Free Republic

The Russia-controlled Donetsk administration said over 900 Ukrainian troops surrendered the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a figure much larger than previously reported. "In total, 962 Ukrainian militants surrendered from the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol," the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Territorial Defense Headquarters said. Mixed reports have emerged concerning the number of Ukrainian personnel that were evacuated from the plant upon its surrender, as early estimates put the figure between a few hundred and 1,000, Ukraine's military said.

Bob Casey Democrat 8,711 (60%) Rick Santorum (i) Republican 5,902 (40%)

It appears to have become a consensus among congressmen, opinionados, and the like chatterers that the training of Iraqi soldiers is the key to victory in Iraq. What started as a harmless idea to create the seeds of an exit strategy while giving Iraqis a sense of empowerment has morphed, at least in the public perception, into a central strategic plank of the actual waging of war in Iraq. This newfound significance of the otherwise nice idea of training Iraqis is both silly and dangerous. It is silly inasmuch as the trained Iraqis are not going to be a replacement...

REPUBLICAN leader and former Northern Education Minister Martin McGuinness pledged last night: "My war is over." Mr McGuinness, who has been a senior member of the Provisional IRA, said his job now as a political leader was to prevent war. "My job is to continue to ensure a political set of circumstances which will never again see British soldiers or members of the IRA lose their lives as a result of political conflict. I feel very passionate about that," he told a BBC documentary programme on his life. Mr McGuinness said: "My political project until the day I retire from...