Free Republic

A report issued by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China has included U.S. gun ownership among a list of human rights violations, Law Enforcement Examiner Jim Kouri reported yesterday. "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011" was published last Friday on the PRC’s Consulate General in New York website. “The United States prioritizes the right to keep and bear arms over the protection of citizens' lives and personal security and exercises lax firearm possession control, causing rampant gun ownership,” the report claims. “The U.S. people hold between 35 percent and 50 percent...

The Arab League condemned on Sunday Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to cease military action in both the strip and Egypt immediately. The Arab League issued a statement on Sunday, imploring the United Nations to take action to end the attacks in which 15 people have died. "We issued a statement condemning the Israeli offensive on Gaza ... and Egyptian land," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters in Cairo. "The United Nations has to take procedures to stop the Israeli offensive on Gaza," he said, without giving details of the measures he was urging

The UN Security Council condemned on Wednesday the Syrian government for its deadly crackdown on anti-regime protesters. The condemnation came after months of difficulties in achieving an agreement between the members. The council said in a statement it “condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities. “The Security Council expresses its grave concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria, and expresses profound regret at the death of many hundreds of people. The Security Council calls for an immediate end to all violence and urges all sides to act with utmost...

An IDF spokesperson said Saturday night that the army “condemns” protests that were held outside the home of Brigadier General Nitzan Alon, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division. “The IDF rejects totally any attempt to connect officers with political motives,” the spokesperson said, adding that “the protests outside Alon's home are disgraceful, and we wonder at the motives of organizers. Any complaints that the protestors have can be dealt with through normative channels without interfering with anyone's personal life.” The protest took place after Alon wrote a letter calling for soldiers from Judea and Samaria to be investigated and...

North African country denounces 'ill-disposed' call, which it warns amount to 'meddling' in Tunisia's domestic affairs. Tunisia's Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned a call by Israeli officials for Jews to emigrate to Israel over concerns about possible economic hardship ahead in the North African country. "The ill-disposed call amounts to meddling in Tunisia's domestic affairs and an attempt by Israel to tarnish the post-revolutionary image of Tunisia," the ministry said.

A resolution calling for an immediate cessation of any “settlement” construction in the Golan is the first of six resolutions on Israel. The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday denounced the Israeli presence in the Golan Heights and created the post of a special investigator into human rights issues in Iran. The resolution on the “Syrian Golan,” which calls for an immediate cessation of any “settlement” construction in the Golan, is the first of six resolutions on Israel. The UNHRC is expected to approve the remaining five resolutions when it wraps up its 16th session on Friday.

The White House is calling on the Egyptian government to immediately release any journalists who have been detained in the course of covering the country's political unrest, saying the "systematic targeting" of reporters is "totally unacceptable." The Obama administration strongly condemned the behavior of pro-government supporters, after a number of international journalists -- including Fox Business Network's Ashley Webster, and Fox News' Greg Palkot and Olaf Wiig -- were attacked, intimidated and in some cases jailed in Cairo. As pro- and anti-government demonstrators continue to clash, those covering the historic events have apparently become a target as well. The Obama...

The White House is strongly condemning North Korea's artillery attack against the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. In a statement released before dawn Tuesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs calls on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action." He says the United States is "firmly committed" to South Korea's defense, and to the "maintenance of regional peace and stability."

At a debate sponsored by the Illinois League of Women Voters between Democratic incumbent Rep. Melissa Bean, GOP challenger Joe Walsh and Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer Wednesday, the audience loudly objected when the moderator, Kathy Tate-Bradish, insisted on proceeding without reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. In the end, she didn’t stand a chance against the 300-member audience. The camera captures Republican Joe Walsh’s reaction: Ms. Tate-Bradish reportedly scolded the crowd after the pledge ended, blaming the outburst on the Republican candidate. The LWV executive director, Jan Czarnik, also condemned the Pledge’s recitation, telling the local news, “It’s a phony...

On the eve of Middle East peace talks set to get underway at the White House Wednesday, the White House has condemned the attack Tuesday claimed by Hamas that killed four Israelis near Hebron, in the West Bank.(Snip)Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who met earlier today with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also condemned the Hamas attack.(Snip) Israeli media reported that gunmen approached the Israelis' vehicle near the West Bank city of Hebron Tuesday evening and shot dead at point blank range the four people inside, including two women.

The United States condemned the words of Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef against PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Arabs. A statement released the by the US State Department said that Rabbi Yosef's words are "not only very harmful, but also affect the efforts to achieve peace." Rabbi Yosef made a public wish on Saturday night during his weekly sermon that "our enemies and haters may come to an end, Abu Mazen and all these villains – may the Holy One, Blessed Be He, afflict them with the plague... these evil enemies of Israel."

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House denounced a massive leak of secret military files that allegedly describe how Pakistan's spy service aids the Afghan insurgency, but said the information was no surprise. In all, some 92,000 documents were released by the web whistleblower Wikileaks, containing previously untold details of the Afghan war through Pentagon files and field reports spanning from 2004 to 2010. According to the New York Times, one of the first three media outlets to review and report on the leaks, they "suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of the United States, allows representatives of its spy service...

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is condemning the killing of an illegal immigrant by U.S. Border Patrol agents as a "truly unacceptable violation" that involved "torture." He's also tying it to Arizona's immigration law, even though the incident took place on the border with California. "A death with that degree of violence is a truly unacceptable violation," Calderon said, according to the Associated Press. "We need to raise all our voices, not only for Mexico but for human rights, because the cause of migrants is a cause that affects us all." He added that the Arizona immigration law "opens a Pandora's...

<p>WASHINGTON (AFP) – Apollo 11 hero Neil Armstrong Tuesday lashed out at President Barack Obama's decision to axe NASA plans to return to the Moon, describing the move as "devastating" to the US space program.</p> <p>Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the lunar surface, was one of three former astronauts who signed an open letter to Obama ahead of his visit to Florida on Thursday where he will deliver a space policy speech.</p>

LONDON (AFP) – Gay-rights campaigners and secularists called on Tuesday for protests during a visit to Britain by Pope Benedict XVI this year after he condemned equality legislation seen as friendly to gays. The 82-year-old pontiff made his comments on Monday, when he confirmed plans to visit Britain later this year in what would be the first such trip in 28 years. The papal trip is expected in September, one minister has said. Human rights campaigner and gay activist Peter Tatchell said he saw the pope's remarks as an attack on the legal rights granted to gay people and women....

GENEVA (Reuters) – Israeli and Palestinian leaders should launch investigations of alleged war crimes in Gaza to help rebuild trust and support peace, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday. At the opening of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on the issue, Navi Pillay said that all sides of the Middle East conflict were continuing to violate international law and voiced concern that transgressors are being left unpunished. "A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," she told the 47-member body, calling for "impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations into...

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the Taliban's killing of a Polish engineer as "absolutely barbaric", after Warsaw blamed his death on Islamabad's "apathy" towards tackling extremism. Piotr Stanczak, who was abducted in late September in volatile northwest Pakistan, was beheaded at the weekend by his Taliban captors, who then released a graphic video of the execution to several media outlets. Warsaw has confirmed the authenticity of the video and vowed to find Stanczak's killers, who are believed to come from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Pakistan's umbrella Taliban organisation which has links to Al-Qaeda. "Officially the ministry of interior has...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned Sunday the killing of 17 soldiers by Taliban militants in the country's restive northwest, saying they had been lured into a trap. The soldiers were part of a convoy ambushed by rebels armed with rocket- propelled grenades and assault rifles as they headed to a fort outside the city of Hangu near the border with Afghanistan on Saturday. "I strongly condemn the killing of Frontier Constabulary personnel and salute them for their courage and valour," Gilani told reporters during a brief visit to Peshawar to condole the death of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday condemned Myanmar for new arrests of political activists, which it said contributes to a "climate of fear and repression" ahead of a referendum on the constitution. "We condemn the Burmese (Myanmar) regime's continued arrests and attacks on peaceful political activists," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement. "These blatant human rights abuses contribute to the climate of fear and repression in Burma as the regime prepares to conduct a referendum on its draft constitution," he added. He said the military junta over the weekend arrested five Muslim community leaders in...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2007 – The general in charge of coalition military efforts in Iraq today condemned “barbaric actions” by al Qaeda elements in the wake of bombings in the northern city of Tal Afar that killed dozens of Iraqi civilians and injured scores of others. In a written statement issued by Multinational Force Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the attacks are designed to divide the Iraqi people and draw attention away from the improving security situation in Iraq’s capital. "Al Qaeda in Iraq elements once again displayed their total disregard for human life, carrying out barbaric...

RIYADH (Reuters) - The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday condemned a new round of Danish cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad, saying the values of tolerance were shrinking in Europe. Danish state TV on Friday broadcast amateur video footage showing members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples' Party (DPP) at a summer camp in August, drinking, singing and taking part in a competition to draw images mocking the Prophet. "Muslims have noted with concern that the values of tolerance are eroding and there is now shrinking space for others' religious, social and cultural values in the West," said...

Iraqi chillren wave hello to U.S. troops during a recent patrol. BAGHDAD -- Multi-National Force–Iraq on Sunday condemned recent attacks by terrorists and death squads against innocent Iraqi children and civilians at soccer fields in Hadhra and in the Amil district of Baghdad. In the statement, MNF-I officials said: “The Multi National Force – Iraq condemns the recent attacks by terrorists and death squads against the innocent Iraqi children and civilians at soccer fields in Hadhra and in the Amil district of Baghdad. We express our heartfelt condolences to the families and tribes who lost loved ones in these...

A journalism group passed a resolution Friday condemning the Bush administration's attitude toward the news media and claiming government practices were endangering press freedom. The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication targeted the administration for paying columnists, reclassifying public documents as secret, and using the courts to pressure journalists into revealing sources. "The current administration has engaged in a number of practices and has enacted a series of severe and extraordinary policies that attack the press specifically and by extension, democracy itself," the resolution stated. White House officials denied the charge, saying the "administration is committed to sharing...

WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday approved a Republican-crafted resolution condemning news organizations for revealing a covert government program to track terrorist financing, saying the disclosure had "placed the lives of Americans in danger." The resolution, passed 227-183 on a largely party-line vote, did not specifically name the news organizations, but it was aimed at the New York Times and other news media that last week reported on a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorists. Most Democrats opposed the measure, protesting language in it that asserts that the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program was...

Jordan Condemns Operation Summer Rains 00:30 Jun 30, '06 / 4 Tammuz 5766 (IsraelNN.com) Jordan has condemned the IDF incursion into Gaza. Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Juda said that “The Israeli government imposes collective punishment against an entire nation, in addition to the wide-scale arrests in the Palestinian territories,” according to Jordanian news agency Petra. Juda said Israel’s actions were totally unjustified, in what he called its “determination to continue its broad aggressive acts against the Palestinian citizens with no right or justified reason.”

The National Assembly (AN) approved Thursday a statement in solidarity with 40 million of Hispanics residing in the United States. Additionally, it protested against a migration reform proposed by US President George W. Bush. The resolution echoed disagreement of the Venezuelan legislature with the US Government bill and claimed that it is a feeling shared by million people in Latin America and the rest of the world, DPA quoted. "In case of passing the draft migration reform submitted to the US Congress by the US ruler, it will be the legal ground to violate the rights of million Hispanic fellows...

Syria condemns US for funding opposition By Harry Mount in New York (Filed: 20/02/2006) Syria has condemned America for funding opposition groups, just as Condoleezza Rice begins a Middle East tour to push efforts to spread democracy and counter Iran's aggressive nuclear policy. Condoleezza Rice: taking democracy to the Middle East The American authorities said last week that they had allocated £3 million to "democratic reformers in Syria". The money is part of £180 million in Washington funding to promote reforms in the Middle East and North Africa. The US has also condemned Syria's alleged role in the assassination of...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe launched another verbal attack on Wednesday on United Nations efforts to house those left homeless by the government's demolition of shanty towns, describing one model house as a "mockery to Africans." President Robert Mugabe's government has rejected offers of emergency aid from the world body for thousands whose homes were destroyed during its urban clean-up campaign this year, although it says it wants U.N. help to build permanent homes. Mugabe has led attacks on the U.N. and senior officials including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, accusing them of unfairly dramatizing Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis on behalf of his Western...

GENEVA (AFP) - A UN human rights expert sharply criticised major African leaders, saying their failure to condemn President Robert Mugabe's housing demolition campaign in Zimbabwe was tantamount to a "cover-up." The UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, said Zimbabwe was heading towards a disaster if the government failed to change course on the forcible eviction of about 700,000 people from shantytowns. "The silence of major governments in Africa continues to be shocking," Kothari told journalists. "And of influential individuals like Nelson Mandela, I don't understand why they don't speak out," he added, referring to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today condemned a shooting attack by an Israeli terrorist that killed four people and wounded many others on a bus in the Arab-majority town of Shfaram. SEE: "Gunman Kills 4 on Israeli Bus" http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/04/bus.shooting/ In its statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said: "This brutal attack on innocent civilians once again demonstrates that terrorism and extremism can rise out of any faith. We call on American religious and political leaders to condemn the attack and to repudiate the extremist views that apparently motivated...

WASHINGTON – The Interior Department was ordered Tuesday – by a judge who called it a "pathetic outpost" – to admit it can't provide accurate information about lost royalties owed to American Indians. In a scathing condemnation of the government's treatment of American Indians, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth directed the department to enclose notices in its correspondence saying information provided on trust assets may not be credible. The notices also are meant to alert people that they may be members of the class-action lawsuit brought by lead plaintiff Eloise Cobell in 1996 on behalf of more than 300,000 American...

WASHINGTON - A handful of people at Democratic National Headquarters distributed material critical of Israel during a public forum questioning the Bush administration's Iraq policy, drawing an angry response and charges of anti-Semitism from party chairman Howard Dean on Friday. "We disavow the anti-Semitic literature, and the Democratic National Committee stands in absolute disagreement with and condemns the allegations," Dean said in a statement posted on the DNC Web site. Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, organized the forum on Thursday at the Capitol to publicize and discuss the...

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in his first clear pronouncement on gay marriages since his election, on Monday condemned same-sex unions as fake and expressions of "anarchic freedom" that threatened the future of the family. The Pope, who was elected in April, also condemned divorce, artificial birth control, trial marriages and free-style unions, saying all of these practices were dangerous for the family. "Today's various forms of dissolution of marriage, free unions, trial marriages as well as the pseudo-matrimonies between people of the same sex are instead expressions of anarchic freedom which falsely tries to pass itself off as the...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea called Vice President Dick Cheney a "bloodthirsty beast" and said Thursday his recent remarks labeling ruler Kim Jong Il irresponsible are another reason for it to stay away from six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. "What Cheney uttered at a time when the issue of the six-party talks is high on the agenda is little short of telling (North Korea) not to come out for the talks," an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Nearly a year since the last session of the six-nation talks, North...

Radical cleric condemns the bombers By David Blair in Riyadh (Filed: 24/11/2003) A radical Muslim cleric was taken from his Saudi Arabian prison cell at the weekend and paraded on prime-time television to recant over his support for violent extremists and to denounce suicide bombings. Sheikh Nasser al-Fahd, 35, told millions of Saudi viewers that "blowing oneself up in such operations is not martyrdom, it is suicide". He said: "We did not think matters would reach this point. My message is: fear God and repent your mistakes. It is not shameful to admit mistakes." His public self-abasement follows a series...

<p>WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush Friday condemned the explosion at a military hospital in Russia, calling it a terrorist attack that cannot be justified.</p> <p>The explosion occurred in a truck on the grounds of a military hospital in the town of Mozdok in Southern Russia, killing at least 20 people. Mozdok is in the republic of North Ossetia, about six miles (10 kilometers) from Chechnya.</p>

Cleric condemns suicide attacks Some groups such as Hamas use suicide bombings as a tactic One of the world's most influential Islamic leaders has condemned all attacks by suicide bombers at an international conference for Islamic scholars. Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi of the Al-Azhar mosque of Cairo - which is seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - said groups which carried out suicide bombings were the enemies of Islam. Speaking at the conference in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, Sheikh Tantawi said extremist Islamic groups had appropriated Islam and its notion of jihad, or holy struggle, for...

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 16, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II called Saddam Hussein's attention to the grave duties of his regime and reminded the U.N. Security Council members that "there is still room for peace." Before praying the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square today, the Pope appealed to all sides involved in the Iraqi crisis. "There is still time to negotiate," he said. "There is still room for peace; it is never too late to come to an understanding and to continue discussions." While a key meeting was taking place in the Azores Islands between...

Annan condemns Hebron shooting as 'despicable terrorist attack' UNITED NATIONS - In an extraordinarily harsh statement, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan deplored the killing of Jewish worshippers in the attack in Hebron on Friday, calling it a "despicable terrorist attack" and urging Palestinian groups to halt the violence. Annan has spoken out against Israeli military actions over the past 26 months of fighting, but Friday's statement was one of his toughest on Palestinian terrorism. Annan didn't describe any of the victims as Jewish settlers. Annan said he was "horrified by the despicable terrorist attack in the West Bank... that killed...