Free Republic

LONDON (Reuters) - The owner of a tiny island in off Scotland declared its independence from the United Kingdom on Saturday, saying he wanted the territory, population one, to be a crown dependency like the Channel Islands. In a declaration on his Web site, Stuart Hill, who owns the 2.5 acre island of Forvik in the Shetland Islands in the North Sea, said he no longer recognised the authority of the government or the European Union, and cited a centuries-old royal marriage dowry deal as the basis for his claim. "Forvik owes no allegiance to any United Kingdom government, central...

ATLANTA — A national political convention opens here this week but it won’t get a lot of air time on the evening newscasts, cause traffic tie-ups or rack up big municipal bills for overtime pay for cops. In fact, Atlanta workers and commuters will hardly even know the Libertarians are in town from today to Sunday to nominate a presidential candidate. With just 800 delegates expected, it isn’t even a good-sized convention by Atlanta standards, where the average convention brings about 1,000 people and the visitors bureau doesn’t even ballyhoo those with less than 5,000. As for security concerns like...