Free Republic

SEOUL - South Korean security authorities were ready to carry out on-board inspections of a Bahama-registered freighter after being tipped off that the ship might carry some members of Al-Qaeda, police said on Thursday. The 17,000-tonne freighter, the Athenia, which was suspected of carrying members of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group, was due to arrive at the southwestern port of Kunsan late Thursday, the police said. “We have been informed that Al Qaeda members might be hiding in the ship,” a police officer in charge of foreign affairs in Kunsan Police station told AFP. “When the ship reaches the...

Top bishop's vision - a world without gays 05.06.2004 By CATHERINE MASTERS The new head of the Anglican Church has a vision of a world without homosexuality. Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe, 75, is a controversial replacement for Archbishop John Paterson, who has headed New Zealand's largest church for seven years. Bishop Vercoe is a staunch supporter of the Treaty of Waitangi and has been outspoken over the years on homosexuality, immigration and the place of women in the church. In his first big interview since his appointment, he told the Weekend Herald he believed that homosexuality was unnatural and not morally...

The Coast Guard intercepted and boarded the ship, 'Athena' off the coast, then escorted it upriver to be docked. Since it docked at the Port of Longview Friday, it's been under constant surveillance from a Coast Guard Gunboat with Coast Guard and customs agents watching from shore. Just down river from the ship, fishermen Mike Young and Gerald Senesac reel in their catch and wonder why the cargo ship is being guarded. "With guns ready, there's got to be something different than what the government's saying," says Senesac. KATU's Dan Tilkin learned a few details about the ship: Before the...