Free Republic

BAGHDAD - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. Government television said the round-the-clock curfew imposed two days ago on the capital and due to expire Sunday would be extended indefinitely. The U.S. Embassy tightened...

Pope defies death threats to greet pilgrims By Malcolm Moore in Rome (Filed: 21/09/2006) Pope Benedict greeted 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter's Square yesterday in an open-top vehicle, as he defied death threats from al Qa'eda over his controversial speech in Germany last week. The Pope did not alter his usual routine of driving around to greet the crowd, and did not use the bullet-proof "Popemobile" that has been increasingly deployed since the attack on John Paul II in 1981. Guards escort the Pope as he is driven past 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square. People were security checked before...

N Korea defies missile pressure The Taepodong missile could reach Alaska (archive picture) North Korea has said it is free to carry out a long-range missile test, defying international calls not to do so, Japan's Kyodo news agency says. "This issue concerns our autonomy. Nobody has a right to slander that right," a North Korean foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by Kyodo. The official denied the North was bound by earlier agreements not to launch. The US has said a North Korean test of its nuclear-capable Taepodong-2 missile would be a "provocative act". The missile, which has never...

Hamas defies Abbas call to moderate anti-Israeli strategy By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 06/06/2006) The Hamas-led Palestinian government looked certain last night to defy the moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas and reject his demand to soften its stance towards Israel. With no sign of Hamas meeting a midnight deadline to back the so-called Prisoners' Accord, a proposal recognising the right of Israel to exist within pre-1967 borders, the stage was set for a referendum, which Mr Abbas had promised to hold in 30 days if his plan was rebuffed. Tension between armed factions from Fatah and Hamas is expected to...

Mugabe to speak at hunger debate as he defies EU travel ban again By David Blair in Johannesburg and Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 17/10/2005) President Robert Mugabe flew to Rome in defiance of a European Union travel ban after the United Nations caused outrage by inviting him to address a conference on world hunger today.Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of southern Africa and a major exporter of food, now depends on western aid to avoid starvation. Mr Mugabe will speak at the FAO conference Four million Zimbabweans, a third of the population, need supplies from the World Food Programme....

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved Monday to add about $11 billion to a six-year highway and transit bill, putting it on a collision course with the Bush administration and a threatened veto. Senate leaders said the revised package with the extra money, which would raise spending for the long-delayed legislation to about $295 billion, would be paid for by finding new revenue for the federal highway trust fund. A vote on the bill, including the $11 billion addition, could come by the end of the week. But Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, in a statement put out in anticipation of the...

Refugee who became Dutch MP defies Islam with film about Koran By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 31/08/2004) After describing the Prophet Mohammed as a pervert, Ayaan Hirsi Ali already needs round-the-clock protection from the Dutch security services. Now the Muslim apostate and rising star of Dutch politics has pushed her luck even further with a film exhibiting verses of the Koran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Mrs Hirsi Ali, who has risen from Somali asylum seeker to Dutch MP in 12 years, produced the film broadcast on Dutch television on...

Sharon defies US on West Bank fence to cut into West Bank By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 01 October 2003 The fence that Israel is building to seal off the West Bank will enclose a Jewish settlement deep inside the occupied territories, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, has said. His vow on the settlement in Ariel, in defiance of US pressure, came as William Burns, a State Department official, said the growth of Jewish settlements "could threaten the future of Israel as a Jewish democracy". The "separation fence" is a series of concrete walls and high metal fences. Israel claims...

Iran defies ultimatum by nuclear watchdog By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 23/09/2003) Iran defied international pressure over its nuclear programme last night when it announced it would scale back its co-operation with United Nations inspectors. The announcement came hours after Iranian forces paraded six of the newly deployed Shahab-3 missiles, with a range of around 800 miles, able to reach most parts of the Middle East. The belligerent moves are a reaction to an ultimatum by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, which demanded that Iran come clean about its nuclear programme by the...

Britain defies US on Iran weapons By Robin Gedye, Foreign Affairs Writer (Filed: 20/09/2003) Britain ignored American objections and joined France and Germany in offering Iran a deal to develop a non-military nuclear programme in exchange for dropping attempts to enrich its own fuel, it was disclosed yesterday. The initiative, in a letter to the Iranian foreign ministry in August, was intended to encourage Teheran to agree to the International Atomic Energy Agency's additional protocol providing for unlimited inspections of its nuclear facilities. Britain has long been at odds with the Bush administration in believing that dialogue with Teheran is...

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday defied Bush administration opposition and voted to rescind new regulations allowing large media companies to grow even bigger. The Senate approved, 55-40, a resolution that would roll back the Federal Communications Commission rules allowing television networks to own more local stations and permitting conglomerates to own a newspaper, television stations and radio outlets in a single market. The measure faces a tougher battle in the U.S. House of Representatives and a threat of a veto by President Bush if it reaches his desk. The Republican-led FCC narrowly adopted the new...

Israel defies restraint plea with new strike on Hamas By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 14 June 2003 An Israeli helicopter again fired missiles into a crowded area of the Gaza Strip last night in an assassination of a Palestinian militant. Children were among the 23 wounded by the missile strike. The killing came despite an opinion poll published yesterday which found that 67 per cent of Israelis want the assassinations to stop, at least temporarily, to give the peace process a chance. But the Israeli government pressed on. The deputy defence minister, Zeev Boim, vowed that the government would "wage...

Chirac defies Bush at G8 summit By Benedict Brogan and Toby Harnden in Evian (Filed: 02/06/2003) France poured cold water last night on an American and British proposal to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction as Tony Blair and George W Bush sought to outflank Jacques Chirac at the opening of the G8 summit. While M Chirac, the host, sought to emphasise his vision of a multipolar world, Mr Blair and Mr Bush joined forces with other members of the Iraq coalition to try to force him to make combating terrorism a central agenda item of the gathering...

Sheikh who defies bin Laden's thugs By Philip Smucker in Sana'a (Filed: 09/11/2002) Inside the grounds of his tightly guarded mansion in Sana'a, Sheikh Abdul Azziz Al Shaif plucks some leaves off a branch of a qat tree and stuffs the narcotic greenery between his cheek and gum. The chief of the largest tribe in Yemen, he is known locally as the "Sheikh of Marlborough" for his devotion to his estate in Wiltshire. He is also one of several leading moderates, dissident voices who claim they have faced assassination attempts by al-Qa'eda for their opposition to the network's use of...

CLAY SPRINGS - This is a story about a town that felt it had to break the law to save itself. At the height of the "Rodeo-Chediski" fire, when the destruction of the town seemed imminent, local members of the Pinedale-Clay Springs Volunteer Fire Department disobeyed federal fire commanders and made a stand in their back yard. They slipped past Department of Public Safety roadblocks and fought the fire with bulldozers, chainsaws and hoses, in direct defiance of an order to retreat. The 26 "Clay Springs Renegades," as they came to be known, plowed seven miles of unauthorized firebreaks through...