Free Republic

The woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy will not appear in court Saturday because she's being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition. Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital shortly after midnight Saturday to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies — who oversee jail inmates — said they could not reveal Schenecker's medical condition, citing health care privacy laws. An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO— Seven people are dead after gunmen opened fire at a soccer match Sunday. Officials at the scene said gunmen arrived in three vehicles and started firing at the players and at fans. Three people were killed at the scene, and four more died later at the hospital. Two others whom were injured remain in intensive care at the hospital. The gunmen sprayed the soccer field with an estimated 180 rounds from assault rifles around 6 p.m., before the game was about to start, police said. The shooting happened the day before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit...

BAGHDAD – Jubilant Iraqi soccer fans ignored government orders and lit up the Baghdad night sky with gunshots on Wednesday, after the national team beat North Korea 1-0 in the Asian Cup tournament to qualify for the quarterfinals. ... Iraqis have always fired in the air at celebrations, but the phenomenon increased after the American invasion in 2003 when government facilities and military weapons stores were looted, so that the weapons were spread over all the country. People shoot at weddings, and after military victories. They even opened fire late last year to celebrate the eventual formation of a government...

<p>Al Qeada's terror plot in World Cup, S. Africa - 2010 & Somali Jihadists attacking, murdering football fans for watching game.</p> <p>Palestinian gunmen kill Israeli athletes In the early 1970s the PLO is widely condemned for a series of hijackings bombings and killings most notably the kidnapping and killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Arafats involvement in these events is unclear he refused to discuss such attacks though he denounced terrorism as a tactic.</p>

For the first time ever, North Koreans got a kick out of watching a Western film on state TV: "Bend It Like Beckham." The British Embassy in Seoul helped arrange the screening on the day after Christmas, according to a Twitter post by the U.K. ambassador to Seoul, Martin Uden. "Happy Christmas in Pyongyang. On 26/12 Bend it like Beckham was 1st ever western-made film to air on TV. Well done to UK Embassy 4 arranging," Uden wrote.

[Kansas City, MO] 360 Architecture has been selected by the government of Iraq to master plan and design a $500 million “sports city” in Basra. The 360-acre project will be developed in phases. The first phase features a 65,000-seat stadium and a 10,000-seat secondary stadium/practice facility designed to FIFA (international soccer) and Olympic (track and field) standards. It also includes four training facilities, athlete housing facilities, a fire station and helipad, among other items. 360 Architecture is teamed on the project with Newport Global Project Management Group and Abdullah Al-Jiburi Contracting Company, Iraq’s largest general contractor. The team won an...

AC Milan (ITA) - Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) Valencia (ESP) - Schalke (GER) AS Roma (ITA) - Shaktar Donetsk (UKR) Arsenal (ENG) - FC Barcelona (ESP) FC Copenhagen (DEN) - Chelsea (ENG) Lyon (FRA) - Real Madrid (ESP) Marseilles (FRA) - Manchester United (ENG) Inter Milan (ITA) - Bayern Munich (GER) Matches to be played Feb 15-23, 2011

A soccer match played Friday between the Jordanian league's Al-Faisaly and Al-Wihdat ended in a 1:0 victory for Al-Wihdat. The real news, though, wasn't the score, but the skirmish that broke out, in which 250 fans and policemen were injured, after the wire fence that separates the spectators from the field collapsed. This wasn't just a clash between fans accompanied by stone-throwing, broken bones and arrests. It was a political battle pitting the Al-Wihdat fans, mostly of Palestinian descent, against the Al-Faisaly fans, mostly of Jordanian origin. This is not the first time a soccer match between these two teams...

Are Qatar and the World Cup ready for each other? By Richard Spencer Leaving aside England’s woe, it is another amazing triumph for the anglophile Emir of Qatar and his glamorous wife Mozah. But are Qatar and the World Cup ready for each other? If it all comes off, it will be a major breakthrough not only for the Gulf but also for East-West, Muslim/Non-Muslim relations. If not, it could be a disaster. First things first. Will Israel be allowed to play if they qualify? Remember, Israelis and those with Israeli stamps in their passports are banned from nearly all...

--Obama vows to redouble efforts to bring Falconry championship to Boise-- Washington, D.C. — Having failed to score the Olympics for Chicago, President Obama has lost a bid to attract the 2022 soccer World Cup to our shores. FIFA officials in Switzerland awarded the 2022 tournament to Qtar, despite a video-taped address from Obama and an in-person presentation by former President Bill Clinton. Qtar also beat out Australia, South Korea and some Southeast Asian country that swears it has an airport.

Qatar was selected as host of the 2022 World Cup, beating out a bid by the United States to bring soccer's showcase back to America for the first time since 1994. FIFA's executive committee choose Qatar over the U.S., Australia, Japan and South Korea in a secret vote Thursday. Minutes earlier, Russia was announced as host of the 2018 tournament. It was chosen over England and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium. Qatar, the smallest nation to host the World Cup, used its 30-minute presentation to underline how the tournament could unify a region ravaged by conflict. Presenters also promised...

In yet another stunning defeat on the international sports stage, the U.S. failed to secure hosting duties for the 2022 World Cup, losing out to Qatar/Australia.

(CNN) -- Soccer and technology don't normally mix; FIFA, the international football body, has long dragged its studded heels over efforts to introduce microchip sensors into match refereeing. So when Japan based its entire World Cup 2022 bid on a dazzling display of computer wizardry that doesn't yet exist, it was taking a gamble. Japan, which is vying with Australia, Qatar, South Korea and the United States for the 2022 tournament, will find out on December 2 whether its ambitious proposal paid off. But any sense of victory will be tempered by the Herculean task the country now faces in...

Attorney General Holder heads to Zurich, Switzerland tomorrow to lobby to bring the World Cup to the U.S. in 2022.Justice Dept. says Holder is making the trip to Zurich at the request of Pres. Obama to show US commitment to host World Cup in 2022. Pres. Obama lost U.S. effort in '09 to host 2016 Summer Olympics. WH hopes Holder's mission to Zurich doesn't end up a Swiss miss.Perhaps we'll find out more about the World Cup mission from Holder's cables in the next WikiLeaks document disclosures.

It‘s something of a stretch to compare a soccer game among eleven-year-old boys with the fate of the democratic world, but I’ve always managed to see big issues in small things. My son is playing on a local soccer team which has lost every one of its games, often by humiliating scores. The coach is a nice guy, but seems an archetype of contemporary thinking: he tells the kids not to care about whether they win, puts players at any positions they want, and doesn’t listen to their suggestions. He never criticizes a player or suggests how a player could...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Major League Soccer again earned mostly high marks for its racial and gender hiring. The league received its fourth consecutive A for racial hiring on Tuesday from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. MLS also maintained its B-minus for gender hiring practices. The league's combined race and gender grade of B-plus was the same as last year, even though its points total decreased from 86.5 to 84.5. The only major sore spot for the league was an F grade in the category for general managers, all of whom are white. "It's...

Who: Jewish and Arab kids Where: Hebron Casbah When: Today in the afternoon What: I was in Hebron today at the house of friends, where I met an old co-worker who was in town for Shabbat, Parshat Chayei Sara, the Sabbath when the Torah portion of Genesis that relates how Abraham purchased the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Me'arat Hamachpela) to bury his wife Sara in, and later is interred there himself after a long, full life. Jews flock to Hebron from all over the world in honor of the Torah portion commemoration of this holy site, and my old co-worker...

NYON, Switzerland – UEFA has banned fans from bringing vuvuzelas into stadiums for European Championship and Champions League matches. UEFA said Wednesday it wanted to protect the culture and tradition of fans singing at European soccer matches from the "negative effect" of the South African plastic trumpets made famous — and notorious — at the World Cup. "UEFA feels that the instrument's widespread use would not be appropriate in Europe," the organization said in a statement. All 53 European soccer nations have been told to enforce the ban at UEFA's national team and club competition matches. Vuvuzelas provided the World...

During a soccer match in China, both the players and spectators were suddenly treated to a tornado that put an abrupt end to the game. It seems that during the game, a simple little dust devil turned into a full blown dustnado (OK I just invented the word). So this dirt devil turns into a tornado that would make any Midwesterner proud as it threatens the very lives of everyone around. Next thing you know the dustnado begins sucking up lawn chairs, that the spectators were probably sitting in to watched the game. By now you can sense that things...

Spain's soccer team, along with members of the Spanish Soccer Federation, are in Mexico to offer the 2010 World Cup trophy to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Video at link...