Free Republic

Lebanon's Struggle with Terror January 27, 2008 The Post and Courier Lebanon has suffered another in a string of political assassinations clearly meant to replace the rule of law with a shadowy rule of terror. The perpetrators of these killings remain unknown, but the clear beneficiaries are forces aligned with Syria and Iran against Lebanon's democratic political majority. While most of the victims have been democratic politicians opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon, the two most recent killings targeted prominent members of Lebanon's apolitical security forces, in apparent reaction to their activities. The most recent victim was a senior police...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - No president will be elected in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah-led opposition gets veto power in the future government, the leader of the militant group declared Wednesday. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah accused the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority of creating the current presidential deadlock by refusing a partnership with the Syrian-backed opposition. "A solution lies in a partnership through a constitutional guarantee (and) through a veto power for the opposition, which represents more than half of the Lebanese people," Nasrallah said in an interview with the private Lebanese NBN television. A parliamentary session to elect a new president was postponed for...

A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down from a government agency's annual awards because the subject matter could offend Muslims. The digital book, re-telling the classic fairy tale, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues". Becta, the government's educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual schools award. The judges also attacked Three Little Cowboy Builders for offending builders. The book's creative director, Anne Curtis, said that the idea that including pigs in a story could be interpreted as racism was "like a slap in the...