Free Republic

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- An attempt to create a Muslim Shariah court in Russia ended with its closure after just weeks in existence, authorities said. Russian prosecutors ordered the closure of the court, which opened in St. Petersburg amid strong criticism from local Muslim leaders and human rights activists, The Moscow Times reported Friday. The court, operating under Islamic law, had no judicial power and its activity was limited to civil disputes such as reconciling members of estranged families, founder Dzhamaliddin Makhmutov said. "Our resolutions have no judicial power; what we do would be perhaps best described...

Memphis police today charged three men with the murder of University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford. Three men charged in the death of Taylor Bradford on the University of Memphis campus. Charged with murder in perpetration of an attempted aggravated robbery are DaeShawn Tate, 21, Victor Trezevant, 21, and Courtney Washington, 22. The three suspects went to the Carpenter Complex, where Taylor lived, Sunday night with the specific intent to rob Bradford , police said. He was shot during the robbery attempt. Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin said none of the three are students at U of M. The...

The "Scouts" of VS-24 are being disestablished during a ceremony today at 10 a.m. at Hangar 116. The ceremony will end 47 years of service as an Atlantic fleet carrier-based antisubmarine warfare squadron (ASW). VS-24 was the first S-3 squadron to move to NAS Jacksonville in 1997 when NAS Cecil Field closed. The squadron has been in Jacksonville the past 34 years. Since their move to NAS Jacksonville, the Scouts have deployed five times with their last deployment in March 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The squadron officially deactivates March 31. A Proud History VS-24 has an eclectic...

If one believes in stereotypes, then all Germans waddle around with their lederhosen stretched across prodigious beer bellies, ridiculous hats perched on their heads, oversized mugs of beer clutched firmly in fat-fingered fists with oompah music playing in the background. Most Germans, of course, would find such a caricature deeply insulting. After all, they take their beer drinking much more seriously than that. Sure, if you happen to visit Munich, you may stumble across a sprawling Biergarten or into a cavernous beer hall. But look closely. Most of the dirndl-clad waitresses, looking to all the world like an aged Heidi...

Link DescriptionNavy Day was established on October 27, 1922 by the Navy League of the United States. Although it was not a national holiday, Navy Day received special attention from President Warren Harding. Harding wrote to the Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby: "Thank you for your note which brings assurance of the notable success which seems certain to attend the celebration of Navy Day on Friday, October 27, in commemoration of past and present services of the Navy. From our earliest national beginnings the Navy has always been, and deserved to be, an object of special pride to the...

(I havn't posted a topic in years so please bear with me.)We finally get a story of good American volunteer-ism, comradeship and adventure without the pacifist claptrap. This is the kind of war movie the public has been asking for for sometime. I'm not a movie expert but it is in the spirit of Howard Hughes's "Hell's Angels", but not as classic. It is done in an acceptable context that schools could use as video material. There is no bad language just the pain and horror of war.I have not read any reviews of the movie, but I can predict...

A judge will decide today whether three suspects in nine church fires will be released on bond with conditions after prosecutors argued Wednesday they are a danger to the community. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Armstrong Jr. required Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., 19, of Hoover; Benjamin Nathan Moseley, 19, of Grayson Valley; and Matthew Lee Cloyd, 20, of Indian Springs to return to the Shelby County jail. Armstrong said his written ruling will be released this morning. The three suspects, wearing orange jumpsuits and leg irons, remained silent and listened intently Wednesday during a detention hearing. Their defense lawyers urged Armstrong...

We are hearing a tornado had been on the ground in Dyer County, Tennessee. Can any one confirm this?

Ahmed Ismail said Sunday he was still trying to shake off a bad dream that began when a man walked into his tobacco store and put a gun in his face. Within seconds of being confronted about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Ismail fired his own pistol from behind the counter of Cigarettes for Cheap at 1260 Getwell, killing the would-be robber. Police identified the man as Alpochino Antonio Jackson, 20, who was rushed to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. He was pronounced dead just before 10 p.m. Saturday. The gunman, a bandanna across his face, flung open the door, gun...

Former president Bill Clinton compared Muslim terrorism on U.S. soil with the 1960 brutality of Birmingham police chief Bull Connor against civil rights marchers. "These people who killed all of these Americans thought they had the whole story," Clinton told his audience as he accepted an annual Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum. Advertisement Former Memphis NAACP executive secretary Maxine Smith also received a Freedom Award as heroine of the Memphis civil rights movement. Clinton, sounding like a combination preacher and standup comedian, drew several standing ovations Tuesday in an acceptance speech in which he said the world...

The message was clear, said Donnie Weathers as he and his family packed to leave Frayser on Tuesday. Shortly after midnight, an unidentified gunman fired three shots into the brick home at 2814 Northmeade. The shooting came two days after Weathers used a .12-gauge shotgun he bought for deer hunting to shoot at two suspects he caught breaking into his house. Otis Yarbrough, 19, who lived a block away, was hit in the head by gunfire and died on the scene. The other suspect ran from the house. Police said Tuesday they have identified the suspect and were searching for...

By Lela Garlington The Commercial Appeal Arkansas State Police and the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office are investigating the critical beating of a man by an Edmondson police officer. Leo Cavalaro, who operates the Corner Market in Edmondson, remains in critical condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Details of what happened Monday morning in Edmondson are sketchy. Edmondson Police Chief Edgar Cox did not return repeated calls. The victim's wife, Rita Cavalaro, said her husband required additional brain surgery Tuesday. She referred other questions to her attorney, James C. Hale III, who did not return a call left at ...

-- THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES may have just moved to a new field of combat -- your local toy store. Any parent who is used to shopping at a Toys "R" Us or similar emporium knows where to find the aisles that have games and toys grouped together for certain ages of boys here, and certain ages of girls there. This makes perfect sense to virtually everybody. After all, the typical boy is not going to be interested in trying one prom dress after another on Barbie until the "perfect" ensemble for that special occasion is chosen. (Let's ...

The American civil war is often hailed as the first modern war. It saw the introduction not only of new technologies – automatic weapons, ironclad ships, submarines – but also new strategies. Sherman’s total war, an innovation in 1864, would be come the standard of the next century – along with Sheridan’s use of combined arms and Grant’s simple substitution of attrition for strategy in the final, decisive phase of The War. It is not emphasized as often that The War Between the States was the last of the old formal wars. Gen. Robert E Lee’s campaigns of mobility ...