Free Republic

Map of the disposition of Iraqi and US forces in and around Sadr City, and the progress on the barrier. The red portion has yet to be completed. Map courtesy of Multinational Forces Iraq. US and Iraqi forces continue to strike at the Mahdi Army in Baghdad despite the agreement reached between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army late Friday. Seventeen Mahdi Army fighters were killed in northeastern Baghdad over the past 24 hours. Nine of the Mahdi Army fighters killed were killed in Sadr City: four Mahdi fighters were killed by an air weapons team as they planted...

Ethics: Jimmy Carter says he's just being fair-minded by continuously condemning Israel. Meanwhile, his Carter Center draws ever more money from anti-Israel sources. Follow the money. The ex-president's irritating opinions on Mideast matters are one thing. But the funding of his Atlanta think tank by big-money, state-linked Arab sources is quite another — and points to a conflict of interest. According to the Carter Center Web site's 2004-05 annual report — the most recent available — the center has received "in excess of $1 million" from characters like Prince Al-Walid bin Talal. Bin Talal, you might recall, is the Saudi...

INDIANAPOLIS - A hospital that gave lethal doses of a drug to three premature babies has made another medication mistake, giving a new mother a painkiller 10 times faster than intended and making her temporarily unable to walk. Amber Baise, 18, of Indianapolis, who received the painkiller during childbirth, has regained some movement in her legs as she recovers from what Methodist Hospital on Friday called a doctor's mistake. "We remain hopeful that she will receive a full recovery. That is our hope. That is our commitment," said Bill Stephan, a spokesman for Clarian Health Partners, which operates Methodist and...

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's estranged husband Michael plans to file a lawsuit against her former caretakers. Michael asked a local court on Tuesday to waive the two year statute of limitations against such a lawsuit. Mark Perenich, Michael's new attorney, who replaces euthanasia advocate George Felos, told the Tampa Bay Tribune newspaper he could not comment on the proposed lawsuit. Under Florida law, legal action must be taken within two years of the alleged mistreatment unless an extension is granted. Michael could be hoping to go after Florida Governor Jeb Bush or the Florida legislature, which passed Terri's...

<p>The death of a 4-year-old boy who lost consciousness on a Walt Disney World thrill ride Monday is still unexplained and has prompted a renewed call for federal monitoring of theme-park safety.</p> <p>An autopsy Tuesday on Daudi Bamuwamye of Sellersville, Pa., "showed no signs of trauma and no obvious medical issues," says Jim Solomons of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.</p>

McDonald's Commands a Real Estate Empire in Russia By ERIN E. ARVEDLUND MOSCOW, March 16 - The busiest McDonald's restaurant in the world is not in America but thousands of miles away in Pushkin Square. The store serves 30,000 customers a day, as busy as on opening day, Jan. 31, 1990. The menu is essentially the same as in the United States, with the addition of cabbage pie among other traditional Russian food items. The Pushkin Square restaurant is important as well because it is the jewel in a growing real estate empire that ranks McDonald's among the largest corporate...

<p>WELLSVILLE, N.Y. -- A man who took a cab more than 200 miles from New York City to western New York didn't get very far after he tried to stiff the driver for $916.50 fare.</p> <p>Police say 23-year-old Jeremy Hartman got out of the cab in the village of Wellsville, where he has relatives, and fled. Police say they found him holed up in a nearby apartment.</p>