Free Republic

Sudan wants MSF head Reuters KHARTOUM – Sudan has issued a warrant for the arrest of the country head of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for publishing a report on hundreds of rape cases in Darfur, the attorney-general said yesterday. “We have issued a warrant for the arrest of the head of the organisation after speaking to the [governmental] Humanitarian Aid Commission,” Mohamed Farid, Sudan’s attorney-general, said. He said it was for publishing a false report on rapes in the Darfur region in March. MSF Holland released the report in March, saying its doctors working in Darfur had medical...

Washington, DC -- Political disputes and not religion, begat violence, says John Esposito, a widely respected American professor and author on the Islamic world, known for his moderate views on Islam. Esposito was awarded Pakistan's highest civilhonor, the Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam, at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. "Prof. Esposito has done more than any other individual in the last three or four decades to promote a better understanding between the Islamic and Western worlds," said Pakistan's ambassador Jehangir Karamat. Esposito used the award ceremony to urge people living in the two worlds to make a better effort towards understanding each other. He...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is temporarily pulling its staff out of Baghdad while it evaluates the security situation, but U.N. workers will remain in northern Iraq, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. "We have asked our staff in Baghdad to come out temporarily for consultations with a team from headquarters on the future of our operations, in particular security arrangements that we would need to take to operate in Iraq," U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said late Wednesday. "This decision is not an evacuation and it doesn't affect the north." Okabe would not say when the staff would leave Baghdad...

Baghdad - Seven Iraqi police officers and some 150 professionals turned up on Saturday in response to a US appeal to help restore order and services after weeks of bombardment were followed by an orgy of looting. They converged on the Palestine Hotel where US officers and journalists are housed after foreign radio stations broadcast a call for qualified people to come forward. The policemen were led by Colonel Ahmad Abdulrazzak Said, who wore his olive green uniform. The six other officers were in civilian dress, AFP reporters said. Around 150 civil servants and professionals also showed up, saying they...