Free Republic

Hong Kong officials apologized to Muslim leaders Monday after riot police sprayed a mosque and bystanders with a water cannon while trying to contain turbulent weekend pro-democracy demonstrations in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The city’s leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and the police chief visited the Kowloon Mosque to apologize to the chief imam and Muslim community leaders. Officials were scrambling to minimize the fallout from Sunday’s incident at one of the city’s most well-known religious sites. The government said in a statement that Lam “extended an apology for the inadvertent spraying.” Authorities called it an accident, but a bystander’s...

When it comes to controversial issues such as same sex marriage, global warming, and fighting Arizona's immigration laws, Hollywood has never held back in advancing their opinions. However, in the wake of President Obama’s announcement that Muslims have the “right” to build up a mosque near New York’s 9/11 Ground Zero, the typically outspoken entertainment industry is staying strangely silent. A couple of celebrities such as Kevin Nealon and Russell Simmons, posted links to the story on their Twitter accounts, but withheld any personal judgments. Kirk Douglas wrote on his MySpace page that he was “confused” about the mosque plans...