Free Republic

That's how the 'Miniharm' headline read. The story? Well, it went viral. HONG KONG — You could say that China is finally getting some revenge after falling for an Onion story naming Kim Jong Un the “sexiest man alive.” A recent article by a Beijing-based satirical website went viral on Twitter and Facebook when thousands of people didn’t seem to understand it was a joke.

The bus driving Southern Illinois' basketball team home from a road game got stuck in a ditch along Interstate 57 on Sunday night. Illinois has been pounded by snow since New Year's Day. According to an ESPN report, the bus got stuck after the driver pulled off the road with hopes of waiting out the snowstorm. Once the driver tried to get the bus back on the road, it was immovable. The highway was closed at this point, and they were unable to get a tow. They likely won't get back to campus until Monday morning after taking on Illinois...

UPDATED The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is preparing to make campaign donations to Republicans that vote to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, putting it at loggerheads with the Tea Party. That is significant, because The Chamber provides a financial counter balance to House incumbents that could face a primary challenger if they support a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the operation of the U.S. government or to raise the sovereign debt that can be issued by the United States Treasury to avoid a default. The shutdown crisis began last week over an attempt to nullify the...

I wanted to act since I was six years old, after seeing “Star Wars,” but my goals were more “wear a sweet costume and pretend to be cool” than “be famous.” So the fact that I was cast in the Nickelodeon sitcom “iCarly” at age 14 and catapulted into tween stardom was both an exciting and unexpected journey. When “iCarly” first started growing in popularity back in 2007, my castmates and I quickly felt the swell in attention. I started getting invited to movie premieres, designers were sending me clothes, old friends were reaching out, and I could no longer...

(CNSNews.com) The feral government spent more than $2 billion to provide Puerto Rico in food stamps in 2012, up to 25% of it is untraceable because it is distributed in cash and there is "no way to verify that funds are being spent on food" according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funds are used to provide more than one-third of the population of Puerto Rico with food stamps

A billboard taking aim at U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is expected to be installed next week in Georgia, said the head of a conservative group that is behind the effort. The group is unhappy with the Florida lawmaker because of his central role in a bipartisan Senate bill that seeks to reform immigration laws, by among other things, tightening enforcement, expanding the guest worker program......

March 2013 will be remembered for its cold, miserable weather, and Environment Canada confirms that it ranked as the second-coldest March in the last 50 years. "It was so winter-like, my gosh it was even more winter-like than February," said David Phillips, chief meteorologist with Environment Canada. In Regina, the average daily temperature during March measured around -12.3 C. "The normal would be around -5 C," explained Phillips, "and I needn't remind you that last year, the temperature was close to 1 C. So think about it, (that's) 13 degrees colder than it was the year before."

PLANO (CBS 11 NEWS) – Plano Police and volunteers hit the streets today to alert residents to a string of violent attacks that are targeting Hispanic men. There have been five since October…two of them as late as last week. Neighborhood businesses are participating, posting flyers to raise awareness of the potential danger…while police take a more direct approach. Detective Daniel Caballero and Sergeant Lindy Privett went to Plano markets and bazaars carrying a warning in Spanish….that Hispanic men walking alone have been targeted and violently robbed. Police say there have been five attacks in recent months. A group of...

Washington: The United States and Japan on Friday agreed on language aimed at giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political cover to bring the world’s third-largest economy into negotiations on a US-led free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region. In a carefully worded statement following Abe’s meeting with President Barack Obama, the two countries reaffirmed that “all goods would subject to negotiation” if Japan joins the talks with the United States and 10 other countries. At the same time, the statement leaves open a possible outcome to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks where the Japan could still protect...

For many Americans, Fox News is their “alternative” choice for news. They’ve made it the No. 1 cable news network, largely because they believe its “fair and balanced” promotional slogan? Many even believe Fox leans to the right and provides news they can’t get anywhere else. But is Fox really different from the rest of the media? Or has it been successful merely at positioning itself as different? Would it surprise you to know that individuals at News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, gave nearly six times as much money to Barack Obama than Mitt Romney in the...

The following is the [Translated] transcript of the interview made by journalist Jorge Ramos to Gladys and Robert Zimmerman in the program to the point of the Univision Network, on Sunday 9 December 2012. (*Note Gladys speakes fluent Spanish as her first language) The transcript is a little fragmented in translation but you can get the gist. HatTip Ottawa925. The interview: Jorge Ramos: in his first interview for a half in Spanish, accompany us here, in the Studio, Robert Zimmerman, brother of George Zimmerman. Thanks for being with us.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — City authorities in Zimbabwe's second largest city said Saturday they were appealing to home owners to flush their toilets at a specified time as a way to unblock sewers after days of severe water rationing. Bulawayo City Council has asked its more than 1 million residents to flush their toilets simultaneously at 7:30 p.m. when water supplies are restored. City officials say "synchronized flushing" is needed to clear waste that would have accumulated in sanitary facilities which will have been affected by days of water outages.

Vice President Joe Biden on Friday made an unannounced stop at Newport High School Friday in New Hampshire. From the pool report: He walked down a pathway with a coach in Newport orange and reached about 100 students in their sports uniforms waiting for him in a semi-circle. He cradled a football under his arm as he spoke. He began by asking which teams were represented – football, soccer, lacrosse and cross-country. Any others? He asked.“Cheerleaders,’’ a group of girls shouted.

(Reuters) - Germany should leave the euro zone if it is not prepared to take a more decisive lead in helping the euro zone's weaker nations escape a spiral of increasing indebtedness and economic decline, veteran financier George Soros said on Saturday. Soros said Europe faced a prolonged depression and an acrimonious end to the European unification project if steps were not taken to help its southern nations grow their way out of the debt crisis by collectively assuming some of their debt and relaxing its German-led insistence on austerity.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Eight North Dakota State University football players, including four starters, face fraud charges for allegedly forging signatures on two potential ballot measures. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announced the charges Tuesday. The players were paid $9 an hour to gather signatures to get two citizen initiatives dealing with a state conservation fund and medical marijuana.....

The FBI dispatched at least 10 special agents to Central Florida to investigate the Trayvon Martin shooting, records filed in Seminole County Court show. The agents interviewed up to a dozen firearms dealers, gun range employees and private investigators about George Zimmerman, according to a court document filed Friday by Assistant State Attorney Bernardo de la Rionda. Another 11 investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also joined the probe.