Free Republic

A MAN armed with a rifle has fired a shot and taken a woman hostage in the Cairns electorate office of a Queensland state Labor MP, authorities say. Police are negotiating with the man, who entered the office of Cook MP Jason O'Brien about noon. The man, who is known to police, fired a shot but it is understood no one was hurt. Mr O'Brien was not in the office. A witness told Southern Cross radio that several city blocks had been cordoned off by police about 2.30pm (AEST) and city workers were being evacuated from their offices. "In talking...

Tories sack MP who attacked 'idle' black troops By Sally Peck Last Updated: 7:45pm GMT 08/03/2007 A Conservative front-bencher who accused "idle and useless" ethnic minorities in the Army of using allegations of racism as a cover for their poor performance has been forced to stand down. Patrick Mercer Patrick Mercer, the shadow homeland security minister and a former colonel, claimed that being subjected to slurs like "black bastard" and other racial abuse is common, and to be expected, in the Armed Forces. "I came across a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless, but who used...

Japanese MP says Japan could become Chinese province · 'Hegemony' warning raises tension with Beijing · Comment follows US concern over China Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Jonathan Watts in Beijing Tuesday February 27, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) Happier times: The Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing (r), is welcomed by his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, at talks in Tokyo last month. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AP A senior official in Japan's ruling party has warned that his country could become "just another Chinese province" within the next 20 years if Beijing's military development continues at its current rapid rate. In a speech...

16 February 2007, 16:42 ROCOR criticizes the Constantinople Patriarchate for ‘perpetual interference’ in the Russian Orthodox Church’s affaires Paris, February 16, Interfax - The problems in relationships between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Constantinople arise because of the latter, Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) said. He said he meant Constantinople’s ‘perpetual interference in Russian affaires.’ ‘Their interference has become large-scale since 1917, the year of the Bolshevik revolution, when they started meddling with the Russian matters, and it goes on in Estonia and Ukraine,’ the archbishop told the participants of the...

08 February 2007, 11:26 Virgin Mary said to appear to an American lover of foul language and bless opposition to ROCOR’s unity with the Church in Russia New York, February 8, Interfax - The anonymous creator of the ROCORNEWS website has stated that the Virgin Mary with a host of saints appeared to him during his night walk with his dog in the Central Park in New York. ‘The vision’ is now given all kinds of interpretation by irreconcilable opponents of unity between the Russian Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate, who see in this statement a sign of heavenly...

26 December 2006 Russian Orthodox Church to be fully reunified May 17 Moscow, December 26, Interfax - The unity of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) will be fully restored on May 17, 2007, on Ascension Day, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the Moscow Patriarchate's chief spokesman, told journalists following a Synod session. Patriarch Alexy II and ROCOR Primate Metropolitan Laurus will sign the Act of Canonical Communion on this day, he said. The signing ceremony is to take place at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow before a Divine Liturgy...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 11, 2006 — Soldiers of the 10th Sustainment Brigade’s 91st Military Police Battalion handed over responsibility to the 385th MP Battalion from Fort Stewart, Ga., during a transfer of authority here Dec. 6, as they prepare to head back home to Fort Drum. "To the troopers of Task Force Vigilant, let there be no doubt in your mind that you have made a difference in the country of Afghanistan and to the people of Afghanistan." Army Col. Larry D. Wyche Joint Logistics Command commander During the 91st MP Battalion’s year-long tour, the 500-plus soldier task force...

Spc. Ashley Pullen wasn't thinking about the dozens of Iraqi insurgents who had just ambushed the convoy. Or their piles of guns and grenades or the bullets ripping through the air around her. Her bloody comrade lay on the road south of Baghdad, and she had to help the gravely wounded soldier — fast. So she hustled as quickly as her short legs would carry her, ignoring the heat, the ferocious battle and her heavy gear. She ran 100, 200, 300 feet — the length of a football field. It was March 20, 2005, the day Pullen, a member of...

22 November 2006, 14:54 Moscow Patriarchate is against Constantinople’s attempts to intervene in other Orthodox Churches’ affairs Moscow, November 22, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church denies that the Patriarchate of Constantinople can intervene in internal affairs of other Churches and urges to prevent division in the Orthodox world. ‘We deny the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s capacity to intervene in the jurisdiction of other Churches. This idea separates us from Rome at present,’ said the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad at the opening of the annual Radonezh festival of Orthodox...

3 November 2006, 14:58 ROCOR leading clergyman urges his fellow servants not to become outcasts in the Orthodox world New York, November 3, Interfax - The signing of the ‘Act of Canonical Communion’ would ensure the future of the self-governing Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and place it on ‘a solid canonical foundation.’ Such is the view of Very Rev. Alexander Lebedev, secretary of the ROCOR Commission on the talks with the Moscow Patriarchate. In an article published on the ROCOR website he noted that the earlier grounds for the ROCOR independent existence cannot be justified at present, when...

Muslim MP tells veiled class assistant to give up fight By Paul Stokes Last Updated: 1:45am BST 21/10/2006 The row over the Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended for failing to remove her veil during lessons deepened yesterday as a Muslim MP urged her to give up the fight. Mrs Azmi has been suspended on full pay since February Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury, called on Aishah Azmi, 24, to drop the argument. He said: "I would appeal to Mrs Azmi just to let this thing go. There is no real support for it." He added that the tribunal...

"ORTHODOXOS TYPOS": Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Denounces Moscow's "3rd Rome" Theory According to the Athens newspaper To Vima of 8 July 2004, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew responded to the "3rd Rome" theory of the Patriarch of Moscow (which had been brought up for discussion during the 8th International Assemblage of the Russian Orthodox Church) by calling it "...foolish, hubristic, and blasphemous," because "...it resounds with the spirit of caesarpapism and vaticanism; something totally unacceptable to the Orthodox Church." To Vima went on to report that the Ecumenical Patriarch replied specifically to the positions and arguments posited by the attending Church hierarchy and...

I was fortunate. I had both a pack of cigarettes AND a tasty beverage on my person to enjoy during the upcoming hour and a half stuck in the bunker as various high ranking folks combed the FOB to see if anybody had been hapless enough to get vaporized. Oh, and to make sure there were no unexploded surprises sputtering away in the middle of darkened roadways to disturb any late night treks to the loo. Actually, we were only in the 'sandbag sauna' for about 20 minutes--a new record in speedy Bomb Damage Assessment. So we were sitting in...

What would you do differently if you knew that you were going to die today? Really knew it? In the 'normal' world, we may wonder about death every so often, usually after watching a disturbing movie, or maybe after we see an obituary of someone we once knew in the paper. But, unless you are grappling with a serious illness, or wondering what that semi is doing crossing into your rain-soaked lane at 4 a.m., or have decided that skydiving this weekend might be a great way to "bond" with your new girlfriend, it probably doesn't seem like a real...

What would you do differently if you knew that you were going to die today? Really knew it? In the 'normal' world, we may wonder about death every so often, usually after watching a disturbing movie, or maybe after we see an obituary of someone we once knew in the paper. But, unless you are grappling with a serious illness, or wondering what that semi is doing crossing into your rain-soaked lane at 4 a.m., or have decided that skydiving this weekend might be a great way to "bond" with your new girlfriend, it probably doesn't seem like a real...

BIRKENHEAD MP Frank Field has called for a halt to mass immigration to the United Kingdom. He described the current movement of people to the country as a "revolution" and likened it to "Stalin's forced migration of Ukraine." The former minister called on the Government to establish a quota system for migrant workers and to impose a ban on movement from the new EU member states until all European partners agreed to open up their labour markets. This is not the first time Mr Field has raised the immigration issue. Last month he warned that mainstream parties were "living on...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – Additional U.S. military police will deploy to Baghdad to serve alongside Iraqi law enforcement officers, President Bush said here today following a White House meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The move is part of a new strategy to stem stepped up insurgent violence plaguing the city. "This plan will involve embedding more U.S. military police with Iraqi police units to make them more effective," Bush said in a news briefing. The reinforcements will be sent to Baghdad in coming weeks from other parts of Iraq, Bush said. "Our military commanders tell me that...

MP told she is 'not a citizen' By Joan Clements in The Hague (Filed: 17/05/2006) The Dutch MP who lied to gain asylum fought back tears yesterday as she confirmed she was resigning her seat after being told her citizenship may be withdrawn. Somalian-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali also said she was leaving for America. She said her job was now "impossible" after a "shocking" letter from Rita Verdonk, the immigration minister, saying Miss Hirsi Ali could no longer consider herself Dutch because of the lies she told the immigration authorities in 1992.

BOTTLES were thrown, insults traded and chairs knocked over in the bedlam. This was no bar-room brawl, however. It was the scene in the Afghan parliament on Sunday when a woman MP dared to stand up to a male colleague. Malalai Joya, 28, interrupted a former warlord as he praised the holy warriors — or Mujahidin — of Afghanistan during a debate to mark the anniversary of their defeat of communism. She declared that there were “two types of Mujahidin — one who were really Mujahidin, the second who killed tens of thousands of innocent people and who are criminals”....

Environment minister Ben Bradshaw has announced he is to become the first MP to enter into a same-sex civil partnership. Mr Bradshaw is a practicing churchgoer and a member of the Christian Socialist Movement. It was suggested that he might be the first MP to do so in 2004, before the law on civil partnerships was created.