Free Republic

Former Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora accused Hizbullah, Sunday, of trying to entangle Lebanon into a military confrontation with Israel. Responding to the recent launching of an unmanned aerial vehicle by the Shi'ite terror group over the Jewish state, the Future Movement Member of Parliament said Hizbullah has no right to declare war and the words of Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah endanger the security of the people...

The United States is in the midst of a major investigation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) into the group that represents 80% of the country’s 57,000 nuns. “The problem is that it is now hard to distinguish between what the nuns do and what lay social workers do,” said Ann Carey, a Catholic journalist and author of Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Communities. “This is not about one or two specific incidents but a general drift away from Catholic belief.” The CDF is the Vatican’s toughest office, the group charged...

EXETER, N.H. — At a rally meant to be all about boosting support for Mitt Romney, protesters instead took center stage, evoking colorful responses from both Romney and his outspoken surrogate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who at one time referred to one of the protestors as “sweetheart.” “Really?” said Christie, as soon as protestors interrupted him, the second outburst of the night from the group, who had already gone after Romney. “You know, something may go down tonight, but it ain’t going to be jobs, sweetheart.” “See it’s this confusion that’s out there because if she was in New...

At least 10 people, mostly journalists, were injured on Friday when police tried to stop clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in central Amman. Police used batons to disperse the clashes outside city hall, beating and injuring nine journalists who were wearing orange vests marked "press," an AFP reporter at the scene witnessed. The wounded included an AFP photographer and a female Islamist activist. "We were beaten by police, although we were wearing special press vests," said the photographer. "We thought we would be safe when we stood next to the police and away from the clashes." A photographer...

Underneath headlines about Libya, the Japanese disaster and the Republicans’ dainty attempts to nip around the edges of our massive federal debt, the culture war is raging. The left is lobbing nukes into the institution of marriage and the military. Obamacare is going forward, complete with funding for abortion and massive increases in the size of the already enormous Department of Health and Human Services. Defunding this increasingly unpopular power grab should be in every budget bill - but it’s not. Using a combination of judicial activism, executive malfeasance and

Cairo - Clashes between Christians and Muslims escalated on Tuesday with thousands of people burning tires, smashing parked cars and cutting off a main road despite military moves to control a day of violent protests in Egypt's capital. Tensions have been simmering between Egypt's minority Christian community and its Muslim majority after a Muslim mob burned a church in a Cairo suburb. Egypt's military rulers have since pledged to rebuild the church and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met Monday with the protesters outside the state-television building.

* Ahmadinejad calls on Medvedev to change sanctions stance * Iran tells Kremlin chief to "think more" and be "cautious" * Russia raps Iranian president for political demagoguery * Worst row between Russia and Iran since Cold War (Recasts to add Russian criticism) By Robin Pomeroy and Guy Faulconbridge TEHRAN/MOSCOW, May 26 (Reuters) - Iran and Russia clashed on Wednesday over Kremlin support for draft U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic, in one of the worst rows between the two powers since the Cold War.

On a windy Monday night, Pete’s Candy Store—a bar in Williamsburg with a railcar-shaped performance space in the back—is crammed to capacity with the thin and the bearded. Almost no one is drinking. The mood is pregame, expectant and nervous. We’re at one of the oddest New York City powwows in recent memory: a panel designed to quell a metastasizing dispute between bicyclists and Hasidic Jews. Except no Hasids are present. For a moment, it looks like the bicyclists will have to debate themselves. At immediate issue is the Bedford Avenue bike lane. It’s the longest in Brooklyn and runs...

More N. Korean soldiers had crossed border to capture defector: Seoul official SEOUL, March 4 (Yonhap) -- Two or three North Korean soldiers had crossed the border with the South to capture a defecting compatriot, but returned to their territory after warning shots were fired by South Korean troops, a military official here said Thursday. The North Korean soldier defected to the South by crossing the eastern front line late Tuesday, expressing his wish to live in the South. The South Korean government has yet to reveal the soldier's identity and is investigating the specific route and motives behind his...

Iranian security forces have clashed violently with opposition supporters in central Tehran, witnesses say. Police used batons and tear gas, according to the witnesses. There were also unconfirmed reports of security forces using live rounds. State media confirmed there had been clashes, though a foreign media ban means details are hard to verify. The violence came on the day that Iran holds an annual commemoration for the killing of three students in 1953. Early on Monday, hundreds of Iranian police were reported to have surrounded Tehran University to try to block protests. Iranian security forces, including the elite Revolutionary Guards,...

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PITTSBURGH — Police fired canisters of pepper spray and smoke at marchers protesting the Group of 20 summit Thursday after anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling trash bins and throwing rocks. The afternoon march turned chaotic at just about the time that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived for a meeting with leaders of the world's major economies. The clashes began after hundreds of protesters, many advocating against capitalism, tried to march from an outlying neighborhood toward the convention center where the summit is being held. The protesters banged on drums and chanted "Ain't no...

BEIJING -- Ethnic tensions between workers at a toy factory in southern China sparked a brawl that left two dead and 118 injured, state media and a government spokesman said Saturday. The official China News Service said hundreds of workers at the Xuri Toy Factory in Shaoguan City fought for two hours before more than 400 police restored order early Friday morning. A spokesman from the Shaoguan City government said the brawl was due to tensions between Uighurs - Turkic-speaking Muslims - and Han Chinese, who make up most of China's population.

Sabotage moonbat moves to undercut America’s 2,000 plus Tea Parties has bypassed sneaky for sinister. “Just this morning, I received word that a new radical organization calling itself “A New Way Forward” has put together an underhanded sneak attack designed to undercut the popular uprising known as the Tea Party Movement,” Bill Wilson, of Americans for Limited Government (ALG), warned mainstreet Americans yesterday. “Simply put, their idea is to stage phony rallies throughout the country on April 11--made to look like they are part of the Tea Party movement--while actually opposing Tea Party principles and supporting the complete government takeover...

The last of Samuel Huntington's books -- "Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity," published four years ago -- may have been his most passionate work. It was like that with the celebrated Harvard political scientist, who died last week at 81. He was a man of diffidence and reserve, yet he was always caught up in the political storms of recent decades. "This book is shaped by my own identities as a patriot and a scholar," he wrote. "As a patriot I am deeply concerned about the unity and strength of my country as a society based...

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AFP) – Republican John McCain faced fierce pressure in Tuesday's second presidential debate to grab a lifeline for his sliding campaign in the increasingly nasty White House duel with Barack Obama. The rivals will come face-to-face in McCain's favored town-hall style setting in Nashville, Tennessee, at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT) after the Republican's barrage on Obama's character ignited a war of words with the pace-setting Democrat. Exactly four weeks before the election on November 4, the debate marks one of Arizona Senator McCain's last chances to transform a race which seems to be sliding away, with Obama profiting...

London - Young British Muslims are to be taught citizenship in mosque schools to prevent them from being influenced by Islamist extremism, the government announced on Friday. The new lessons will be tested in London from the start of the new term in September, and other areas with high Muslim populations, like Birmingham and Leicester in central England and Oldham, Rochdale and Bradford in northern England. The initiative is part of a package of measures, including a new board of academics, theologians and community leaders to advise on responses to tackling extremism, to show there is no conflict between being...

Protest against security fence being constructed near Na'alin turns violent as Israeli, Palestinians, foreign nationals clash with IDF troops A reported 150 people participated Sunday afternoon in a demonstration near the West Bank village of Naalin, west of Ramallah to protest the security fence being built in the area. The protestors accused IDF soldiers of using tear gas to disperse them while the latter claimed that rocks were thrown in their direction. The demonstrators - Left-wing Israeli, Palestinian and foreign nationals - have gathered on land due to be confiscated to allow for a fence to be built around the...

Berlusconi faces Muslim clash By Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 11:38PM BST 04/05/2008 Silvio Berlusconi is facing a row with the Muslim world over his plans to appoint a member of the far-Right to his cabinet. Roberto Calderoli, 52, a senior member of the Northern League, enraged Muslims two years ago during the row over a set of Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. He appeared on television wearing a T-shirt printed with one of the cartoons. The Italian consulate in Libya was set on fire and 11 people died in riots. Mr Calderoli has also threatened to...

It would have been unlike Samuel P. Huntington to say “I told you so” after 9/11. He is too austere and serious a man, with a legendary career as arguably the most influential and original political scientist of the last half century — always swimming against the current of prevailing opinion. In the 1990s, first in an article in the magazine Foreign Affairs, then in a book published in 1996 under the title “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,” he had come forth with a thesis that ran counter to the zeitgeist of the era and...