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Israeli stabbed to death in Australia Sydney (dpa) - An Israeli was stabbed to death by a gang of men who jumped out of a car and cornered him outside a store in Sydney's Bondi Beach, a Jewish community spokesman said Sunday. Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said that witnesses to the late Saturday attack told him the 36-year-old victim was an Israeli national. He was taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds, where he died. "There was a carload of people who stopped, and they got out and they assaulted him pretty brutally, and some of...

Re-elected! Reagan stamp reissued Reminiscent of his landslide re-election to a second term as President of the United States in 1984, Ronald Reagan won overwhelming support as the stamp in his honor was “re-elected” in its new 39-cent denomination this week. “Ronald Reagan’s record is proof that one person, determined and dedicated, can shoulder the greatest of burdens and carry them through to victory — and in his case, even make it look easy,” said Board of Governors Chair James Miller, who dedicated the stamp. Miller served as Reagan’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, and later chaired...

U.S.S. Gerald Ford Wednesday, June 14, 2006 Ronald Reagan has an airport named in his honor, as does John Kennedy. Now we find former President Gerald Ford will apparently have a more mobile tribute. The Senate Armed Services Committee has struck upon the idea to call the first of a new class of nuclear powered aircraft carriers the U.S.S. Gerald Ford. Michigan Senator Carl Levin is the ranking Democrat, he and committee chair John Warner made the addition to the national defense authorization act. Levin says it speaks to the respect given to Fords' work in healing the nation, and...

A combined force yesterday rescued two women teachers taken hostage in a school in Narathiwat's Rangae district by around 100 villagers who had demanded the release of two suspected militants. The teachers were identified as Sirinat Thawornsuk and Julin Kampormoon, of Gujingruepo school. The hostage drama took place at 3pm, about three hours after police arrested Muhammad Sapae-ing Mueri, 28, and Abdulgarim Matae, 24, in connection with insurgent activities. The authorities refused to release the two suspects, saying they had strong evidence against them. Police believed Mr Muhammad is a leader of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) guerrilla warfare group,...

Nakhon Ratchasima _ Police raided an isolated hut in a national park yesterday seizing a large cache of weapons and ammunition and arresting a man accused of supplying arms to separatists in the deep South. The operation in Tab Lan National Park, in Khon Buri district, followed a tip-off that firearms were being smuggled into the country from Cambodia, police said. The weapons were said to have been shipped through Sa Kaeo's Ta Phraya and Aranyaprathet districts and were about to be sent to the restive South. Police said they arrested Somsak Thawornrat as he attemped to flee and seized...

BANGKOK, March 19 (TNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya said on Saturday good progress was being made in the investigation of the disappearance two years ago of a prominent Muslim lawyer. Somchai Neelaphaijit disappeared in Bangkok in March 2004 while defending a group of Muslims charged with plotting attacks in the insurgency-plagued south of the country. He went missing after publicly accusing police of torturing his clients while in custody. Police General Chidchai said while it was a time-consuming case, the investigative team had been pulling out all stops to solve the case. His comments came...

Pyongyang, March 17 (KCNA) -- The builders of Pyongyang gathered at Kim Il Sung Square Friday to vow to turn it into a more modern city as required by the new century. Recently leader Kim Jong Il set forth clear tasks arising in the construction of the capital city and its management and ways to do so. He underscored the need to update the city formation and build the capital city into a more modern one with the same vim and vigor with which its citizens constructed the city on post-war debris and specified issues arising in the city management...

Click here for a short clip of Sgt Mark Seavey addressing his Congressman at a Town Hall meeting carried by C-Span.

Who were the first people in North America? From where did they come? How did they arrive? The prehistory of the Americas has been widely studied. Over 70 years a consensus became so established that dissenters felt uneasy challenging it. Yet in 2001, genetics, anthropology and a few shards of flint combined to overturn the accepted facts and to push back one of the greatest technological changes that the Americas have ever seen by over five millennia. The accepted version of the first Americans starts with a flint spearhead unearthed at Clovis, New Mexico, in 1933. Dated by the mammoth...

Justice minister: No CIA jail in Thailand Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya has strongly denied US reports the American Central Intelligence Agency operates a secret prison in Thailand, or uses the country as a prisoner transfer point. "I want to reassure all of you that we do not have a secret jail and there was never any terrorist suspect passing through Thailand," Pol Gen Chidchai said. "We are smart enough not to allow such things to happen." A Washington Post report last month, and recent ABC News broadcasts have reported about secret CIA jails said to have...

Bangkok (dpa) - The decapitated body of a local government official was found in southern Thailand Wednesday after he was murdered by suspected Islamic militants, police said. The official, Anek Ngernmoon, 31, was reported missing by his relatives on Tuesday night. Villagers found Anek's head in a fertilizer sack on the side of a road early Wednesday, said Colonel Thawan Nakarawong, superintendent of Nongjik police station in Pattani province, 730 kilometers south of Bangkok. Anek's body was found along the same road about three kilometers away, Col. Thawan said. "Anek didn't have any conflicts with other people," Thawan said. He...

Thaksin sees no need for talks with KL Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has shut the door on Malaysia's suggestion that bilateral talks be held to settle the controversy over the sheltering of 131 Thai-Muslim villagers in Trengganu state. The talks were unnecessary, Mr Thaksin said yesterday before leaving for a visit to the European Union. The circumstances were not so pressing as to warrant a meeting. It was all a matter of procedure. Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Saturday dialogue would clear the air. Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur should keep talking until the issue was resolved. The...

Pyongyang, October 9 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, was awarded honorary doctorate in law of Far-Eastern State University of Russia. An awarding ceremony took place on Sunday. Kim Jong Il was present there. Also present was Kang Sok Ju, first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs. On hand were Konstantin Borisovich Pulikovski, presidential envoy to the Far East Region of the Russian Federation, and his party and Andrei Karlov, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, and staff members of the Russian embassy here. Vladimir Ivanovich Kurilov, president...

Battle experience needed, says PM WASSANA NANUAM The next army commander should have battlefield experience, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said. ``Whoever becomes army chief must have field combat experience. Otherwise, he would not look graceful,'' Mr Thaksin said on Saturday night. He was attending a birthday party of former prime minister and army chief Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon. Mr Thaksin said people who become chiefs of the three armed forces should also have more than one year left to serve, as 12 months was too short a time to achieve anything. ``Armed forces commanders must be well accepted in military circles....

Pyongyang, August 1 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialists committed at least 160 cases of aerial espionage against the DPRK in July, according to a military source. Involved in them were strategic and tactical reconnaissance planes with various missions that took off U.S. air force bases in south Korea and overseas. U-2s flew in the air above the areas 120 km west of Tokjok Islet and 40 km east of Phochon and Sokcho almost every day to spy on the depth of the DPRK and its strategic targets. On July 3, 6 and 27 RC-135 made shuttle flights in the air...

NARATHIWAT, June 16 (TNA) - Panic erupted in Thailand's southern border province of Narathiwat again this morning when residents of Waeng district discovered what appeared to be an explosive device left on the side of the Mae Dong - Bare Road. Bomb disposal experts and officers from Lohjut Police Station, however, found that the suspect device contained nothing more than a torch battery, bricks and an alarm clock. The discovery of the fake bomb follows a spate of bomb blasts in the country's southern provinces, and security officers are convinced that the militants are using fake devices as a means...

PATTALUNG, June 16 (TNA) - Police in Thailand's southern province of Pattalung today seized a huge haul of weapons which are thought to have been intended for use by insurgents in the region. The team led by Pol. Maj. Gen. Chairat Wannachoti, commander of the provincial police force, found the weapons during a raid on a lathe workshop in Muang district. Among the haul were TNT and M79 explosives, bomb fuses, knives, guns and bullets. The owner of the lathe workshop, Mr. Ithi Wongsuwannakhet, has been arrested and faces charges of illegal weapons possession. Although Mr. Ithi told the police...

Just wanted to write to you and tell you another story about an experience we had over here. As you know, I asked for toys for the Iraqi children over here and several people (Americans that support us) sent them over by the box. On each patrol we take through the city, we take as many toys as will fit in our pockets and hand them out as we can. The kids take the toys and run to show them off as if they were worth a million bucks. We are as friendly as we can be to everyone we...

A stamp honoring former President Ronald Reagan will be issued next February, Postmaster General Jack Potter announced yesterday at the Board of Governors meeting in Washington. Potter said that while it is USPS tradition to honor prominent Americans with a stamp a minimum of 10 years after their deaths, the one exception is when a president dies. Then the stamp is issued on the first birth date following the president’s death. For Reagan that will be Feb. 6, 2005.

Before any of my fellow FReepers get any ideas, I've already sent my new good friend Cheung Pui an email with my information. ;o)---------------------------------------- From: "Cheung Pui" Add to Address Book Subject: MAIL ME ASAP. To: cheung7878@ozu.es Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 08:00:40 +0200 FROM: CHEUNG PUI cheungpui782002@primposta.com Dear Sir, Let me start by introducing myself. I am Mr. Cheung Pui director of operations of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd.I have a obscured business suggestion for you.Before the U.S and Iraqi war our client Major Fadi Basem who was with the Iraqi force and also businessman made a numbered fixed...