Free Republic

Ryan Lochte, the US gold medal-winning swimmer, who claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janiero, has been ordered by a judge to remain in the country amid suggestions that they may have fabricated the incident. Federal police in Brazil stopped US team-mates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from boarding a flight to the United States at Rio de Janeiro's international airport on Wednesday, O Globo newspaper reported on its website. The swimmers, who were with Lochte during the alleged robbery, were taken off the plane for questioning, the newspaper said. Lochte, 32, one of the most...

There is a trapdoor on Christ's right shoulder. To mount the steps and slowly, fearfully peer out is to see the world through the eyes of a bird, or even a god. Far below, white blocks of flats and offices cluster among folds of tropical green. Down there are the poor in the favelas, the rich in the luxury high-rise apartments, the homeless, the famous football stadiums and Guanabara bay with its scattered islands and boats. Beyond the sands of Copacabana and Ipanema, the limitless Atlantic ocean. To the left, standing twice a man's height, is the slightly bowed head...

World Youth Day organizers and the United Nations are partnering to sponsor a morning of debates about the role of youth in sustainable development and peace. The event "Youth and the culture of peace" will take place on July 23rd. There will be participation on behalf of Ahmad Alhendawi, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy, and a moment for presentations by five youth representatives, from the five continents. About 650 youths are expected to attend. The event will take place at the Brazilian Bar Association building (Edifício OAB), where consulates of the international delegations will have offices during the WYD Rio2013....

From Chicago to Rio, from Jamaica to Nigeria, gang violence is leaving an indelible mark on communities across the globe, leaving authorities at a loss for what to do about the epidemic of lawlessness among young men who see little hope in their futures. Certainly the global economic crisis has much to do with the rise in gang violence and influence, as young men of color in most of the affected countries see few options for gainful employment. In Chicago, among 400 murders that have occurred in 2012, an estimated 80 percent of them have been gang-related. The killing in...