Free Republic

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. - A volunteer movement that vows to guard America from a wave of illegal immigration has spread from the dusty U.S.-Mexican border to the verdant hollows of Appalachia. At least 40 anti-immigration groups have popped up nationally, inspired by the Minuteman Project that rallied hundreds this year to patrol the Mexican border in Arizona. "It's like O'Leary's cow has kicked over the lantern. The fire has just started now," said Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker, an American Indian activist and perennial gubernatorial candidate who runs the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen, aimed at exposing those who employ illegals. Critics call the...

handful of wrestlers at Crater and Grants Pass high schools have been diagnosed with herpes, athletic directors at both schools confirmed Thursday. The Crater wrestlers apparently contracted the viral infection while competing at a tournament in Fresno, Calif., Dec. 11-12 and then spread the disease to the Grants Pass team when they met for a dual match on Dec. 16, Crater athletic director John Beck said. A dual match between Grants Pass and South Medford scheduled for Thursday was postponed until next week. The Crater wrestlers, meanwhile, were cleared by a doctor and will compete Saturday at the Oregon Classic...

An independent investigator has found evidence that at least one high-level City Hall official was aware of concerns about favoritism in a multimillion-dollar technology contract months before the concerns turned into a public scandal, but failed to sound alarms. The long-awaited independent report into San Jose's bungled $8 million deal to buy Cisco Systems equipment for its new City Hall was released Monday. It contradicts two previous internal city probes that determined just three mid-level employees -- all of whom have since been disciplined -- were responsible for potential problems created by a close relationship city technology officials had forged...

Haitian unrest spreads as clashes flare in capital By Marcus Warren in Port-au-Prince (Filed: 16/02/2004) Violence erupted on the streets of Port-au-Prince yesterday as the Haitian opposition staged its first protest rally in the capital since rebels seized the northern port of Gonaives 11 days ago. Thousands of protesters opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide swept towards the city centre, chanting: "He must go! He must go!"A young Haitian rides a bicycle past a burning barricade Counter-demonstrators threw stones at the protesters and a woman was nearly lynched in revenge for the attack. The demonstrations were broken up when police fired live...

Sars spreads to China's army By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 14/05/2003) Sars has struck China's three million-strong military, the World Health Organisation said yesterday - just as the number of cases in the country appeared to be heading downwards. The number of new Sars patients in China was less than 100 yesterday, and the number of cases in Beijing less than 50 for the fourth day running. Ten people died, bringing the total to 262 in China. But the government's promises of new openness in its "war on Sars" came into renewed question when it was left to a...

Killer virus spreads as 60 more fall ill Health officials in Hong Kong have announced that 60 more people have fallen ill with a deadly flu-like disease. More than half of the new infections are in one apartment complex. The announcement pushes the number of infections worldwide past 1,600. New cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, have picked up pace in the past few days and at least 56 people are now known to have died of it worldwide.One of the latest victims was the doctor who identified the virus. Dr Carlo Urbani, 46, an Italian WHO expert...