Free Republic

Kerry Pressing Swiftboat Case, Long After Loss By KATE ZERNIKE John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: "Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia." He moves on to the photographs: his boat leaving the base at Ha Tien, Vietnam; the harbor; the mountains fading frame by frame as the boat heads north; the special operations team the boat was ferrying across the border; the men reading maps and setting off flares. "They gave me a hat," Mr. Kerry says. "I have the hat to this day," he declares, rising to pull it from his...

United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster. The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world’s response. But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN. “I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,”...

Meadowfield Elementary’s new quiet rule gets mixed reviews from parents, teachers At Meadowfield Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, silence among students isn’t a preference — it’s a requirement. When the school’s 600-plus students returned from winter break Tuesday, they couldn’t banter in the hallways or swap stories in the cafeteria, thanks to a new silence policy. Instead, students read books while waiting for the school day to begin and listen to classical music in the school’s corridors and cafeteria. The change has parents talking; some say the policy goes too far. They’ll discuss the new policy with school leaders...