Free Republic

Trading halted on Russia's main stock markets when dealing was suspended for a second day on Wednesday as shares dived and officials pledged 44 billion dollars to fight collapsing investor confidence. Analysts said the closure was a bid by officials to buy time to let the money filter through to the market and to reassure rattled investors. Trading was halted on both the RTS and the Micex on the orders of a Federal Service for the Financial Markets (FSFM) after the RTS fell 6.39 percent in the first two hours, exchange officials said. The ruble-denominated Micex suspended trading after a...

For years, patients staying in Rochester have used free shuttles to get to Mayo Clinic. But now higher fuel prices and the slumping economy are creating a whole new hardship for people already on a tough road. Maybe you can imagine how tough it is for a person battling a life-threatening condition. Now many who have turned to Mayo in Rochester face a new and unexpected battle. Sharon Irwin, Kidney Transplant patient, says, "This is my second kidney, so I lost my first one two years ago." With a new kidney and the pain that comes with it, Sharon Irwin...

Howard Weyers tried the "carrot" approach by giving his employees incentives and encouragement to quit smoking. But when that didn't work, he resorted to the stick. A big stick. Weyers, owner of a health care benefits administrator in Lansing, Mich., gave his 200 employees an ultimatum in 2004: Quit smoking in 15 months or lose your job. He refused to hire smokers. Ultimately, he extended his smoking ban to employees' spouses and monitored compliance through mandatory random blood testing. Weyers' method, while effective, wouldn't fly in California because the state has laws that prohibit employers from making hiring or firing...

PARIS - Security officials snuffed out the Olympic torch and carried it through Paris in the safety of a bus at least five times Monday before canceling the final run of a relay repeatedly disrupted by chaotic protests against China's human rights record. Security officials put the torch on the bus for the last stretch but stopped right outside its destination, a Paris stadium, so a runner could finish the last 15 feet. At least two activists earlier got within almost an arm's length of the flame before they were grabbed by police. A protester threw water at the torch...

India's legal system is grinding to a halt By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi Last Updated: 3:00am GMT 06/12/2007 India's addiction to litigation has left its justice system at breaking point with almost 30 million cases pending. Figures published by justice officials revealed that it could take more than a decade to clear the backlog. Around 25 million civil and criminal cases await adjudication in overcrowded magisterial and sessions courts, as do another 3.7 million in 35 high courts across the country. As a consequence, tens of thousands of Indians facing trial are crammed into overcrowded prisons, the majority incarcerated...

WASHINGTON – Immigration officials sharpened their message a day after being coy about whether they would agree to halt enforcement raids during the 2010 census. “We won't entertain any request to scale back our efforts,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Kelly Nantel said Friday. Census officials had planned to speak with immigration agents about curbing enforcement during the population count, the Census Bureau's second-ranking official said in an interview earlier this week. Raids during the population count would make an already distrustful group even less likely to cooperate with government workers who are supposed to include them in the headcount,...

Fuel shortage brings Zimbabwe to halt By Byron Dziva in Harare Last Updated: 2:03am BST 10/07/2007 Zimbabwe's economy was approaching paralysis yesterday as petrol stations across the country ran dry. President Robert Mugabe's regime has ordered all retailers to cut fuel prices by 60 per cent, a move that forces them to sell petrol at a loss. As a result, filling stations across the country have stopped selling altogether and petrol is only available on the black market, at five times the official price. Without fuel, the entire economy is steadily shutting down. "It is certainly making a bad situation...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran is prepared to negotiate a suspension of its most sensitive nuclear work if it receives fair guarantees in talks with major powers, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday. He said talks with the European Union on Iran's nuclear program were on the right track and he hoped no one would try to sabotage them, an apparent reference to the United States. He said talks with the European Union on Iran's nuclear program were on the right track and he hoped no one would try to sabotage them, an apparent reference to the United States....

Pope's apology fails to halt Islamic uproar By Michael Hirst and Nick Pisa in Rome (Filed: 17/09/2006) Muslims leaders around the world demanded a more personal apology from the Pope last night after the Vatican said he "sincerely regrets" the offence caused by remarks which they claimed had insulted Islam. Senior Vatican officials tried to damp down fury over the speech in which the Pope quoted from a medieval text saying that the Prophet Mohammed had brought the world "only evil and inhuman" things. Activists from the Daughters of Faith protest against the Pope Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that militant groups promised to suspend attacks on Israel in hopes of ending a nearly 2-month-long Israeli crackdown in the Gaza Strip. The militants denied there was a formal agreement with Abbas, but left the door open to a possible halt in attacks. Only minor violence was reported Thursday, and there appears to have been a drop in rocket attacks on Israel in recent days. Abbas said the groups reached their accord late Wednesday during renewed talks on forming a unity government including his Fatah Party and the rival...

NOGALES, Mexico - Mexicans say it will take more than three layers of fence and 6,000 National Guard troops to keep them out of the United States. As President Bush visited the stretch of Arizona desert Thursday that serves as a cactus-studded freeway for thousands of undocumented migrants, those preparing to make the perilous trip said they will find a way around almost any obstacle. "We'll go under it, we'll go over it, we'll go through the air, the sea or the earth, but they're never going to stop us from crossing," said Jesus Santana, a Tijuana truck driver who...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger conceded Sunday that getting drugs out of the bodybuilding sport he loves so dearly will be close to impossible. "I think it's very challenging to really bust people," he said. "Sometimes you do, but it's a rarity. Because you know when you look at the performances, no matter what sport it is, people take something. But to detect it is really the other question." The Republican governor's comments came at the end of his three-day trip here to preside over the annual Arnold Sports Festival. ---snip-- Schwarzenegger is not a purist and his position...

Nazis tried to halt Allies in Italy with malaria epidemic attack By Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 14/02/2006) The Nazis tried to halt the advance of British and American troops through Italy in the Second World War by unleashing malaria-carrying mosquitoes in what is believed to be the only biological warfare attack out in Europe, according to new research. The plan was designed to hinder the Allied push from the south and to punish the Italian population for what the Germans saw as treachery after they switched sides and joined the Allied powers. According to Prof Frank Snowden, a history...

TOKYO Jan 20, 2006 — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday said Japan would completely halt imports of U.S. beef after a recent shipment was found that may contain material considered at risk for mad cow disease "This is a pity given that imports had just resumed," Koizumi told reporters. "I received the agriculture minister's report with his recommendation that the imports be halted and I think it is a good idea." Mad cow disease is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, a degenerative nerve disease in cattle that is linked to a rare but fatal nerve...

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, returning to work Sunday a week after suffering a mild stroke, ordered the military to stop Palestinians from firing rockets at Israel from Gaza, officials said. Sharon's order, which included a no-go zone in northern Gaza, came after a weekly Cabinet meeting and high-level security consultations, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details. Since Israel pulled out of Gaza and removed its settlements this summer, militants have been moving closer to the Gaza-Israel fence to launch homemade rockets, bringing more Israeli towns and the city...

San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre said Friday that he had asked the city's auditor to hold off paying retirement benefits that Aguirre contends are illegal. At a noontime news conference at his offices downtown, Aguirre said he had written auditor John Torell urging him to not pay the benefits and to recalculate the amount legally due each retiree. "We need our auditor to step forward to meet his responsibility to not participate in continuing to pay illegal benefits," Aguirre said. "It is now a moral, legal and ethical issue for him to decline to be a part of the...

One of the most radical anti-growth, anti-housing, anti-road, anti-everything proposals possible is now winding its way through the California Assembly, being pushed ahead by environmental activists looking for the silver bullet to stop any project they don't like. AB 528 would "authorize any person with a beneficial interest in the outcome to commence a civil action to enforce specified laws, including regulations ... that provide for the protection or enhancement of public health or the environment." It is sponsored by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Los Angeles, and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Gordon, D-El Segundo. In simple terms, if you or any...

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry waded into a volatile federal issue Thursday in his annual State of the City speech, calling for a two-year moratorium on immigration in order to address the "chaos now masquerading as a border." Autry acknowledged that he would likely get criticism for his comments, much as Gov. Schwarzenegger came under fire after praising Minuteman Project volunteers who patrolled the Mexican border.

That's all I have so far.

Israel acts to halt Russian missile deal with Syria By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 13/01/2005) Israel was attempting yesterday to halt a weapons deal under which Russia agreed to supply Syria with advanced anti-aircraft missiles. Israel fears the weapons may fall into the hands of Palestinian militants and may ask Washington to intervene to halt the sale of Igla SA18s to Damascus. The Israeli vice-premier, Shimon Peres, said: "We have enough problems on the ground with Syria and we don't need more problems from the sky." The foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, stressed that Israel...

Slamming the state for failing to adequately monitor more than $100 million in grants that lawmakers doled out for pet projects in their districts, Controller Steve Westly on Tuesday ordered the withholding of $15 million that has not been spent. It is "almost impossible" to know whether the funds were misspent by the nonprofits and local governments that received them between 2000 and 2002, Westly said, because there were no clear guidelines for using the money in the first place. In many cases, there was little follow-up by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which disbursed and earmarked funds that...

Drive to halt spread of al-Qa'eda in UK By Toby Helm (Filed: 31/05/2004) Downing Street has drawn up secret plans to prevent the spread of extremism among young Muslims after confidential studies found that there are up to 10,000 "active" supporters of al-Qa'eda in Britain. Reports commissioned by the Government, details of which were leaked to The Sunday Times, found that many young Muslims are recruited from among the poor and jobless, who are regarded by al-Qa'eda chiefs as more susceptible to exploitation. Al-Qa'eda is actively targeting young British muslims According to a Whitehall audit, Muslims are three times more...

Copenhagen grinds to halt The Danish capital has ground to a halt after a power cut struck the city and parts of neighbouring Sweden. Traffic signals and lights in offices, shops and homes in Copenhagen went out as the city of 1.8 million lost electricity. Power is also out in southern Sweden, said Stieg Claesson, a spokesman for power company Sydkraft. Nearly 2 million Swedes did not have electricity, including the subway in the capital, Stockholm, which shut down for 30 minutes. Power officials said a main transmission line connecting Sweden and Denmark had broken down. Police didn't suspect sabotage....

Hamas calls three-month halt to suicide bombings By Justin Huggler, in Jerusalem 28 June 2003 The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have agreed to halt all suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis in a three-month ceasefire, senior leaders from the groups said yesterday. If the ceasefire holds, it could bring an end to almost three years of bloodshed and allow President George Bush's road-map peace plan to progress. Israel and the Palestinian Authority also agreed a deal under which Israeli troops will withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian security forces will resume control, according...

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas failed to win agreement from Hamas militants on Wednesday to halt attacks on Israel, despite an Israeli concession made under U.S. pressure to help salvage a peace plan. Security sources said Israel had agreed to curb its "track-and-kill" operations against Palestinian militants in a deal struck with U.S. officials seeking to prop up a peace "road map" imperiled by a recent wave of violence. Militant Palestinian leaders dismissed the Israeli gesture as meaningless, underlining the difficulties U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will face on a trouble-shooting mission to the region on Friday. Prime Minister...

New Yorkers were last night preparing to face an underground and bus strike that would paralyse America's largest city. Public transport workers and their union, threatened by huge fines if they carry out plans for a stoppage, appeared in little mood for compromise in round-the-clock talks with management. Fearing chaos, Christmas shoppers stormed the shops over the weekend, snapping up presents for the holidays before this morning's scheduled start for industrial action - the first in two decades. The stoppage could be cripplingly expensive for striking staff. Under state law, public sector workers who take industrial action are fined two...

Report: PA discusses suicide bombing halt with Hamas, Jihad By Agencies Palestinian Authority officials Saturday held talks with Islamic groups aimed at convincing them to stop suicide bombing attacks in Israel, a Palestinian official said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives met with PA officials after two attacks this week killed 11 Israelis. Both groups have taken responsibility for past bombings. The Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said reaching an agreement with Islamic groups to stop suicide bombings "would to a great extent to stop Israel creating excuses for its aggression on the Palestinians". "The meetings were very...