Free Republic

The father of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi was working with smugglers and driving the flimsy boat that capsized trying to reach Greece, other passengers on board said, in an account that disputes the version he gave last week. Ahmed Hadi Jawwad and his wife, Iraqis who lost their 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in the crossing, told Reuters that Abdullah Kurdi panicked and accelerated when a wave hit the boat, raising questions about his claim that somebody else was driving the boat. A third passenger confirmed their version of events, which Reuters could not independently verify. "The story that...

Palestinian Arab activists and radical leftists have uploaded an edited video that claims to show security camera footage of the IDF shooting two Arab youths, in an incident that took place last Thursday, on “Nakba Day.” The youths hurled rocks at IDF soldiers at the Bitunia checkpoint, not far from Beit El. The footage appears to show them dropping to the ground as they walked away from the IDF position. The IDF said that the video is heavily edited in order to give a false picture of what really took place. “On Thursday, a violent and illegal disturbance took place...

If you believe the hype, the United States has a valu able new ally in the War on Terror: American Muslim leaders. Alas, it's called "hype" for a reason. Yes, some American Muslim groups are making a show of undertaking a sincere campaign to oppose terror, purge jihadis, help disrupt networks and thwart plots. At Christmas Day bomber Umar Abdulmutallab's arraignment this month, some 50 Muslims rallied outside the court, carrying placards that read "Not in the Name of Islam," chanting "We are Americans" and waving US flags. Majed Moughni, who organized the protest, vowed to "take our religion back"...

A survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre has been describing how a colleague died to protect others. Although badly injured, graduate student Waleed Shalaan distracted gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save another person from his bullets. Waleed saved another student's life.The surviving student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of Waleed's heroics through an email to his supervisor. He describes how he was left uninjured after Cho's initial round of shots. Meanwhile, Waleed had been wounded but was still alive. However, when Cho later returned to the classroom to inspect for signs of life among his victims, the surviving student struggled...

Sarajevo, 28 Feb. (AKI) – Bosnia’s majority Muslims have stepped up their drive for the abolition of the Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS). Created under the 1995 Dayton accord that ended Bosnia's civil war, the RS has been called a "genocidal creature" by Muslim member of Bosnia's three-man rotating state presidency, Haris Silajdzic. Due to the unstable situation in the country, the mandate of the high representative of the international community in Bosnia (OHR) was on Tuesday extended by a year. But the European Union has meanwhile decided to reduce its forces in Bosnia (EUFOR) - from the present 6,000...

CERSKA, Bosnia (Reuters) -- The 18-year-old gunman who shot five people to death in a Salt Lake City, Utah, shopping mall was a survivor of the siege that ended in the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Bosnia's 1992-95 war, a cousin said on Wednesday. Sulejman Talovic, who was killed by police after Monday's shooting spree in which he also wounded four people, fled his village with his family during the Bosnia war to Srebrenica, a U.N.-protected enclave, Redzo Talovic said. They spent two years in the town, during which Bosnian Serb forces besieged the enclave and Talovic's grandfather was...

THE eldest of four Pakistani gang rapist brothers has admitted lying at trial and apologised to his victims but said he thought he had a right to rape the "promiscuous" teenage girls. MSK, 27, told the NSW Supreme Court yesterday that this was because the girls did not wear headscarves, were drinking alcohol and were unaccompanied when they went to his Ashfield home. MSK also blamed his intoxication, "cultural beliefs" and an undiagnosed mental disorder. He and his brothers MAK, 25, MRK, 21, and MMK, 19 - who cannot be named for legal reasons - are serving between 10 and...