Free Republic

New photographs of a smiling, tracksuit-clad Fidel Castro greeting workers at a scientific think-tank were posted on the websites of two Cuban journalists Saturday, offering a rare glimpse of the reclusive revolutionary leader in a public forum. Fidel, 83, appears slightly stooped but otherwise healthy in the four pictures, which were apparently taken Wednesday with a worker's mobile phone. The former Cuban leader is seen raising his hand to wave in one picture and apparently being led away in another. “He is thin but he looks good, and according to our director, he is very good mentally,” reads a comment...

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will name David Johnston as governor general designate, QMI Agency has learned, choosing a lifelong academic widely admired for his smarts, his ability to build consensus and - an apparent must for Harper - his ability to play hockey. Johnston, 69, is a fluently bilingual Ontario native known as "Grandpa Book" to his grandchildren because they think he reads so much. And while one of his five daughters works on the staff of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, Johnston himself has avoided being tagged with any partisan political label during his long career as...

30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3 (U.K.) An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Government thereof; and for Purposes connected therewith [Assented to 29th March, 1867.] Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom: And whereas such a Union would conduce to the Welfare of the Provinces and promote the Interests of the British Empire: And...

The painter of light has entered a dark period. Thomas Kinkade, the self-proclaimed (and trademarked) Painter of Light™, is beset with legal troubles. Several years ago, art gallery owners successfully sued his Kinkade’s Media Arts Group for millions after it was revealed that he and company officials used invoked God and their “higher calling” to hide the financial risks of the investments. The settlement put such a strain on his company that earlier this month, he filed for bankruptcy protection from his hundreds of other creditors. Adding to his woes, the artist was arrested on a DUI charge outside his...

LILONGWE (Reuters) - A gay Malawian couple whose 14-year prison sentence for their love affair led to international condemnation has split over a girl, a newspaper report said on Tuesday. Malawi's leader pardoned the two men in late May on humanitarian grounds after a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who applauded the move and urged the country to amend "outdated" laws on homosexuality. Steven Monjeza, 26, told The Nation, a major local daily, he had left his partner, 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, because he had been coerced into the gay relationship and found a better match with a 24-year-old woman...

This year's Toronto Gay Pride Parade Grand Marshal has resigned and 23 former Pride Toronto activists announced on Monday they have pulled out of Pride festivities after organizers banned the term "Israeli Apartheid" from its 10-day event. "Pride's recent decision to ban the term 'Israeli apartheid' and thus prohibit the participation of the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in Pride celebrations this year is a slap in the face to our history of diverse voices," said Alan Li, a co-founder of Gay Asians Toronto who rejected his appointment as grand marshal. "Pride's choice to take a pre-emptive step to censor...

Republican Tim Pawlenty will appear on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Thursday as he builds up to a possible presidential run. The Minnesota governor announced the appearance on Facebook on Friday. Pawlenty has said he will reveal his plans next year. Political spokesman Alex Conant said Pawlenty also will appear with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday. His trip includes a fundraiser and private meetings before he returns to Minnesota on Saturday.

WASHINGTON - A top adviser to GOP star Sarah Palin was once dispatched by ex-President Richard Nixon to sweep Jews out of government service, newly released tapes show. Nixon aide Fred Malek's role as what Democrats call a "Jew counter" for the disgraced President was already well known, and he has spent decades apologizing for activities that later cost him a Republican National Committee job in the 1980s. But he remains a prominent GOP powerbroker. "The government is full of Jews," Nixon griped to chief aide H.R. Haldeman in a July 1971 Oval Office recording released by the University of...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may personally try to break the Gaza blockade by sailing there, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal reported on Saturday. The paper said the report was based on Turkish sources “in the know.” According to media reports, Erdogan may also consider sending Turkish Navy vessels to accompany future protest ships that head to Gaza. To protest against Monday’s Israel Navy raid, Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Israel for consultations and spoken of reducing economic and military ties. It has rejected Israel’s explanation that its soldiers acted in self-defense after activists attacked them with clubs and...

TORONTO - Enforcing the Canadian military's blanket ban on soldiers engaging in intimate relationships in a war zone is an unwinnable fight against human nature, some experts say. Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, Canada's top commander in Afghanistan, was relieved of his duty in a very public flogging last week and sent home along with a female soldier for an "inappropriate" relationship. The military said the relationship — details of which have yet to emerge — defied the strict prohibition on fraternization in the Afghan war zone. Sue McGarvie, a clinical sex therapist who has counselled dozens of soldiers at her practice...

The succession bid ahead of 2011 general elections in States where Governors will be completing their second term in office has set some of the political leaders and other stakeholders on a collision course. .... In Kwara State, the bid to succeed Governor Bukola Saraki, whose tenure will end next year, has now kept keen watchers of Kwara politics in suspense. Before now, stakeholders have been publicly pressurizing the Kingmakers in the state especially the former Senate Leader, Dr. Olusola Saraki and his son Bukola to support a possible successor so as to reduce rancor and bickering in the polity....

Ottawa’s decision not to fund Toronto’s Pride festival this year is “very disappointing,” say organizers, who blame the political furor that resulted from last year’s grant. “We are very surprised. We qualified last year and we expected to get at least something,” said executive director Tracey Sandilands of the festival’s request for $600,000. In 2009, the Pride festival received a $400,000 grant under the Marquee Tourism Events program, a special two-year $100 million stimulus fund to draw tourists and their dollars to communities across Canada. “It was all the fuss and bother last year. It’s difficult to believe it isn’t...

In a recent TV sermon, Egyptian cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi extolled the virtues of corporal punishment to keep wives in check. Using stories from the early days of Islam to support his argument, Al-Sawsawi said that when there are marital problems, "the solution is to give the man a free hand to discipline his family members and to control them. By no means can a woman be the head [of the family]." In the sermon, aired January 7, 2010 on the Egyptian Islamic channel Al-Nas TV, Al-Sawsawi recounted the story of Said Ibn Al-Musayyib, a 7th-century Muslim scholar known for his...

High ranking officials are gathering in Russia’s Smolensk region following the tragic crash of the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and many of the Polish political elite, with no passengers surviving. Following the crash, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry opened a crisis hot line for relatives of the victims. English speaking emergency specialists can be reached at +7 (495) 626 37 07. The Smolensk region has set up a separate hot line: +7 (800) 100 19 01. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in Smolensk to personally supervise the investigation. According to Polish media reports, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk...

A new interest-free credit card, the first of its kind in North America, aims to reconcile Islamic canonical law and Western consumer culture. Until now, observant Muslims have been precluded from owning credit cards on which they pay interest, a violation of shariah law. The iFreedom Plus Master-Card, set to be available in the coming days, promises no bills, no interest and no credit card debt. .... With the iFreedom Plus MasterCard, holders load up their card with cash in advance, up to $6,000. Each purchase draws down on the account without accruing interest. .... Because the new product doesn't...

Re: "U. S. Columnist mocks university's speech warning," March 23. I understand right-wing personality Ann Coulter is coming to the U of C for a speaking engagement. That's like inviting spam into your home computer. Why do it? Francois Houle's gentle and elegantly worded advice to Coulter on Canada's very different domestic laws regarding freedom of expression is met with derision, cynicism and scorn. Really, Calgary, don't we all have something better to do on Thursday than listen to some self-promoting extremist talk about media bias and freedom of speech? That's kind of like listening to Jim Keegstra defend his...

A Yemeni Canadian will compete in the Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant for the first time, wearing a sari over her bathing suit to avoid offence. The press release issued by Maria Al-Masani's company about her participation contained a scant three paragraphs. In it, she refers to herself as "a documented direct descendent of Prophet Mohammed." "Yemen is a conservative Islamic country better known for the underwear bomber," the release notes. It also quotes Ms. Al-Masani: "I grew up wearing a niqab, watching Miss Universe on TV," she says. "I love breaking stereotypes!" The story behind Ms. Al-Masani, however, is...

The honours keep rolling in for Tiger Jeet Singh. On Thursday, it was announced that Tiger Jeet Singh Public School will open in Milton, Ontario in September. "It's very big news, and a big honour for the family," Tiger Jeet Singh told SLAM! Wrestling. The city of Milton, about 30 minutes west of Toronto, inducted Singh and his son Tiger Ali Singh into its Milton Hall of Fame in 2007. The new Milton elementary school, which is almost completed at 640 Yates Drive, will host junior kindergarten to Grade 8.

Sources close to the German finance ministry said Germany’s state-owned KfW bank will buy Greek bonds or provide guarantees to other banks to buy them. France’s state-owned Caisse des Depots will also be involved in the aid package, according to Greek newspaper Ta Nea. The debt sale under consideration is thought to be between €20bn and €30bn. About half will be sold to France and Germany and half to debt investors. Greece has to repay €22bn to lenders in the next few months and raise a further €30bn in new borrowings. It fell deeper into recession last month and the...

MONTREAL (AFP) - French guru Claude Vorilhon, alias Rael, advised golf superstar Tiger Woods in an open letter on Thursday to divorce his wife and embrace "Adultery is not mental disease but a very normal behavior among both humans and animals," said the leader of the atheist Raelian Movement, whose followers believe life on earth was created by extra-terrestrials. "I encourage you to explore what more and more people are calling 'polyamory,' which means loving many people simultaneously and with no jealousy," he said. .... "If she (Elin Nordgren) doesn't get therapy, you will be better off divorcing such a...