Free Republic

This is a short video clip of the top news from the major Japanese JNN Network today. The link is to a Japanese news page on Yahoo!Japan; one just needs to click the arrow to stream the report.Before streaming, please note:-Not all PC/Mac systems can stream the video but most can.-The video may be up for only a few more hours. Then (usually) the links go down. Please see while you can.-You may need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your machine.The horrid news report about North Korea, in Japanese, is HERE.And HERE is a clip of what the...

Cuban nationals land at Florida nuclear plant: NRC Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:38am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of Cuban nationals who fled their country by boat landed in the cooling canal of a nuclear power plant along Florida's coast on Thanksgiving Day, according to a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission event report issued Friday. The plant's operations were not disrupted by the incident, according to the report. The Turkey Point nuclear power plant control room received a call from an individual stating that he was a member of a group of 33 Cuban nationals that had landed in...

A special council created by the governor of Massachusetts to help illegal immigrants integrate into society has come up with more than 100 recommendations, including a costly idea that was solidly rejected by the legislature a few years ago. Among the suggestions offered by Governor Deval Patrick’s advisory council are granting illegal immigrants driver’s licenses and discounted, in-state tuition at public colleges. In 2006 the Massachusetts legislature rejected a measure that would have given the heavily reduced tuition perk to illegal aliens who had graduated from a state high school. In all, the governor’s council offered 131 policy recommendations—labeled New...

A former hareidi religious legislator warned the government on Tuesday to stop “bleeding hearts” from making the country a refuge for non-Jews and criminals. Journalist Yisrael Eichler, a former Knesset Member in the United Torah Judaism party, told Arutz 7 that while non-Jews from poor countries come to Israel, “the media prefers to deal with a screwball who puts up posters” and feel sorry for foreign workers and refugees who are flooding the country...

PEORIA, Ariz. - Peoria police are looking for a father suspected of running down his daughter because she was becoming too "westernized" and was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values. Peoria police say 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki of Glendale allegedly ran his daughter down Tuesday at an Arizona Department of Economic Security parking lot in Peoria. "When I walked out the door I saw two ladies on the ground, so my first thought was some kind of domestic dispute," says witness Synthia Diaz. The victim, 20-year-old Noor Faleh Almaleki of Surprise, is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. A second...

A Republican sends over this video of the State Department press briefing today, in which Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley calls Gitmo detainees "refugees" at about the 24-minute mark. QUESTION: Talk to us a little bit about response and talks and any commitments that you may have gotten from our European and other friends in the international community about taking in Guantanamo detainees as the camp in Guantanamo is expected to close at some point in the near future. Have you gotten any commitments from our European friends and anybody else? CROWLEY: Ambassador Dan Fried continues his efforts to resettle, you...

...Driven by fear, persecution and economic woes, hundreds of mostly Muslim African migrants are embarking on perilous journeys to seek asylum and jobs in Israel. They are part of a global migration of the poor and oppressed to wealthier nations and continents, and Israel is becoming an increasingly popular destination. In 2006, 1,411 people sought asylum in Israel; by last year, the annual number had grown to 7,500, most of them Africans crossing over from Egypt, according to U.N. figures and human rights activists. Between 400 and 600 refugees are now crossing the border each month. As the numbers have...

IDF units responsible for guarding Israel's expansive western border with Egypt said Thursday that there are one million would-be infiltrators from Africa waiting to cross the mostly barrier-less border and enter Israel illegally...

MORE than 260 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers were last night threatening to blow up their boat if the Indonesian navy forced them to disembark at the port in Merak after the large cargo boat they were piloting towards Christmas Island broke down. "We have gas canisters and we have told the navy we will blow up the boat and jump into the ocean if they try to force us off the boat," said a spokesman for the asylum-seekers, who would only give his name as Alex. Alex said the Sri Lankans had each paid $US15,000 ($16,533) to board the wooden craft...

I am addressing everyone today to introduce myself. I am Lev Davidson, and I would like to invite you to join me in finding a way to stop illegal immigration. How many people out there even know about the overwhelming number of Somalians living in this country? If it wasn't slapping you in the face you would probably not even notice. I have had the misfortune,of moving to a city with the second largest population of Somalians in the U.S.. It is disturbing to say the least and I can only see it getting worse. Something must be done and...

Note: I'm sorry some of the words run together, but this is a quote directly from the WHITEHOUSE.gov web site. ### Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 30, 2009 September 30, 2009 Presidential Determination No. 2009-32 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2010 Refugee Admissions Numbers andAuthorizations of In-Country Refugee StatusPursuant to Sections 207 and 101(a)(42),Respectively, of the Immigration and NationalityAct, and Determination Pursuant to Section 2(b)(2)of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, asAmended In accordance with section 207 of...

Sometimes, patriotism can be awkward. Especially when it means admitting to an international TV audience that your nation’s broken health care system forced you onto welfare, into adult diapers, and hobbling with a walker. And all before the age of 30. Embarrassing perhaps, but for Canadian Lin Gilbert, the time had come to share her story publicly this week. Especially after her 15-year-old son was recently diagnosed with the same health condition leading to her suffering. “As a parent, I will do anything to help him. I will borrow the money, I will do whatever it takes,” she said. “If...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Suspected drug hitmen have killed 10 patients in a Mexican rehabilitation clinic, the second such attack this month in the city of Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border, authorities said on Wednesday. Drug gangs have targeted rehab clinics in the manufacturing city across from El Paso, Texas, accusing them of protecting dealers from rival gangs. State attorney spokesman Vladimir Tuexi said the victims, nine men and one woman, were killed late on Tuesday as they finished praying before going to bed.

European countries like Britain will be forced to take on more refugees from African and Middle-East countries under sweeping new plans proposed by the EU. The EU Commission wants member states to share the burden of the influx of refugees from Africa, which it says falls heaviest on southern countries like Italy, Malta and Spain, where most illegal migrants arrive. The proposal will spark fears that the UK will now have to take on thousands more immigrants from African countries under some form of quota system. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1210689/EU-set-guidelines-number-immigrants-European-country-take.html#ixzz0PxP9B2SP

You just spent $20,000,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; housing, food, the whole enchilada. HB 1388 PASSED Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know.... Something happened.... H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs. You may want to read about it.. It wasn ' t mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen. Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn...

A Swedish gay rights organisation has called on the government not to deport any homosexual Iraqi asylum seekers in the light of a shocking new report categorising an extermination campaign against gay men in the Middle Eastern country. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) has now called on the Swedish government to halt all deportations to Iraq of people who have sought asylum on the basis of sexual orientation or gender. "We urge Sweden to investigate the possibility of evacuating homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people who are at risk of being subjected to 'sexual cleansing',"...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Kenneth Bacon, a former reporter and Pentagon spokesman who later served as a top advocate of displaced people all over the world, died Saturday, according to Refugees International. He was 64. Kenneth Bacon was "one of the great voices in humanitarian advocacy," says Joel Charny of Refugees International. Kenneth Bacon was "one of the great voices in humanitarian advocacy," says Joel Charny of Refugees International. Bacon had served as the president of Washington-based Refugees International since 2001, the group said in a statement Saturday. The former Wall Street Journal reporter died Saturday morning from an aggressive melanoma...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release August 14, 2009 Statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the Appointment of Two Senior Officials Responsible for Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons President Obama has long made clear that the United States is committed to working closely with the Iraqi government to aid Iraqis who have been displaced or are otherwise vulnerable as a result of the violence in Iraq. Since April, the United States has made available approximately $196 million in additional support for these...

The Rogers Plan of 1969, like all subsequent and ill-fated efforts to resolve the Arab-Israel conflict, tabled the issue of the Palestinian "refugees," leaving it for "final status" negotiations. "It is our hope," said the Rogers Plan, "that agreement on the key issues of peace, security, withdrawal and territory will create a climate in which these questions of refugees...can be resolved as part of the overall settlement."   But this is to put first things last. As the passage of time has made abundantly clear, the issue of "refugees" remains the defining obstacle to any reconciliation in the region. Pretending...

SAN JUAN — Federal and state law could make it difficult for illegal immigrants to evacuate during a hurricane, said local nonprofit and community leaders during a public meeting Friday. They gathered at the headquarters of La Union del Pueblo Entero — an immigrant advocacy group based in San Juan — to answer residents’ questions about U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy during hurricanes. The U.S. Border Patrol has stated it will continue operating its checkpoints in the event of a storm, including the Sarita and Falfurrias checkpoints located on U.S 77 and U.S. 281, respectively. U.S. 281 is a...

PHOENIX, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The waiver of rights to a lawyer or to stay silent is a central issue in the case of four Phoenix boys charged with rape, their spokesmen said Wednesday. The boys, ages 9, 10, 13, and 14 were charged with raping an 8-year-old girl. The case has sparked a public outcry for the prosecution of the two older boys as adults, the Arizona Republic reported. The newspaper said police and community activists dispute the children's abilities to understand or speak English. All the chidren are Liberian refugees. Steven Tuopeh, 14, has already been charged as...

FORT WORTH — A man shot by police Monday after they said he repeatedly stabbed a UPS driver on her delivery route was one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" refugees who came to Fort Worth this decade, a minister said Tuesday.

Ottawa, — Beginning 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 14, 2009, Mexican nationals will require a visa to travel to Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today. For the first 48 hours, Mexican citizens may apply for entry on arrival in Canada. After 11:59 p.m. EDT July 15, 2009, a visa will be required. Refugee claims from Mexico have almost tripled since 2005, making it the number one source country for claims. In 2008, more than 9,400 claims filed in Canada came from Mexican nationals, representing 25 per cent of all claims received. Of the Mexican claims reviewed...

Speaking for the European Union presidency, Swedish migration minister Tobias Billström said on Wednesday that the EU supported requiring visas for Canadians travelling to the EU in response to Canada’s decision to impose visa restrictions on Czech nationals. "As the presidency of the EU, we are in favour of this reciprocity," Swedish Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Tobias Billström told AFP. "But it's up to the Commission to handle the proposal, because the Commission is responsible for the reciprocity mechanism," he added. Canada imposed visas on Czechs to stave off what it said was a steady influx of Roma asylum...

(Begin my translation synopsis, from original Japanese):North Korean defector KANG CHOL HWANG, who is vice chair of a South Korean humanitarian group which assists North Korean defectors--(who himself is a defector/refugee from North Korea and survivor of the notorious "Yodok" Concentration Camp), reports the following new information to Tokyo based Sankei journalists by telephone:--Gunfire sound is increasing on the North Korean border with China these days. The gunfire can now be heard on almost a daily basis.--The gunfire is coming from North Korean side of the border and indicates two things: a) attempted escapes are increasing and North Korea has...

Atlanta - The State Department confirmed today that as many as 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians – once the well-treated guests of Saddam Hussein and now at outs with much of Iraqi society – will be resettled in the US, mostly in southern California, starting this fall. It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US – and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948 but who have had a tough time since Mr. Hussein was deposed in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shiites, the mostly-Sunni Palestinians have spent recent years in one of the region's...

It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US - and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948, but who have had a tough time since Hussein was ousted in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shi'ites, the Palestinians, mostly Sunni Muslims, have spent recent years in one of the region's roughest refugee camps, Al Waleed, near Iraq's border with Syria in the west.

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it will grant asylum to 1,350 Arabs in Iraq who claim to have the right to live in Israel based on ancestry. The unprecedented numbers to be allowed to resettle in the United States may anger Israel, the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reported. Most of them lived well in Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hussein but then were thrown out of their homes after his downfall.

Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the 34-member OAS, said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere," he said. The ultimatum issued by the OAS to the new government prompted the ousted leader to delay plans to return home on Thursday. "We will wait 72 hours in order to continue with this process," Mr Zelaya told reporters in Washington, where he held meetings with state department officials. Mr Zelaya, a Left-winger, was overthrown on Sunday by a military-led...

Iraqis fleeing violence in their homeland are struggling in America, where they had hoped to make new lives, said a report issued Tuesday ..... "Nearly all of the Iraqis we surveyed had expectations that they would receive better care from a government whose policies had a hand in their upheaval, particularly those who put their lives on the line to work for the U.S. military and government and were targeted as a result," "They deserve better." In 2008, the United States admitted 13,823 refugees from Iraq. Though grateful to be in America, the Iraqis told the refugee experts that they...

There is more than one "Middle East Refugee" problem. Along with the Palestinian refugees who were begged to stay in Israel, there were the Jews in Arab nations some 850,000 of them that were thrown out of Arab countries. Those are the refugees that no one talks about. When the UN was a fair organization, the Jewish Refugees were given the same status as the Arab ones: On two occasions, in 1957 and again in 1967, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) determined that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were refugees who fell within the mandate of the...

  The central argument put forth in defense of the 17 Uighurs detained at Gitmo is that their principal enemy is China, not the U.S.This defense ignores a host of troubling facts including that: (a) all of the Uighur detainees are members or associates of the ETIM/TIP (a U.S. and UN designated al Qaeda-affiliate), (b) at least 8 current Uighur detainees have admitted their relationship with Abdul Haq (a member of al Qaeda’s elite Shura Council), who oversaw their training (c) most of the Uighurs were trained at a terrorist camp in Tora Bora – a stronghold for al Qaeda...

Nearly half of the predominantly Iraqi-refugees residing in Vännäs in northern Sweden have decided to permanently move out of the area after being terrorized by what police called “a lynch mob” in early May. “I thought that Vännäs was the perfect place for us. And there are many, many friendly people here. But we still don’t dare to stay; I’m seriously concerned about my children’s safety,” said father of five Ismail Ramadan to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper. Ramadan’s family and several others have decided to abandon plans of starting a life in the small community outside of Umeå less...

[[Page 6115]] Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009 Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza Memorandum for the Secretary of State By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the ``Act''), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration...

"This is the first food I've eaten in four days," Habiba Mohammad Hassan, a 17-year-old Somali girl says while opening a packet of high-energy cookies from the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). Habiba, and 150 other refugees, just spent three days crossing the hazardous Gulf of Aden, fleeing the conflict in Somalia and arriving on the beach of Bab al Mandeb, in the extreme west of Yemen. Refugees who make it to land receive automatic political asylum, but survivors sometimes report being forced overboard in deep waters far off shore by traffickers. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has buried...

Nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced by this month's fighting in north-western Pakistan, the United Nations refugee agency says. The Pakistani military has been engaged in major operations against the Taleban in the area. The UNHCR is calling for urgent and massive international help. It says the 1.45 million displaced since 2 May is in addition to those displaced by fighting last year - bring the total to more than two million. Surprising speed Thousands of people have streamed into camps seeking refuge from the conflict. The speed with which people have fled their homes has taken experienced UN...

After the Vietnam War (1959-75), thousands of Vietnamese took to the sea fleeing persecution by the new communist government. Three women, now resettled overseas, describe the horrors of that perilous journey. Nguyen Thi Hoa Huong, escaped in 1989, now living in the United States:"The space [in the boat] was large enough only to sit. Once in a while, I was able to straighten out my legs, but not to lie down. I will never forget that. After sailing for seven days on the Pacific, the boat met with a huge storm. It tore the boat apart. Only the body of...

Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It wasn't mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen. Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that didn't make the headlines... By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza . The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to...

1 hr 16 mins ago MINGORA, Pakistan – Civilians cowered in hospital beds and trapped residents struggled to feed their children Saturday, as Pakistani warplanes pounded a Taliban-held valley in what the prime minister called a "war of the country's survival." Warplanes and troops killed dozens of entrenched militants Saturday in the assault on northwestern Swat Valley, the army said. The offensive has prompted the flight of hundreds of thousands of terrified residents, adding a humanitarian emergency to the nuclear-armed nation's security, economic and political problems. Desperate refugees looted U.N. supplies in one camp, taking blankets and cooking oil. A...

U.S. officials advised Americans against most travel to Mexico on Monday as a swine flu virus that began there spread to the United States and beyond. With 40 cases now confirmed in the United States, President Barack Obama said there was reason for concern but not yet "a cause for alarm." Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, said that so far the disease in the United States seems less severe than the outbreak in Mexico, where more than 1,600 cases have been reported and where the suspected death toll has climbed to 149....

Mexico tried Monday to stem the spread of a deadly strain of swine flu as the work week began by urging people to stay home if they have any symptoms of the virus believed to have killed more than 100 people. Officials already closed schools in five states and cancelled hundreds of public events. But as the number of suspected cases and deaths rose again - and millions returning to work - they looked to other measures to control the outbreak. Labour Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcon said employers should isolate anyone showing up for work with fever, cough, sore throat...

Seven African migrants drowned and a further seven are missing and presumed dead after smugglers forced passengers off a boat in deep sea off Yemen, the U.N. refugee agency said. Survivors told the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that the boat, carrying 72 Somalis and Ethiopians, was far from the Yemeni coast when smugglers started to force them off, the agency said in a statement dated Saturday. "I owe my life to my brother who helped me swim ashore," one of the 58 survivors told UNHCR staff at a transit camp. Last year 50,000 people, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia,...

The silent exodus of Jewish refugees from Muslim lands http://www.youtube.com/v/iuq3GnOXXjg&hl=en&fs=1 Here is the trailer for the superb filmmaker Pierre Rehov's Silent Exodus. Silent Exodus was selected at the International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris in 2004 and presented at the UN Geneva Human Rights Annual Convention that same year. Here is a summary of the film: In 1948 nearly one million Jews lived in Arab lands. But In barely twenty years, they have become forgotten fugitives, expelled from their native lands, forgotten by history and where the victims themselves have hidden their fate under a cloak of silence. A...

Fewer people are seeking asylum in Sweden, with the number of applications dropping 33 percent last year, according to new statistics. "During 2008, 24,342 persons sought asylum in Sweden, which is a decrease of 11,865 applications compared to 2007," Statistics Sweden (SCB) said in a statement on Friday. Two-thirds of applicants were men and one-third were women, a common proportion since 2000, it added. Over 100 nationalities were represented among the asylum seekers. The largest group was Iraqis who accounted for a quarter of applications. However, SCB noted that the number of Iraqi asylum seekers was down dramatically. "Iraqis represented...

PHOENIX -- X-Caliber, a gun store in a nondescript neighborhood in this city's northern section, has become embroiled in Mexico's turmoil. The chaos there is the result of the Mexican government's decision to wage war against rampant drug cartels that are fighting mostly against each other but also against the portions of Mexican law enforcement they have not corrupted. Operating in that nation's north, they are serving this nation's appetite for illegal narcotics and illegal immigrants. The gun shop's proprietor, the name of whose shop might indicate familiarity with Arthurian legend, is on trial here, accused of selling at least...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to send reinforcements to the Southwest border to help contain the rampant violence of the Mexican drug cartel wars. Thirty-seven agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are being deployed to the region. An official familiar with the plan said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is considering reassignment of at least 90 officers to the border. The official requested anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced.

There are new calls to re-deploy National Guard troops along our southern border. The Obama administration said it is considering the move. Border state lawmakers want action now. They say the violence from Mexico's deadly drug cartels is a critical threat to the nation's security.

This is a pdf. file so I cannot post it here. It has interesting things to say, but the self contradictory paragraph is this one: “Mexican law enforcement authorities and soldiers face heavily armed drug gangs with high-powered military automatic weapons. Perhaps 90% of these weapons are smuggled across the US border. They are frequently purchased from licensed US gun dealers in Texas, Arizona, and 7 California. AK-47 assault rifles are literally bought a hundred at a time and illegally brought into Mexico. Mexican authorities routinely seize BOXES of unopened automatic military weapons. The confiscation rates by Mexican law enforcement...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has scheduled a trip to Mexico March 25-26, the State Department said Friday as worries about a bloody drug war has prompted talk about sending US troops to the border. Clinton was expected to discuss US counter-drug cooperation with Mexico under the Merida Initiative, a program under which the United States has shared intelligence with its southern neighbor and provided it with training and equipment. "While in Mexico Secretary Clinton will discuss a broad range of bilateral and multinational issues of mutual interest including cooperation under the Merida Initiative," said State Department spokesman Gordon...

NOT SURE OF COPYRIGHTS, http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/55240