Free Republic

The Church of England has appointed as Bishop of Sherborne a leading advocate of Christian nudism. On 26 Nov 2015 the Prime Minister’s Office announced the The Queen had approved the nomination of the Ven Karen Gorham, the Archdeacon of Buckingham, to the Suffragan See of Sherborne in the diocese of Salisbury in succession to the Rt Rev. Graham Kings. Archdeacon Gorham was educated at the University of Bristol and trained for the ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. She served her title at Northallerton with Kirby Sigston in the diocese of York from 1995 to 1999 and went on to...

There was no clowning around for Doo Doo the Clown when he called 911 after witnessing a man attack two women on Sunday afternoon. Doo Doo — also known as Shane Farberman — says when he saw the man punch one of the women in the head near Front Street West and Bathurst Street he went into action. "I remember pulling up as fast as I can screaming, 'Get in, get in!' and I know that I am a clown and I had a car full of clowns, but these ladies ran and jumped into the back," said Doo...

A Punjab unit leader of the Shiv Sena had offered to pay as reward a sum of One lakh Rupees to anyone who slaps Bollywood star Aamir Khan over his comment on growing intolerance in India. "Any person who slaps Aamir Khan will be rewarded Rs 1 lakh by the Shiv Sena. This is important because no one living in our country should dare to say anything against India" Punjab Shiv Sena chief Rajeev Tandon said. "Anyone from the hotel staff or the film crew can slap him and take the reward," he added. However, Shiv Sena said that it...

Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau, dressed as Han Solo from The Empire Strikes Back, walks with his children Hadrien (second from right), Ella-Grace and Xavier, as his wife Sophie Gregoire, dressed as Princess Leia, jokes with onlookers as the family prepares to go trick-or-treating in Ottawa on Saturday. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press) Justin Trudeau took on a more swashbuckling image Halloween night as he took his family out trick or treating. Canada's next prime minister dressed up as Han Solo of Star Wars fame while Sophie Gregoire wore a Princess Leia costume as they took their three children to knock on...

More women are coming forward with allegations concerning Canadian Olympic Committee head Marcel Aubut, who has stepped aside pending the investigation of a sexual harassment complaint from a staffer. They accuse Mr. Aubut of making unwanted advances that include fondling, touching and forcibly kissing them. On Thursday, the TVA network reported Mr. Aubut reached a financial settlement in a complaint made by a former executive assistant around the time he was a partner at Heenan Blaikie, the now-defunct law firm. The allegations were never proven in court. In an interview with the news channel, the unidentified woman alleged that on...

At a fundraiser to help cover the funeral costs of a friend who died trying to stop a fight outside a Saskatoon bar, a group of young men ended up embroiled in a fight that led to two of them facing assault charges. It was a sad set of circumstances that concluded in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday, with Christopher Godlien pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The second accused, Robbie Watier, previously pleaded guilty to assault in relation to the same incident. They were at Tequila Nightclub on the night of March 8, 2014, at a fundraiser for...

A Kingsport woman told police she was counterfeiting money because she read online that President Barack Obama made a new law allowing her to print her own money, according to a police report. Police were called to a local grocery store on Sunday night in regards to a complaint about counterfeit money. When the reporting officer arrived, he spoke with a gas station clerk who said that just prior to the officer's arrival, a white female had handed him a $5 bill, which he suspected to be counterfeit. The clerk handed the officer the bill and immediately recognized the bill...

Another hugely dramatic day at the Tour de France, during which race leader Tony Martin abandoned the race with a fractured collarbone following a multi-rider pile-up and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali allegedly threw a bottle at new race leader Chris Froome, whom he accused of having caused the fall, ended in a racism controversy. It was claimed that an MTN Qhubeka rider was called a “f–– n––” during yesterday’s fourth stage of the Tour of Austria. The South African team’s principal, Doug Ryder, claimed last night that the incident was far from a one-off, alleging further racist abuse and bullying...

EDMONTON – Find it. Scoop it. Submit it. It’s just that easy. As part of a new pilot project aimed at learning more about the park’s bears, Jasper National Park is looking for dedicated volunteers to collect bear scat this summer. Hikers will first be trained to properly collect and handle the samples. After that, they will be asked to gather samples of bear droppings from along the park’s trails.

After a drunken game of Monopoly went awry, a woman picked up a planter and belted her male opponent in the head, say Saskatchewan police. RCMP officers arrested both of them in North Battleford, Sask. after receiving a 911 call at 3:44 a.m. Wednesday morning. The woman, 43, was then charged with assault with a weapon and breach of probation. “These two individuals that were involved in this incident — we’re very familiar with them, and we deal with them on a regular basis,” said Sgt. Amber Clark.

LOS ANGELES — Three people, including one who works for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, were charged after claiming to operate a police department with jurisdiction in 33 states and Mexico and that traces its roots back 3,000 years, authorities said Wednesday. Brandon Kiel, David Henry and Tonette Hayes were taken into custody last week on suspicion of impersonating officers as members of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said. Detectives believe other people may be involved in the operation, sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said. .... The investigation started after various police chiefs in California received...

You know they may be thinking it about you, when you're arguing with a customer service representative. But it's a stretch when you actually see it in writing: "A**hole". That's what happened to a Spokane, Washington couple after they sparred about their bill with a customer service representative from Comcast. When Ricardo and Lisa Brown got their monthly service bill, the husband's name had been changed from Ricardo Brown to "A**hole Brown."

A group of male fourth-year Dalhousie University dentistry students who posted misogynistic comments about their female colleagues on a Facebook page, including crude jokes about sedating them for rough sex, are at risk of expulsion. University president Richard Florizone has launched an investigation into the incident, and immediately postponed exams for the 47 fourth-year students – 26 men and 21 women – until January, not wanting any targets of the offensive posts to be sitting next to a perpetrator until he knows more. .... The social media group was called the Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen. According to the CBC,...

KITCHENER — A Kitchener anesthetist specializing in pain management has been charged with two counts of fraud after he billed the Ontario government for services he didn't provide. The Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets branch arrested and charged Dr. Kulbir Singh Billing, 63, on Monday night. He will appear in Ontario Court in January. He faces two counts of fraud over $5,000. OPP Sgt. Peter Leon said the charges stem from billings to the Ontario government from 2010 to 2013. Leon said billings were made to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for services that...

With drums, posters and a cause, 70 Dalhousie University students threaded through Halifax’s core late last month protesting rights abuses in North Korea. It was not a controversial cause — not the way abortion or any of the other hot topics of the day might be, organizer Robert Huish acknowledges. Their biggest challenge, he said, was figuring out how to keep candles lit in sub-zero temperatures. The turnout was great — perfect, even — quite likely because the participants’ academic success depended on it. Mr. Huish, a Dalhousie professor, is perhaps the first university instructor in Canada to award...

Jian Ghomeshi was arrested Wednesday in Toronto and is facing charges of four counts of sexual assault and one count of "overcome resistance - choking." He appeared in court this afternoon. CBC's John Lancaster reported that Ghomeshi was "sitting alone in prisoner's box. White shirt, black blazer. Looks tired." Ghomeshi has been granted $100,000 bail on the conditions that he live with his mother, surrender his passport and not leave Ontario. Ghomeshi's next court appearance is Jan. 8. Ghomeshi left the courthouse, pushing through a crush of media, without saying a word. But in a statement his lawyer Marie Henein...

Following the news of a bad buckwheat harvest, panic buying of the traditional foodstuff sent prices soaring in a sign that some analysts say is likely linked to economic anxieties, not harvest yields. The run on buckwheat "indicates people's expectations of an upcoming economic crisis, to which consumers are always keenly attuned," said Natalia Kolupaeva, a retail analyst at Raiffeisenbank. Prices for buckwheat started to grow at the end of October on reports of a bad harvest in the Altai region in Siberia, which produces about 40 percent of the buckwheat in Russia. News of the bad harvest spread like...

If the end result of a war is an exchange of territory, the outcome of a revolution is ultimately the exchange of real estate. The house at 716 Gerrard Street East is an apt illustration of the downward mobility of the politically displaced. Listed last week on MLS, the modest two-story Riverdale semidetached was the final residence of the Tsar Nicholas II’s last surviving sibling, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandranova. The highest ranking member of the Russian imperial family to emigrate to North America, Olga convalesced in the care of Russian friends who ran the beauty shop on the main floor....

To date nine women have accused former CBC star, Jian Ghomeshi, of alleged sexual harassment and physical and mental abuse, occurring before, during and after sexual encounters. Two of these women were former employees of CBC. .... I believe that CBC is in serious trouble because it is being alleged by the National Post and Toronto Sun, that CBC managers and staff must have known about Ghomeshi’s unacceptable conduct towards young CBC women staffers and his apparent attempt to use his powerful CBC position to pursue his personal sexual conquests. And by turning a blind eye to Ghomeshi, CBC has...

The executive producer of Q is taking time away from work as the CBC continues to come to grips with the scandal surrounding the show’s former host, Jian Ghomeshi. Arif Noorani has decided to “take some time off while we get more clarity around the situation,” said Chuck Thompson, the public broadcaster’s head of public affairs, in an e-mail. He said it was the producer’s decision. Noorani could not be reached for comment late on Monday, but an automatic reply on his e-mail says he is “out of the office this week.” He has been with the program since 2007,...