Free Republic

WASHINGTON — A prize-winning Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and broadcasts to Iran. An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad,

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced that between 2,000 and 3,000 Islamic Militia fighters were killed in battles in Somalia over the past few days. Zenawi added that between 4,000 to 5,000 people were wounded during the clashes. (AFP)

Attorney Mark Groettum was blindsided last week by an onslaught of punches from an unexpected foe -- the client he was defending in a Hibbing courtroom. William Edwin Lehman Jr., 56, pummeled Groettum's face in front of the judge and jury, giving the lawyer a black eye and busted lip before courtroom security intervened. Lehman, of Chisholm, was standing trial in St. Louis County District Court after being accused of stabbing two men in the apartment next door to his. Lehman had complained that the music they were playing was too loud, according to the criminal complaint. The courtroom incident...

Israel has expanded its military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority by embarking on mass arrests of senior Hamas officials before dawn Thursday. Israel Defense Forces troops launched early Thursday a major arrest operation against Hamas officials, detaining 64 of the ruling militant group's ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank and 23 military operatives. The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports. Soldiers carried arrest warrants signed by judges that were issued following cooperative preparatory work by the state prosecution and police. A Hamas official called the arrests...

3 Gitmo Detainees Reportedly Hang Selves (AP) WASHINGTON Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said Saturday. They were the first reported deaths among the hundreds of men held at the base in Cuba — some of them for up to 4 1/2 years and without charge. Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found "unresponsive and not breathing in their cells" early Saturday, according to a statement from the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive...

Rep. Kennedy Hit in the Mouth by Hammer 25 minutes ago U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) was hit in the face with a hammer when an entrepreneur, demonstrating shock absorption, accidentally sent the hammer's head flying at Kennedy's mouth. Kennedy received six stitches in his bottom lip after the incident Wednesday during an economic development meeting, his spokeswoman Robin Costello said. The entrepreneur, Matt Kriesel of Wisconsin, produces a shock-absorbing gel used sports-shoe inserts, tennis rackets and horse saddles. He was hitting some gel with a hammer to demonstrate how it reduces vibration when the hammer's head...

An Iranian military plane crashed in the northwest of the country on Monday, killing 13 people including the head of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, Iranian news agencies reported. The crash came barely a month after a decrepit Iranian military transport plane crashed into the foot of a high-rise housing block after suffering engine failure. A total of 108 people were killed.

JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip — A truck filled with masked militants and homemade weapons exploded at a Hamas (search) rally Friday, killing at least 15 Palestinians and wounding 80 — including children — bringing a grisly and terrifying end to one of the last gatherings by armed groups celebrating Israel's Gaza (search) pullout.

Set fire to In Paris: 17 died, 21 wounded PARIS - a fire in a residential building made 17 died and 21 wounded in Paris in the night of Thursday to Friday, according to a provisional assessment of the firemen. A first of the same assessment source made state of 16 dead and 22 wounded. Among deaths, there would be at least four children, one indicated to the ministry Interior. The stair-well burned 2e on the 7th floor of the building located in the 13e district at the south east of the capital. According to habitanst of the district,...

The number of attacks on Asians has risen significantly since the London bombings, police and Muslim groups say. The number reported to the Islamic Human Rights Commission - not including those reported to police - has risen more than 13-fold, its chairman said. The total number of "faith-related" attacks reported across London rose 500% compared with the same period last year, the Muslim Safety Forum says. This "backlash" is "exactly what those who promote terrorism want" police say. Association of Chief Police Officers community and counter-terrorism head Assistant Chief Constable Rob Beckley told BBC News the police would protect Asians...

By Michael Marizco ARIZONA DAILY STAR Federal agents pulled the bodies of an additional four people out of the desert this past weekend, pushing the death toll in Arizona to at least 111 for this federal fiscal year. So far this fiscal year, which runs Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 96 of the dead were found within the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. The first to be found was spotted by a Border Patrol pilot near Three Points about 11 a.m. Friday, said sector spokesman Jim Hawkins. A second was found Saturday when a group of seven who had been...

U.S. Guards Shoot Dead 4 Inmates in Iraq Prison Riot 51 minutes ago BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops shot dead four inmates during a riot at a military prison in southern Iraq and six other detainees were injured on Monday, the U.S. military said. The riot at Camp Bucca Theater Internment Facility erupted after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp's 10 compounds and spread to three other compounds, with detainees throwing rocks and fashioning weapons, the military said. U.S. guards opened fire after the rioting raged unabated for 45 minutes. The injuries were caused both by...

As many as 1,600 insurgents in Fallujah were killed so rapidly that streets were littered with 'alarming' number of bodies...(no article linked yet)

U.S. blasts Hamas as main obstacle in Middle East By Patricia Wilson NEW BRITAIN, Conn., June 12 (Reuters) - The United States accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday of being the major obstacle to Middle East peace amid a wave of bloodshed that has thrown a U.S.-backed peace plan into turmoil. "The issue is Hamas. The terrorists are Hamas," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters traveling with U.S. President George W. Bush to Connecticut. His comments marked a change in tone from U.S. criticism of Israel for its attempt to kill a Hamas leader on Tuesday. Hamas...

Warplanes from a US-British coalition patrolling the skies over southern Iraq bombed an Iraqi command and control centre after it was moved into a no-fly zone, the US military announced. "The facility's presence in the no-fly zone was a threat to coalition aircraft," the Central Command said in a statement. The centre was located near the city Al Kut, 152 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. Damage assessment was under way and it was not immediately clear whether precision-guided bombs destroyed the target. It was the first coalition strike on an Iraqi ground target since January 26, when allied warplanes hit unmanned...

Witness reports and the probing of a mass grave point to war crimes. Does the United States have any responsibility for the atrocities of its allies? A NEWSWEEK investigation Trudging over the moonscape of Dasht-e Leili, a desolate expanse of low rolling hills in northern Afghanistan, Bill Haglund spotted clues half-buried in the gray-beige sand. Strings of prayer beads. A woolen skullcap. A few shoes. Those remnants, along with track marks and blade scrapes left by a bulldozer, suggested that Haglund had found what he was looking for. Then he came across a human tibia, three sets of pelvic bones...