Free Republic

OAKLAND — Authorities say a Buddhist monk has been arrested and charged with attempted murder following a recent stabbing of another monk in a San Francisco Bay Area monastery. The Oakland Tribune reports (http://bayareane.ws/1Hd73fg) Tuesday that authorities say 30-year-old Sokphanna Phen admitted stabbing 66-year-old Mahamonirath Pinn multiple times in the face and head with two kitchen knives at an East Oakland monastery last Tuesday. Pinn was being treated at an Oakland hospital. Officer Bradley Miller says Phen told police he was angry with the head monk for his disciplinary tactics. Police say Phen, who was arrested last Thursday at the...

As for Obama’s personal path, Newsweek noted how Obama, in his younger years, enjoyed, on one hand, Augustine, and then Nietzsche and Graham Greene. Obama hopped and groped his way through Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, asceticism, and eventually settled at the political church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright...

Saudi Arabia has banned the importation of female dolls and teddy bears, giving merchants three months to dispose of such stock, a state-guided newspaper reported Wednesday. Interior Minister Prince Nayef ordered the ban which was relayed around the country by the national Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Al-Riyadh said. The daily gave no reason for the ban, which could not be confirmed with government officials Wednesday. The ban singled out stuffed-animal toys and dolls of brides. It made no mention of male dolls and it was not clear if these were banned as well. The order also prohibited the importation...