Free Republic

Great Britain on Monday sent warships to the Mediterranean and weighed legal action against Spain in a territorial dispute over the Gibraltar peninsula, as Madrid threatened to join with Argentina in a U.N. effort to strip Britain of the last remnants of its empire. In London, Ministry of Defense officials told the BBC that the Royal Navy deployments are part of a long-planned military exercise and not connected to the three-centuries old dispute over the Gibraltar enclave. The feud between the European allies has erupted anew in recent weeks amid Spanish protests over an effort to create an artificial reef...

The Daily Caller has learned CNBC reporter Matt Nesto will not have his contract renewed, which is up at the beginning of 2011. Were Nesto’s politics a factor in the network’s decision not to bring him back? Nesto, known for his market research in appearances on the network throughout the broadcast day, is generally a low-key actor.

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2007 – The Iraqi people have a “renewed sense of hope,” a senior U.S. diplomat said in Baghdad today. At a news conference, Daniel Speckhardt, charge d’affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, said he has been assigned in Iraq for almost two years, and that part of the sense of hope is due to increasing confidence in the Baghdad security plan. Speckhardt added that this sense of hope goes beyond Baghdad, noting that people in Anbar province are getting this sense from local tribal sheikhs who are joining Iraqi security forces and banding with coalition...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The death penalty is under what may be an unprecedented review in the United States, mostly involving questions about lethal injection, by far the most common method of execution. "Although many of the stays of exeecutions are due to the lethal injection process, the openness of courts, of governors and legislators to reconsider issues that were thought to be settled is a sign of broad discomfort with the death penalty," said Richard Dieter, head of the Death Penalty Information Center, which works against capital punishment. About one-third of the 38 states that allow capital punishment have halted...

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The boys of "South Park" will be coming to a broadcast station near you -- 85 percent of you, anyway -- next year. The boundary-breaking Comedy Central cartoon about potty-mouthed kids and their sleepy Colorado town will debut in syndication in fall 2005 in about 85 percent of the country, according to the Hollywood trade papers. Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker struck a syndication deal last year with Debmar Studios, which sold the show in most of the nation's biggest markets. Debmar recently entered a partnership with Tribune Entertainment (whose parent, Tribune Co., also owns Zap2it.com)...

<p>Don't just support a continuation of the ban, as Bush has promised, but actively work to persuade the Republican-controlled Congress to pass it.</p> <p>But Feinstein admits she faces ``uphill sledding'' in getting a new ban enacted. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on Thursday would not say whether Bush would throw his political muscle behind the legislation.</p>