Free Republic

'Ban on Bhutto' leaving Pakistan Ms Bhutto says she has not been given proper security Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been banned from leaving the country, her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) says. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told the BBC the party had written to the interior ministry over the issue. Ms Bhutto survived an assassination attempt on Thursday on her return to the country after years of self-imposed exile. Nearly 140 died in the attack. The government often bans opponents from leaving Pakistan. The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi says that the ban may be a move...

Federal employees, like other American workers, are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave after the birth of a child. It's just not paid leave. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to change that, though. And at least one of the group's members believes that legislation to establish a paid parental leave policy for federal employees has a serious shot at passing this Congress. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has rolled out two bills that would provide at least eight weeks of paid maternity leave for civil servants, and paternity benefits as well. One bill (S. 80) would provide...

This video was taken when my son, Chris, surprised his Mom by not telling us when his mid-tour leave was starting. I figured out why his kid brother was acting strange one Saturday and had the camera ready. Later I took this video when his Mom came home from work late at night and walked in to find her "baby" standing in the living room.The next day, I was replaying the video upstairs in my office. Mom was downstairs with Chris and started complaining about the horror show Dad was watching with the volume turned way up. Chris said, "Mom,...

WASHINGTON - Rep. William J. Jefferson told congressional leaders Tuesday that he plans to take a temporary leave of absence from the House Small Business Committee after his indictment on charges of receiving more than $500,000 in bribes, according to a Democratic leadership aide. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because Jefferson's announcement had not been made public, said the Louisiana Democrat was stepping down while his legal affairs are resolved. A spokeswoman for the congressman did not have immediate comment. Jefferson's decision to take a leave from the panel comes a few days before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - In an Easter message pinned to church bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops called on President Robert Mugabe to leave office or face "open revolt" from those suffering under his government. The letter, titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed," was the most critical pastoral message since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980 and Mugabe assumed leadership of the country for the first time. Once prosperous, the country is reeling under hyperinflation of more than 1,700 percent, 80 percent unemployment, shortages of food and other basic goods and one of the world's...

When even President Gerald Ford's funeral at Washington National Cathedral is not exempt from comment about the crisis in the Episcopal Church, we believe it is time to set the record straight as to why our church and so many others around the country have severed ties with the Episcopal Church. ...The core issue in why we left is not women's leadership. It is not "Episcopalians against equality," as the headline on a recent Post op-ed by Harold Meyerson put it. It is not a "leftward" drift in the church. It is not even primarily ethical -- though the ordination...

BRITAIN’s top boardroom bosses want us to quit the European Union, a poll suggested yesterday.They want to take back powers from Brussels, claiming red tape costs millions of pounds a year. Nearly two thirds of 1,000 chief executives quizzed prefer simple trade deals to the current political bloc. Fifty four per cent say over-regulation “outweighs” single market benefits. And 52 per cent say the EU is “failing”. Just a third polled by ICM for think tank Open Europe called it a “success”. Next chief exec Simon Wolfson said: “There are just far too many prescriptive regulations coming out of Brussels....

China cancels troop leave at N. Korea border-report 10 Oct 2006 02:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters By Ben Blanchard DANDONG, China, Oct 10 (Reuters) - China has cancelled leave for troops along at least part of the border with North Korea, a mainland-controlled Hong Kong newspaper reported on Tuesday, a day after the North announced a nuclear test. The Wen Wei Po said Chinese People's Liberation Army troops ranged along the border in northeast China's Jilin province "have had leave totally cancelled" and some forces were conducting "anti-chemical" training exercises. But trains between the two countries appeared to be running as...

'Abducted' girl says she wanted to leave Scotland (Filed: 01/09/2006) A 12-year-old girl taken to Pakistan by her father without her mother's knowledge has spoken out for the first time, insisting that she went of her own free will. Louise Campbell had appealed for her daughter's return this week Molly Campbell disappeared from her home in the Western Isles on Friday amid fears that she had been abducted. But today she told a British MP that she had gone voluntarily and planned to stay in Pakistan. She also spoke on the phone to her mother in Stornoway for 10 minutes....

Fruity hitchhikers leave you heaving 14 August 2006 Beware the mild-mannered melon. Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found that since 1973 the cantaloupe melon has been responsible for at least 28 outbreaks of food poisoning in the US and Canada that have left more than 1600 people ill and at least two dead. Of these outbreaks, 68 per cent occurred during the last decade, with Salmonella being the predominant culprit (Epidemiology and Infection, DOI: 10.1017/SO950268805005480). The actual number of cases could be far higher, since one-offs often go unreported, say the researchers. "Fruit...

Six years after Martha Stewart said she was leaving Westport, Conn., the domestic diva really is bidding farewell to this wealthy seaside town -- if only someone will buy her house. Stewart has been trying for more than two months to sell her early-19th-century federal-style farmhouse for $9 million. Real estate experts say it's not unusual for luxury homes to take at least a few months to sell -- even those with Martha's famous touch. ``It's the most beautiful property I've ever seen,'' said Eileen Hill, president of the Mid Fairfield County Association of Realtors. ``Every blade of grass stands...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006 – U.S. troop levels in South Korea will not drop beyond previously agreed upon levels, a senior defense official speaking on background said here yesterday. U.S. troop levels in South Korea will go from a previous 37,500 to around 25,000 by the end of 2007, but this won’t lessen the U.S. commitment to defending the country, the official said. Modern technology allows for more defense capability with fewer troops. The United States and Republic of Korea also have agreed to discuss changes to command relationships and the option of Korean wartime operational control of their forces,...

BISBEE — A new Bureau of Land Management report paints a bleak picture of the impact of illegal immigration and drug smuggling on public lands in Arizona, with estimates that as much as 25 million pounds of trash were left in the state’s borderlands during the 2000-2005 fiscal years. During the current year, however, the situation presents more of a mixed bag, BLM officials say. While conditions have improved markedly along the San Pedro River, for example, public land in the state’s central areas continue to suffer. Meanwhile, environmentalists suggest the increasing militarization of the border is becoming a greater...

South Africans told to stop 'whingeing' about crime Rory Carroll in Johannesburg Wednesday June 21, 2006 The Guardian Crime victims staged an angry protest in South Africa yesterday after a government minister suggested those who "whinged" about levels of murder and rape should emigrate. Demonstrators, who said the 51 murders and 151 rapes recorded daily were unacceptably high, were responding to the safety and security minister, Charles Nqakula, who told parliament this month that those who complained about crime were unpatriotic moaners. "They can continue to whinge until they're blue in the face, be as negative as they want to,...

TREASURER Peter Costello is promoting division and Islamophobia in remarks about Muslims and should be censured, a Muslim community leader said. Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said today he genuinely hoped Prime Minister John Howard would censure Mr Costello. Mr Costello delivered a speech yesterday in which he said if people wanted to live under Islamic sharia law, they should move to another country. "There is one law we are all expected to abide by," the Treasurer said. "It is the law enacted by the parliament under the Australian constitution. "If you can't accept that,...

SACRAMENTO – University of California leaders faced sharp rebukes once again by state senators yesterday, with some criticizing UC President Robert Dynes' leadership and others questioning whether UC's governing board is serving its purpose. In the second and final hearing scheduled by the Senate Education Committee on UC compensation matters, several senators said they were dissatisfied with how Dynes has worked to correct extravagant paid-leave arrangements and outside compensation for chancellors – none of which were reported to regents or the public. ----- Senators have also been troubled by a $248,000 undisclosed payout to UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne...

Riots in Nigeria leave many dead Police have struggled to keep a lid on the violence At least 20 people are believed to have died in a second day of violence in the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha. Groups of armed youths rampaged through the city attacking Muslims, in apparent retaliation for the deaths of Christians in riots in the north. Eyewitnesses spoke of streets "littered with bodies" as thousands of Muslims were said to be fleeing the city. Danish cartoon protests in the north led to sectarian clashes which have seen dozens of deaths in four cities. On Wednesday,...

Storm Victims Leave Hotels for Sofas, Cars Monday February 13, 2006 10:16 PM By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI Associated Press Writers NEW ORLEANS (AP) - About 12,000 families made homeless by last year's hurricanes began checking out of their federally funded hotel rooms around the country Monday after a federal judge let FEMA stop paying directly for their stays. The Federal Emergency Management Agency promised the evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they will still receive federal rent assistance that they can put toward hotel stays or other housing. But the agency will no longer pay for their hotel rooms directly....

US crops left to rot as Mexicans leave the fields for better-paid jobs Low pay, harsh conditions and security checks force immigrant workers into other sectors Dan Glaister in Calexico Saturday February 4, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Standing in the early morning darkness just 50 metres inside the United States, Roberto Camacho is doing his best to ward off the cold. Dressed in a black bomber jacket with a baseball cap pulled low over his brow, he shuffles from foot to foot as he waits for a lift to work. After 15 years working in the fields of California for...

WASHINGTON - The United Farm Workers union has left the AFL-CIO and will join a group of breakaway unions known as the Change to Win Coalition, in a move the UFW hopes will boost recruiting efforts, officials said Thursday. The UFW, with about 27,000 members, joins the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE HERE and the Carpenters in forming the dissident Change To Win Coalition. The Laborers International Union of North America also is part of the new federation, but has not left the AFL-CIO. "We view this as a positive step in...