Free Republic

Hamas and Fatah continue to accuse each other of a lack of commitment to the reconciliation deal signed in Cairo last May. Bethlehem-based Maan News quoted Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf as saying Saturday that “evidence on the ground shows that Hamas hasn’t fulfilled anything of the Cairo agreement.” Assaf said Hamas continues to detain Fatah activists and denies Fatah members from Judea and Samaria entry to Gaza. The Hamas government in Gaza also refuses to open the Palestinian Central Elections Commission offices in Gaza, he said. Hamas released a statement, too, on Saturday, accusing Fatah of undermining the terms of...

San Jose council votes down porn filters at public library computers A year and a half of debate over filtering pornography out of San Jose public library computers came to a head late Tuesday when the City Council rejected spending money on the technology. After a lively debate that lasted hours, the council voted 7-3 to approve a proposal by the vice mayor and two councilmen that would remind computer users of existing policies to be courteous to others. Mayor Chuck Reed and council members Pete Constant, who led the push for the filters, and Pierluigi Oliverio were opposed, favoring...

Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama says Israel is a "constant wound" and a "constant sore" that infects "all of our foreign policy." Obama, under fire for attracting praise and support for his presidential run from the terrorist group Hamas, spoke to Atlantic Monthly at length about his views of the Middle East. Asked if he thought Israel represented a drag on America's reputation overseas, Obama said: "No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy. The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse...

3/28/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- In a turbulent world, with natural disasters striking at random and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan surging with a tide of violence, one thing has remained constant – U.S. States Air Force humanitarian relief operations. These operations, planned out of the Combined Air Operations Center, or CAOC, located here, have answered the call of those in need, from the bitter-cold Mountains of Afghanistan to the devastation left in the wake of the earthquake in Pakistan. “The bottom line is -- we’re here to help people,” said Brig. Gen. Darren McDew, director of mobility forces...