Qaida-aligned insurgents. Ivanov, in an address to the NATO-Russia Council in Romania on Oct. 14, would not identify the Arab nationals or their native countries. In September, Russian officials said that at least 10 of the 32 attackers in Beslan were Arab nationals. The Arabs were identified as coming from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Ivanov told...

We live in dangerous times. There is a war being conducted on multiple fronts. Our children are dying every day in the haze of desert sands. There are deficits in excess of 400 billion dollars which threaten our currency. There are civil liberty abuses occurring daily because people have the temerity to politely dissent to the way this country is being run. Fifty million people have no healthcare. We have three straight years of increases in the number of families living in poverty. The specter of a military draft hangs over the lives of our children. Our environment is in...

The case of a Muslim woman fined for wearing a veil has created a dispute involving politicians, civil rights groups and a fashion designer. REZZO, Italy - The immediate issue is how one woman in one tiny town in northern Italy dresses, so it made a certain kind of sense for Giorgio Armani to weigh in. His opinion? A woman should wear what she likes, even if what she likes is a veil that hides her face completely. "It's a question of respect for the convictions and culture of others," Mr. Armani, the fashion designer, said in a statement released...

"MUCH LARGER" EVENT PREDICTEDMount St. Helens sends steam and ash thousands of feet into the air...COLDWATER RIDGE VISITOR CENTER — Mount St. Helens yesterday again threw up billowing, anvil-shaped clouds of steam and a little ash, the largest explosion yet since it stirred back to life late last month. But the event didn't ease the pressure building up inside the volcano, and scientists cautioned that this was just an unsuccessful throat-clearing before what is expected to be a bigger eruption in the days or weeks ahead. "We could have a much larger event, essentially at any moment," said Willie Scott,...

LANGFANG, China — Casting aside long-standing reticence about taking part in U.N. peacekeeping duties abroad, China said yesterday it was deploying a large squad of anti-riot police to Haiti and bracing for postings in other world trouble spots. Officials put on display a new $18 million training center for peacekeepers and said it underscored China's positive attitude toward taking part in global peacekeeping missions. "It is inevitable that China is going to play a bigger role in peacekeeping efforts," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Liu Jianchao said. As one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China helps...

If John Kerry wins in November, a prominent financial supporter of environmental groups — Teresa Heinz Kerry — will become the first lady. Heinz Kerry began her philanthropic work long before she married Kerry, and an aide says she would continue her work from the White House. "Her role will be just as it is today — very active," said Jeffrey Lewis, Heinz Kerry's campaign chief of staff. "She works 20 hours a day, 6-1/2 days a week, and has unbelievable abilities." The result would be an unprecedented role for a first lady. In addition to her White House duties,...

I checked Google and Yahoo and nobody seems to be covering this. Has anyone noticed what has happened to international airfares in the last couple of days? They've gone through the roof! Last week I checked on airfares to Europe. After I figured out what dates I was planning to fly, I tried to book flights today. The fares have tripled! What's the deal? Oil prices? Renewed terrorist activity? Anyone have an explanation? Any ideas for still getting low fares?

I won't be intimidated for expressing my viewsPeople who object to her criticism of Islam should take her to court rather than take the law into their own hands, Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells Abi Daruvalla. Hirsi Ali has been moved to a safe house following new death threats and the publication of her private address on an Islamic website just four days after her controversial film 'Submission' was screened on Dutch TV. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was always irritated at the lack of freedom under Islam Somali-born Hirsi Ali, 34, is herself a former Muslim and an outspoken...

September 26, 2004OP-ED CONTRIBUTORSaddam, the Bomb and MeBy MAHDI OBEIDI hile the final report from Charles A. Duelfer, the top American inspector of Iraq's covert weapons programs, won't be released for a few weeks, the portions that have already been made public touch on many of the experiences I had while working as the head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear centrifuge program. Now that I am living in the United States, I hope to answer some of the most important questions that remain. What was really going in Iraq before the American invasion last year? Iraq's nuclear weapons program was...

JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Palestinian insurgency groups have stepped up their recruitment of women suicide bombers. Israeli security sources said the ruling Fatah movement as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have increased efforts to recruit Palestinian women for suicide bombing missions in Israel. They said the recruitment has been most pronounced in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus. "There is an increase in the pool of women who have signed up for suicide attacks," an Israeli security source said. On Wednesday, two Israeli police officers were killed and 15 civilians were injured when a Palestinian woman blew...

It is well known that John Kerry testified before the Congress in 1971 and his testimony although both disputable and refutable in factual, ethical, and Constitutional terms, is an indisputable historical fact. Now and forever, Kerry's ignominious testimony soils the record and good name of millions of Veterans and the United States of America. How that testimony came about, and what Kerry's political aspirations were then, are self-evident now. Kerry was "at home" among Senators who had a likeminded agenda in 1971 and both were grandstanding, but Kerry erroneously thought it would light a fuse and rocket him to political...

The siege at the school in Russia shows that terrorists are prepared to attack anyone, anywhere, Jack Straw said today. Setting out the United Kingdom's position on the reform of the United Nations, the Foreign Secretary called the siege a "horrible reminder that international terrorism is a present danger to all of us, wherever we are". "The Security Council last night was therefore absolutely correct, in calling for the unconditional release of the hostages, to reaffirm that terrorism is one of the most serious threats to international peace and security." He added that the UN needed to be able to...

For all the talk of political fortunes rising and falling with the latest economic report, analysis shows you might predict the election just as well by tossing a coin. That the state of the economy predicts U.S. presidential elections is one of the hoariest pieces of conventional wisdom around. But the evidence is far from clear. While the economy is certainly a factor, financial facts alone have proved poor predictors of political results..... It turns out that economic factors predicted the winner of the presidential election in just nine of the last 14 contests. That's better than flipping a coin,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's paramount Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned to Iraq yesterday and thrust himself into the bloody standoff in Najaf, calling for a nationwide march today on the holy city in a bid to quell three weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite rebels. The call for peace from Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani whose words have sent thousands into the streets in the past could be a pivotal turn in the showdown between rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Shiites in Basra, Iraq, hoist a picture of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, 73, after...

Their goal is to disrupt the status quo, and they usually do it without an invitation. It takes mere minutes for the Infernal Noise Brigade to enliven a crowd on the steps of the Federal Building, in the streets of Prague, or surrounding a Starbucks in Pioneer Square. The brigade has gained a reputation for providing a soundtrack for dissent in Seattle, but many might not realize how far the music spreads. Unlike your average marching band, the Noise Brigade sets its sights higher than performing at, say, the Seafair Torchlight Parade. This week, the left-leaning group heads to...