Free Republic

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man has been charged with killing 12 wombats in multiple hit and runs along a road in a national park.   Bob Conroy, of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, said Friday that the killings of the small, bear-like marsupials, discovered on January 28, did not appear to be random. "My understanding is that they were targeted and then run over a number of times," Conroy said. "It's quite a callous act of cruelty and we're quite horrified." The bodies of the furry, slow moving wombats were scattered along the Wolgan road heading to...

LONDON (Reuters) - Forget the tigers, the elephants and the dancing bears. Cirque du Soleil will never travel the world with performing animals. "We don't agree with the way the animals are dressed to do their tricks. We prefer to give jobs to human beings," said Pierre Parisien from the renowned Quebec troupe that has inspired a circus renaissance around the globe. "They are animals, not performers. They should be in the jungle," the artistic director of the troupe's "Saltimbanco" show told Reuters after its London opening this week. "We do not agree with the way they are trained...

Special Dispatch Series - No. 421 September 19, 2002 No.421 Columnist for Saudi Daily Al-Jazirah: Jews Use Blood for Baked Goods In a recent article published in the Saudi state controlled daily Al-Jazirah, columnist Dr. Muhammad bin S'ad Al-Shwey'ir, a past advisor to former Saudi mufti Sheikh Abdallah bin Baz and editor-in-chief of the Islamic Research periodical published by the Islamic Clerics Association of Saudi Arabia, wrote that Jews use human blood for their holiday celebrations.(1) Al-Shwey'ir's article also incorporated several other antisemitic canards; among these are references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and to the...

Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 99 June 27, 2002 No.99 The Damascus Blood Libel (1840) as Told by Syria's Minister of Defense, Mustafa Tlass Background Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad recently extended the term of Defense Minister Field Marshal Mustafa Tlass for another two years beyond mandatory retirement age, in appreciation of his service and his close connection with his father, former president Hafez Al-Assad. Tlass is one of the founding fathers of Syria's current Ba'ath regime and has been a key figure in Syria for the past 30 years. Hafez Assad himself had already postponed Tlass's retirement once.[1]Tlaas...

JAPAN is considering allowing people to eat beached whales, helping themselves to what is considered an expensive gourmet treat.

Russian Vagrant Eats Zoo's Rare Bird MOSCOW -- A 50-year-old tramp has been arrested in the western Siberian city of Novosibirsk on suspicion of eating a rare Japanese bird belonging to the local zoo, Ria Novosti reported Monday. The bird, a male Japanese crane worth around seven thousand dollars, disappeared last week shortly after it was transferred with its mate to a summer cage, local authorities told the news agency. The homeless man is accused of breaking into the cage and stealing the Japanese crane, with its distinctive white body and red head, one of only 200 such birds...