Free Republic

Re: Francophile in the White House Date: 13 February 2004 Sir - With the spotlight now firmly on John Kerry as the leading Democratic contender, the Americans will, finally, learn who he is. It will be interesting to know their reaction when they find out why he has the absolute support of their bête noire - the French. The truth is that France strongly wants anyone but George W Bush as president so she can turn the page on her damaging relationship with the world's only hyperpower. The French press is now gleefully revealing that Brice Lalonde, the former environment...

There was something shocking about the photographs of a garlanded Abdul Qadeer Khan after Pakistan had exploded its first nuclear bomb. The reasons for the test were obvious - arch-rival India had detonated a similar weapon a couple of weeks before - but fêting such a devastating device with flowers had a sinister ring. Pakistan was rejoicing in heightened tension in a region that Bill Clinton was later to call the most dangerous in the world. Nearly six years on, that unease appears more than justified. Dr Khan not only developed Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, but in the process also passed...

Children of married parents do better in lifeBy Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent (Filed: 12/12/2003) Children born out of wedlock suffer financially, according to an official study released yesterday.The study of 18,500 babies shows that married parents are less likely to claim income support.They are also more likely to own a property and live on an income of at least £20,000 a year.The survey found that 60 per cent of parents who had children in 2000-2002 were married, 25 per cent were co-habiting and 15 per cent were not married or living together.Only 7.8 per cent of married couples...

Harrods owner Mohammed Fayed is preparing a bid for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers. He is assembling a team of senior newspaper executives to work on an offer. Fayed is believed to have contacted Lazards, the investment bank hired by Hollinger International - the Telegraphs' parent company - which is carrying out a strategic review that is likely to lead to a sale. Fayed has also met Richard Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers and one of the favourites to buy the Telegraphs should they be put up for sale. Desmond and Hollinger each own half of the West Ferry...

<p>Evidence of even more undisclosed insider riches for Conrad Black surfaced yesterday to trigger a new round of controversy.</p> <p>Black took $93 million in dividends last year from the London Telegraph, an amount that exceeded the paper's pre-tax profits by 37 percent, according to a report by the Financial Times.</p>

MICHAEL HOWARD attended a secret lunch with Richard Desmond, owner of the Express group and favourite to buy the troubled Daily Telegraph, to try to secure a promise that the newspaper will continue to support the Tories. The meeting took place only hours after it was announced that Lord Black of Crossharbour was stepping down as chief executive of Hollinger International, the Telegraph’s parent group, over allegations of millions of pounds of unauthorised payments. Monday’s lunch took place at the Westminster home of Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory treasurer, and the party’s wealthiest supporter, who is a long-standing friend of...

JERUSALEM POST OWNERS RESIGN; FACE CORRUPTION CHARGES Post To Be Sold, Management Reshuffled Jerusalem Post Publisher Tom Rose, Editor Bret Stephens To Be Replaced By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer New York-----November 17........ Under heavy pressure from investors, Conrad Black will step down as chief executive of Hollinger International Inc., publisher of the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times, and the company may be sold after an internal investigation found that fees had been improperly paid to Black and other senior executives. Several other executives are also leaving Hollinger as part of a management shakeup the company announced early Monday. David...

She was just having a bit of fun. So said a friend of Jemma-Anne Gunning, 18, the British teenager who was earlier this week sentenced to eight months in jail for indecent exposure on the Greek island of Rhodes. Gunning had defeated six other British girls to win the title "Miss Bottom 2003" in the resort of Faliraki after competing in a "strip-type" show. As Gunning herself put it: "Within only 10 hours of winning this funny contest, I found myself arrested, sleeping in a police cell, and dragged from a prosecutor to a magistrate, and eventually got hit with...

promised myself that I would never write another word about Iraq in this column, but that was before I went for an innocuous beer earlier this week. I was in a North Side of Chicago bar, packed full of college fraternity guys, who were watching the assortment of baseball, basketball and news programmes on the multiple screens. One guy, very much the worse for wear, shouted proudly: "We killed far less Iraqi citizens than Saddam." In a moment of grotesque comedy, his fratboy friend misunderstood him and said defensively: "But we've only been there a few goddamn weeks!" The pal...

UK Newspaper Says Documents Link Bin Laden to IraqSat April 26, 2003 05:13 PM ETLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper said it had discovered documents showing Iraqi intelligence hosted an envoy from Osama bin Laden in 1998 and sought to meet the alleged September 11 mastermind in person. The finding, if verified, would appear to support Washington's assertion of links between ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and bin Laden, one of the justifications for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The paper said the documents, which its correspondent found in the wrecked headquarters of the Iraqi Mukhabarat intelligence service, showed...

GEORGE Galloway has enjoyed considerable success in the courts during his political career, winning an estimated total of £250,000 in libel damages. In some cases, the disputes have been settled before they reach the courts, but the Labour MP has proved time and again he will call on expensive lawyers when crossed. Mr Galloway’s biggest libel win was against the Daily Mirror and its sister paper in Scotland, the Daily Record, in December 1992. It followed the so-called "Mirrorgate" affair in which a US journalist claimed the Daily Mirror’s then foreign editor, Nick Davies, had been involved in arms dealing...

In his speeches yesterday, George W Bush did what he does best: he bolstered American confidence, forced Americans to look forward and reminded Americans of their own strength. What a difference a year makes. At the beginning of his presidency, Mr Bush seemed to many outside America as a little boy lost. He seemed lacking in decision and understanding. Within three days of September 11, he had the measure of what had happened, as he showed at the memorial service in Washington's National Cathedral. His mettle was again apparent on September 20, when he addressed the joint session of Congress....

The Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, is no stranger to controversy, and he has certainly stirred one up with his latest remarks about Israel. Dr Sacks sees the present conflict as "tragic, because it is forcing Israel into postures that are incompatible in the long run with our deepest ideals". He cannot abide the "hatreds and insensitivities that in the long run are corrupting to a culture". He is made "very uncomfortable as a Jew" by "things that happen on a daily basis". The only example he gives is his "profound shock" at pictures of cheery Israeli soldiers posing with a...

Why we should be worried about George W Bush 29jun02 THE world outside the US is now getting used to the fact Americans have a fraudulently elected nitwit as their president, but George W. Bush excelled himself this week with a "long-awaited" definitive speech on Middle East policies that stretched even the weirdest imaginations. BRUCE WILSON in London reports: US embassies around the world moved to "explain" the batty future Bush saw for Israel and Palestine, but nothing could disguise that the bedbug was running the White House and anything could happen next. Hey, look. Even Tom Cruise is worried....