Free Republic

Italy's bishops are saying the European Court of Human Rights is guilty of a partial and ideological outlook with its Tuesday decision that crucifixes in public school are a violation of freedom. The Vatican and the Italian government expressed dismay with Tuesday's decision and Italian bishops expressed their own perplexity. The court ruled in favor of an Italian citizen of Finnish origin who complained in 2002 that the state school where her two children studied violated their freedom by displaying crucifixes. The school's administration refused to remove them, contending that the crucifix is part of Italian cultural patrimony; Italian courts...

Sudan is a failed state, much like Somalia. Sudan also has a rather blatant split of a Christian/Animist South and Muslim North. Salva Kiir, leader of Southern Sudan, is making a case for the country striking out on its own. What may prevent that from happening, and what would probably lead to more bloodshed, is the fact that the south is rich in oil. Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.

A Honduran legislative committee voted not to convene a special session of Congress to consider returning the country's ousted leader, in a move likely to dash chances of Manuel Zelaya's returning to power even temporarily under a deal brokered last week by the U.S. On Tuesday, a committee of 13 legislators voted to not convene the special session, opting instead to wait until Congress receives nonbinding legal opinions on the issue from Honduras's Supreme Court, attorney general's office and other institutions. It set no deadline for when the reports had to be received. The decision means a presidential election scheduled...

In the three decades since the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, the rhetoric of revolutionary Islam is little changed. Only now they are building nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them.

An Italian judge on Wednesday began deliberating the fate of 26 Americans and seven Italians accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect in 2003, the first trial in the world involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. After a nearly three years of hearings, Judge Oscar Magi heard final arguments before beginning deliberations. A verdict was expected Wednesday. The American suspects -- all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents -- are being tried in absentia and are considered fugitives. Their lawyers, who have had no contact with their clients, have entered innocent pleas on their behalf. The Americans are...

TEHRAN -- Iran's supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with the United States would be "naive and perverted" and that Iranian politicians should not be "deceived" into starting such talks. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 70, said Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages. It was the second time that Khamenei, who wields ultimate political and religious authority in Iran, has referred to the president's outreach...In his harshest comments yet on the Obama administration, Khamenei said in a speech Tuesday that the United States has ill intentions...

Iraqi lawmakers have only a day left to agree on a new bill that would enable the country to hold key parliament elections in January, according to remarks Wednesday by the country's election commission chairman. The chairman, Faraj al-Haidari, said he warned the legislators that if they don't approve the election law by the end of Thursday, the country's nationwide vote will be delayed Any postponement in the Jan. 16 balloting could undermine the country's fragile stability and impact U.S. plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, now scheduled to ramp up after the vote. The possibility of the delay is...

On Nov. 9, 1989, large crowds of German citizens from both East and West Berlin approached the Berlin Wall. At several border crossing points, East Berliners began shouting at the armed communist guards, demanding they open the gates and shove aside barbed wire obstacles. The confused guards yielded and disappeared. The gleeful crowds from the communist East and the free West mingled and mixed, occasionally waving at television cameras. Young men whacked at the wall's hideous concrete with pick axes and sledge hammers, then passed the tools to other eager hands. Make no mistake. The Berlin Wall was a prison...

AS EVERYONE scrambles to predict a possible future outlook for war-ravaged Afghanistan, the negative variables continue to mount. The Taliban have boldly stepped up their attacks in the power vacuum created by the failed August elections and the countrywide apathy in anticipation of the upcoming Nov. 7 presidential run-off vote. October was by far the deadliest month of the war with 50 Allied soldiers killed, including yet another Canadian. The daring assault against the United States guest house in the fortified centre of Kabul last Tuesday — coincidental with an equally brash attack against the posh foreigners-only Serena Hotel —...

WASHINGTON: European nations are unlikely to contribute more troops to Afghanistan, the head of the European Commission said on Tuesday, as President Barack Obama weighs boosting US forces there. Opinion polls in many European countries show clear majorities in favor of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. There are some 67,000 US troops and 42,000 from allied nations there. "Honestly in Europe there is not great enthusiasm for sending more troops to Afghanistan. That is the public opinion situation in Europe," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in Washington.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague is considering imposing a defense lawyer on former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic against his will. Radovan Karadzic Much of the, for want of a better term, "news coverage" of the Radovan Karadzic war crimes trial in The Hague has teetered fatuously somewhere between the hysterical and the completely irrational. The coverage often amounts to little more than shrill and often childish name-calling with Karadzic continually referred to as a "butcher", a "demon", a "monster" and every other spiteful epitaph our so-called "journalists" can think to hurl at him. Comparisons...

Troops fire tear gas and beat demonstrators on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy's seizure. Reporting from Tehran and Beirut - Iran's capital erupted in chaos and violence today as anti-government protestors and security forces clashed on the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the U.S. Embassy by radical students. Today's demonstration did not appear to be as large as the huge marches that erupted following the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the protest, the largest in six weeks, struck at one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic by showing that a sizable...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama noted Wednesday's 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, while insisting he wants the U.S. and Iran to move beyond "suspicion, mistrust and confrontation."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main political rival is questioning the president's commitment to fighting corruption. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew days ago from a second-round runoff vote because of concerns over fraud. On Tuesday, he said Mr. Karzai's government lacks legitimacy because of the controversial election process that declared Mr. Karzai the winner by default. Abdullah addressed a news conference in Kabul. It followed a similar conference by Mr. Karzai Tuesday in which the president vowed to "make every possible effort" to eradicate government corruption, but also appeared to reject removing high-level officials in any anti-corruption purge.

SNIPPET: "Last November, more than 150 people were killed by terrorists in Mumbai. One target was a centre run by this young Jewish couple, who were murdered and perhaps tortured; miraculously, their toddler son escaped. We went back to Mumbai to find out what really happened that night." SNIPPET: “One more question remains: how did the terrorists and their handlers apparently know the layout of Nariman House, and the schedule of its inhabitants, so well? Suspicion has fallen on Jackie, the Muslim cook. Since the siege, he says he has had about 100 interviews with police and officials, including Israelis....

Three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police were attacked as they rested inside a compound. The soldiers, who had removed their body armour and helmets, were shot by an Afghan national policeman who then fled. It is not known whether he was a member of the Taliban or being coerced by the insurgents. The gunman is thought to go by the name Gulbuddin and is believed to have had an accomplice. There are also suggestions that he had animosity towards his superiors after being repeatedly moved around the country as part of his duties. He is now being hunted...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran lawmakers on Tuesday put off a vote on whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya and asked the Supreme Court for its view, bucking outside pressure to quickly end a four-month political crisis. Their inaction leaves the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti in place and risks losing international support for a Nov. 29 presidential election, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to the poor coffee- and textile-producing nation. A board of 13 top lawmakers met and decided not to call a special session of Congress, currently in recess, until they receive...

Five soldiers have been shot dead by a "rogue" Afghan policeman in an attack at a police checkpoint. Three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police were attacked as they rested inside a compound. The soldiers, who had removed their body armour and helmets, were shot by an Afghan national policeman who then fled. It is not known whether he was a member of the Taliban or being coerced by the insurgents.

China interested in Russian hydrocarbons; Russia aims to reduce its dependence on European energy markets. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing earlier this month yielded commercial deals worth $3.5 billion and a sweeping framework for bilateral energy cooperation. China's interest in Russian hydrocarbons is motivated by a desire to meet growing demand and diversify import sources. Russia stands to gain from reducing its dependence on European energy markets and using exports to China to develop Russia's Far East. Oil integration. Earlier this year, the China Development Bank (CDB) provided Russian energy companies Rosneft and Transneft with a $25...

Toyota has quit Formula One motor racing, in a move that leaves the scandal-hit sport without any participation by Japanese automakers in the coming season. Jarno Trulli could soon be looking for another team The decision, which was announced in Tokyo this morning, is part of Toyota’s wider efforts to slash costs after an extraordinary board meeting held at the company’s headquarters. Toyota is already rumoured to be looking for an Asian buyer for the team. Toyota’s pullout follows a similar decision from Bridgestone, which announced three days ago that it would stop providing tyres after the 2010 season. That,...

The ongoing debate over the way forward in Afghanistan has settled into the “light footprint,” counterterrorism approach, versus the “heavy footprint,” population-centric counterinsurgency approach. Reportedly, what is about to emerge from the Obama administration is a hybrid of the two, with the vast majority of troops providing security in Afghanistan’s major population centers and pulling troops out of less populated rural zones. Drone strikes and periodic raids would be employed to check the Taliban in remote areas. The danger in such an approach is that once rural villages are ceded to insurgent control, they may never be recaptured as the...

China, finally, is ready to build a house for Mickey Mouse. Beijing has approved plans to build a Disney theme park in Shanghai, a major milestone in the more than decade-long effort by Walt Disney Co. to dramatically expand its reach into China. Disney and the Shanghai municipal government jointly submitted plans in January to build a $3.59-billion park to open as early as 2014. It would be the entertainment giant's fourth theme park outside the U.S., after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong -- and the first in mainland China, the fastest-growing mass market in the world. The Chinese central...

Former Israeli double agent shot dead near Putin's office Shabtai Kalmanovich, a former Israeli double agent who penetrated Golda Meir's government on behalf of the KGB, has been shot dead in Moscow. By Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem Published: 7:00AM GMT 03 Nov 2009 Kalmanovich, who later became a prominent businessman and allegedly had links with the Russian mafia, died after an unidentified gunman fired at least 20 shots into his chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz. Mr Kalmanovich's driver was seriously wounded in the incident. /snip After becoming an Israeli citizen, he joined the Israeli Labour Party, was...

A new international climate change treaty is very unlikely to be signed at the Copenhagen talks next month, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, signalled on Tuesday, saying people had to be “realistic” about what could be achieved. He said he hoped for a “very strong binding political commitment” that could be turned into a treaty in the first half of next year. Mr Ban warned however that although there had been “significant” progress, there were still very important issues to be resolved. For example, the European Union’s proposal for developed countries to pay poor countries €100bn ($146bn, £90bn) a year to...

Former President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch for a baseball game in Japan Tuesday during his first visit since he left office. Bush joined former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to watch the game between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters. Bush changed into a baseball jacket before taking the mound in the Tokyo Dome to throw the pitch before Game 3 of the Japan Series. He chatted briefly with several players before joining Koizumi in a private box. Also in the box were Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh and U.S. Ambassador to Japan...

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, the political arm of the Mujahedeen Khalq, said the site is built under a hillside east of Tehran and comprises a series of interconnecting tunnels. "All activities related to the manufacture of detonators are done in this web of tunnels," Mehdi Abrichamtchi told a news conference.

Israel's military intelligence chief has warned that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have successfully tested an Iranian rocket that can reach Tel Aviv, the Jewish state's largest urban conurbation. That adds a new urgency to Israel's efforts to develop an effective defensive system capable of shooting down short-range rockets that, if the warning by Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin is correct, are becoming a strategic threat. Yadlin says the rocket has a range of 37 miles, 8 miles longer He did not identify the Iranian system, but there have been reports that Iran has been seeking to smuggle Fajr-5 (Dawn)...

(IsraelNN.com) A top advisor to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, considered to be a “moderate” and a peace partner by the U.S. government, has charged that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a “liar” who is being bribed by “Zionists.” Omar Hilmi Al-Ghul, and advisor to Fayyad and a columnist for a PA daily made the comments in an article translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Under the headline, "Clinton, Why Must You Lie?" he wrote, "Why is Mrs. Clinton lying to herself, to the American people, and to [other] world nations by twisting the truth...

U.S. military and civilian leaders in Afghanistan told a group of lawmakers visiting that south-central Asian country that more troops are needed to win the war against the anti-government Taliban. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, said he and other members of the House Armed Services Committee spoke with several top military commanders and U.S. aid officials during a whirlwind weekend visit. "What I came back with is, people on the ground there remain extremely confident," said Hunter, a former U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. "They say we can do this, we...

had a four-hour dinner once with Rush Limbaugh at the “21” Club in Manhattan, back in the days when I was still writing profiles as a “reporterette,” to use a Limbaugh coinage. He was charming, in a shy, awkward, lonely-guy way. Not a man of the people. He arrived in a chauffeured town car and ordered $70-an-ounce Beluga, Porterhouse and 1990 Corton-Charlemagne. But he was not a Neanderthal, though he did have a cold and blew his nose in his napkin. He talked about Chopin’s Polonaise No. 6, C.S. Lewis and how much he loved the end of the movie...

By Ted Belman Hillary Clinton recently said, "And the Obama Administration's position on settlements is clear, unequivocal. It has not changed. And as the President has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." That may well be his position but it has not always been the position of the US and its presidents. In 1995, The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine and Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies co-hosted a June 2 symposium on "Settlements and Peace: The Problem of Jewish Colonization in Palestine." Geoffrey Aronson of the Foundation...

The Afghan election is over and fortunately the Taliban did not wreak a bloodbath on voters as they had promised. However, they still caused quite a bit of carnage with suicide bombings in Kabul. As you probably know by now, the runoff election was cancelled when the contender, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race in protest, calling the election fixed. This can't be helpful to anyone except the Taliban! The Karzai regime was already discredited due to charges of widespread corruption, but Abdullah calling the election a farce has really got to drop his popularity. In truth, Afghani's...

Former president George W Bush thought that the United States could turn Kabul into Peoria, the archetypal American city in the state of Illinois. President Barack Obama thinks that Kabul is just as good as Peoria. America has shed idealist delusion - that imposing the outward form of democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan would implant its content - in favor of an even stranger delusion, which refuses "to elevate one nation or group of people over another", as Obama told the United Nations on September 23. It was mad to believe that America could remake the world in its own...

A former hareidi religious legislator warned the government on Tuesday to stop “bleeding hearts” from making the country a refuge for non-Jews and criminals. Journalist Yisrael Eichler, a former Knesset Member in the United Torah Judaism party, told Arutz 7 that while non-Jews from poor countries come to Israel, “the media prefers to deal with a screwball who puts up posters” and feel sorry for foreign workers and refugees who are flooding the country...

BERLIN - The Mossad espionage agency used Trojan Horse programs to gather intelligence about a nuclear facility in Syria that the Israel Defense Forces destroyed in 2007, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported yesterday. According to the magazine, Mossad agents planted the malware on the computer of a Syrian official while he was staying in London, at a hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Kensington. The program copied details about Syria's illicit nuclear program and sent them directly to the Mossad agents' computers, the report said. Israel's raid on the al-Kabir site in Syria's eastern desert on September 6, 2007...

Mr Klaus was the last head of state to sign the Treaty. It now has legal force across the European Union's 27 countries. "I announce that I signed the Lisbon Treaty at 15.00 [2pm GMT] today," said Mr Klaus, speaking in the Czech capital, Prague. He had signalled he would put pen to paper after getting a British-style opt-out to the Charter of Fundamental Rights at an EU summit in Brussels last week. Gordon Brown earlier welcomed the final ruling by the Czech constitutional court that the Lisbon Treaty would not damage Czech sovereignty. Like other European leaders, the British...

Some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country, a [Gallup] poll showed Tuesday... The most popular destination was the United States, where nearly a quarter of the 700 million -- around 165 million people -- said they would like to settle. In joint second were Britain, Canada and France, each being named as the preferred destination of around 45 million people. Thirty-five million said they would go to Spain, 30 million...

Tegucigalpa, Nov 3, 2009 / 07:26 pm (CNA).- A new law has taken effect in Honduras prohibiting the consumption and marketing of the morning-after pill in the Central American country. The law was passed by the Honduran Congress at the beginning of the year with backing from the Medical College of Honduras, which pointed out that the pill has an abortifacient effect making it unconstitutional. The Honduran Congress argued that the drug would “gravely endanger the health of the Honduran population, especially women who are able to get pregnant.” Lawmakers pointed to a 2008 report by the Medical College of...

Last week, I had the opportunity to address over forty members of the United States Congress with the goal to encourage their recognition of the importance of engaging the Iranian people and their ongoing struggle for human rights and democracy. I began my remarks by asking, "If the U.S. is to continue to assert engagement as the path forward in the case of Iran, whom precisely should the engagement be with?" The answer: the "Green Movement" of the Iranian people. If the U.S. supports the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy -- for human rights and liberties -- it...

DOUGLAS — Federal authorities say they have seized nearly 700 pounds of marijuana at the Douglas Port of Entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were screening travelers and vehicles Sunday night when they came in contact with a 20-year-old Douglas man driving a truck. The vehicle was inspected and authorities discovered that the bed of the F-150 had been completely altered to accommodate the concealment of nearly 700 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.1 million, authorities said. Officers seized the vehicle and marijuana and the man was turned over to the custody of Immigration and...

BAGHDAD — A chicken processing plant here recently received aid from U.S. Soldiers who lent their agriculture and engineering expertise to help open the doors. North Carolina Guardsmen with 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, who have agribusiness and engineering backgrounds, visited the al-Kien plant near Mahmudiyah to offer advice and seek ways to help the plant begin operations. Capt. Bobby Lumsden, the battalion's operations officer, walked through the plant with owner Rafea Abass Ali to inspect the plant's machinery and the massive coolers that will help keep poultry fresh. Getting the plant up and running...

U.S. Marines load an oversized floodlight onto a flatbed truck at Camp Taqaddum, Oct. 21. Marines and Sailors with CLR-27 (Fwd) are participating in the responsible drawdown by removing equipment and gear from Iraq. Photo by Gunnery Sgt. Katesha Washington, 2nd Marine Logistic Group Public Affairs. CAMP TAQADDUM — Marine Corps participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom is drawing to a close, and Marines and Sailors are preparing equipment for shipment back home or to other parts of the world. As part of the departure, one of the Marine Corps' largest bases in the country is on its way to being...

11/3/2009 - QALAT, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- Airmen and Soldiers from the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team delivered school supplies to an Afghanistan National Army compound here Oct. 27. The delivery of supplies is part of an ongoing project to help educate the young soldiers, many of whom have nothing more than an elementary school level education. The program grew from a request from senior ANA officials to help raise the literacy levels of the soldiers, said Major J.D. Loftis, the PRT's information operations officer. "This program is basically just like your average elementary school program," he said. But, unlike that average...

11/3/2009 - ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- "Roads bring people. People bring business and business improves life for everyone." These words, spoken in 2006 by Canadian Brig. Gen. Daniel Pepin, then the deputy general for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, have proven prophetic, as, three years later, the ability to move vehicles and goods along roads here has been greatly enhanced, improving the lives of Afghans across the country. In response, Taliban insurgents routinely target the newly-built infrastructure. Air Force engineers assigned to the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team have countered, along with Army security forces, by conducting missions along Highway One,...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2009 – Soldiers here are getting a trial run at the nerve-wracking experience of going before promotion boards. A mock promotion board at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, helps soldiers gain valuable experience, Oct. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Chris Dunphy  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Soldiers that take the initiative are exactly what we’re looking for in our future leaders,” said Army 1st Sgt. Gary. R. Dillard, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 17th Fires Brigade. “In cases where the candidates are very evenly matched, it normally comes down to...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 3, 2009 – Afghan soldiers in armored Humvees led a combined convoy of Afghans and Americans down Highway 1. As dawn broke, they passed an Afghan National Police checkpoint and dismounted by an Afghan army combat outpost. Their objective was Shah Hasan Kheyl, a village about a half mile off the road. Army 1st Lt. Sean Snook emerges from an orchard with his fellow paratroopers Oct. 3, 2009, in Afghanistan’s Zabul province. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Stephen Decatur  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Starting in August, small, embedded training teams dispersed throughout Afghanistan started getting...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2009 – For three days in October 1944, a Japanese-American military unit fought in dense woods, heavy fog and freezing temperatures in the mountains of France, answering the prayers of an American battalion pinned down by German forces. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with Medal of Honor recipient George "Joe" Sakato at the 65th anniversary of the rescue of the "Lost Battalion" in Houston, Nov. 1, 2009. The event honored the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit composed mostly of Japanese-Americans. The unit rescued 230 men, lost more than...

FORT IRWIN, Calif., Nov. 3, 2009 – As the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade prepares for its fourth deployment to Iraq, its soldiers are getting lessons in the art of leading from behind as they help to set the stage for the eventual drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq. Army Pfc. Adam Britt prepares to leave the mock Iraqi town of Medina Wasl during 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Divison's training rotation at the National Training Center. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jared S. Eastman  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The "Raider Brigade" was part of the initial U.S. invasion...

KABUL, Nov. 3, 2009 – A combined Afghan and international security force detained several suspected militants today and yesterday in Afghanistan’s Helmand and Kandahar provinces, military officials reported. A combined force detained several suspects in Helmand province today after searching a compound known to be used by a Taliban leader in charge of coordinating attacks and supplying homemade bombs to other militants in the region. The force targeted the compound near Koshtay village in Garmsir district after intelligence indicated militant activity there. The force searched the compound without incident; no shots were fired and no one was injured. Elsewhere, a...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2009 – When a deployed unit approaches its end-of-tour date, the focus begins to shift from the deployment at hand to redeployment stateside. Army Sgt. Nic Light and Army Spc. Andrew Carpenter inspect a truck on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Andy Mehler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But not so for those who support the mission until its final moment, such as the mechanics with the 628th Aviation Support Battalion, who face the pressures of repairing vehicles quickly while also taking steps to...