Free Republic

Some might call him brave, others naive, or even reckless, but the one thing Joachim Crima is not is ordinary. He is black, and he is Russian. And now this watermelon seller, and former student from Guinea Bissau, is attempting to become the first black man ever to be elected to public office in Russia. Mr Crima has become an overnight media sensation here. On the day I visited him in his home town Srednyaya Akhtuba in southern Russia, two other TV crews were with him. The next day two more were due in town. The country's newspapers have dubbed...

America's Timothy Geithner says it's 'too early' to withdraw economic stimulus Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, said it's 'too early' to withdraw the unprecedented stimulus governments have given the world economy as there is a 'long way to go.' Published: 9:02AM BST 03 Sep 2009 Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary, has said it's too early to withdraw the economic stimulus packages Mr Geithner made the remarks to reporters in Washington as he set off for a meeting of finance ministers from the G20 countries in London this weekend. The gathering comes before a meeting of G20 leaders in...

Two men in Texas believe they may have discovered the body of a chupacabra – a mythical beast rumoured to suck all the blood out of its prey. Published: 9:18AM BST 03 Sep 2009 Lynn Butler, a taxidermist, says that he found the mystery creature's corpse in a chicken barn three months ago, the morning after an unseen predator was heard running amock. While its hairless, leathery body and pointed muzzle resemble a dog with severe mange, other animal eerts who have inspected the corpse have suggested it may be a chupacabra, a predator first sighted in Puerto Rico in...

SNIPPET: "A bomb has exploded outside the Athens stock exchange, slightly injuring a female passer-by and damaging the building, police say. The bomb - which set fire to several cars - was hidden in a stolen van. Another bomb went off outside a government building in Thessaloniki, causing minor damage and no injuries. The blasts may be the work of a Greek extremists' group, Revolutionary Struggle, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens. Earlier this year the group claimed responsibility for two bombs aimed at the American Citibank group. Flying glass A warning of the Athens explosion was telephoned to...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/i-have-been-abducted-by-aliens-says-japans-first-lady-1780888.html

Cerberus, the investment group, is barring investors in two new hedge funds from withdrawing money for three years in an effort to avoid a repeat of the large outflows that followed its lossmaking purchases of Chrysler and GMAC, the group’s executives said. The move to introduce a three-year “lock-up” is rare among hedge funds and could pave the way for other managers to follow suit. Hedge funds typically offer investors the chance to withdraw money every few months – a feature that contrasts with alternative asset classes such as private equity that require multi-year lock-ups. But after suffering more than...

"We're seeing the beginning of a peaceful — and I emphasize peaceful — revolt in America." Thus spoke Senator John McCain at a townhall meeting in Arizona this past week. Two days later — before his constituents in Chickasha, Oklahoma — Senator James Inhofe declared, "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country. People are not buying these concepts that are completely foreign to America." The centerpiece of both townhalls, as throughout the nation, was the socialized medicine schemes embodied in bills before Congress and backed to the hilt by the White House. One man at the McCain meeting shouted...

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) -- John M. Stephens, the 1988 Offensive Rookie of the Year for the New England Patriots, has been killed after his pickup truck ran off a highway and struck some trees, authorities said Wednesday. Stephens, 43, apparently lost control of his vehicle on a rural stretch of Louisiana Highway 169 near Shreveport on Tuesday evening, the Caddo Parish Sheriff's office said. Stephens wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown after the truck hit some trees head-on, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said in a statement.

A fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who was charged last week with defrauding Citigroup also defrauded other banks, U.S. prosecutors said. The allegations against fund-raiser Hassan Nemazee—arrested last week on a bank fraud charge and released on $25 million bail—were not formal charges but were in a letter dated Tuesday from prosecutors to a Manhattan federal court magistrate judge handling the case. Nemazee, 59, head of a private equity firm, was accused on Aug. 25 of one count of bank fraud for seeking a fraudulent $74 million loan from Citigroup's banking unit. He said after his...

It is now reported: Brazil Champion in Swine Flu DeathsBrazil's Health Ministry informed that 557 people have now died from swine flu in that country surpassing the US in the number of fatal victims of the AH1N1 virus and taking the first place from the United States. As was reported in Brazil months back, and posted here and here. Monday, June 29, 2009 The Mutating Virus: A/Sao Paulo/1454/2009(H1N1 Influenza A virus (A/Sao Paulo/1454/2009(H1N1))The mutating virus from Brazil that the WHO continues to deny is mutating. That would make the production of the current vaccine, basically useless this fall. Posted by...

GORDON Brown is heading for a crushing defeat at the next election with voters believing he is failing our troops in Afghanistan, a vital Sun poll reveals today. Tory David Cameron will sweep to power with a 96-seat Commons majority, the survey predicts. Seven in ten voters think Mr Brown's government is doing a "very bad" or "fairly bad" job of supporting Our Boys in the Afghan conflict. In a further blow to the PM, twice as many voters believe Britain's armed forces would be better off in Mr Cameron's hands than Mr Brown's. Our poll also reveals 51 percent...

A Belgian national and resident of France, suspected of international arms dealing for decades, was arrested on charges alleging that he conspired to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran, the U.S. Justice Department stated. Jacques Monsieur was arraigned Wednesday in a U.S. federal court in Mobile, Alabama. Monsieur, 56, and co-defendant Dara Fotouhi, 54, an Iranian national currently living in France, were indicted with conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling, as well as violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

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China denied on Thursday claims by two U.S. journalists, jailed by North Korea for illegal entry into the reclusive state, that they were seized on Chinese territory. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee told The Los Angeles Times that they strayed into North Korean territory in March when visiting a frozen river that marked the border with China. They said they rushed back to the Chinese side but North Korean guards chased them and dragged them into North Korea. "According to the understanding of the relevant departments, they did not find the situation as you described it," Chinese Foreign Ministry...

Note: Posting older video at this time for archival purposes. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgvUB9woVgM "NewsX Video: ATS warns of terror strike" Video Description - Quote: The Anti-Terror squad has warned that the Indian Mujahideen could be planning another terror attack. The ATS has sent a letter to the Mumbai Police, alerting them to the threat. Category: News & Politics Tags: terrorism ATS Mumbai Police Indian Mujahideen NewsX

A fragment of the world's oldest Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, has been uncovered hidden underneath the binding of an 18th-century book in an Egyptian monastery. The discovery was made by a British-based Greek academic, Nikolas Sarris, ... Last year The British Library put The Book of Psalms and St Mark's Gospel online, and now the remaining pages have been made free for public use for the first time. Along with the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaiticus is considered the oldest known Bible in the world. Originally more than 1,460 pages long and measuring 16in by 14in, it was written by...

A groundswell of parent opposition to President Barack Obama's speech next week to students on the importance of education has forced many North Texas school districts to question whether to air it live in classrooms. Obama announced the speech weeks ago, but opposition and concerns spread rapidly Wednesday morning through conservative social networking Web sites and radio talk shows. By midday, local school districts say, they were inundated with hundreds of phone calls from parents urging them to not show Obama's speech at school. Some parents threatened to keep their children home from school if the video was aired. "We...

Rochester likely will have a greater police presence on city streets soon, but they will be uniformed community service officers, not sworn police officers. At a community meeting Tuesday during which some residents called for more police in the city's neighborhoods, Police Chief Roger Peterson said he will try to accommodate such requests. But given the tough economic times, he said the department will have to shift resources rather than hire additional officers. He said community service officers likely will patrol neighborhoods rather than writing property crime reports. Citizens would be encouraged to file those reports online or via telephone....

This is the official trailer from the official website for Uchuu Senkan Yamato Fukkatsu-hen, the first Yamato feature film in 26 years! It has begun streaming a 30-second teaser trailer and a full 90-second trailer. This video is the 90" trailer. [...] The new film is set in 2220, or 21 years after the first Yamato story and 17 years after the story of the last film, "Final Yamato." A 320,000-kilometer-wide black hole threatens Earth, so 300 million people set a course for Amaaru, 27,000 light years away. The transport fleet is attacked, and the new Yamato battleship leads the...

THOUSAND OAKS -- A 65 year old man had his finger bitten off Wednesday evening at a health care rally in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff's investigators were called to Hillcrest and Lynn Road at 7:26 p.m. About 100 protesters sponsored by MoveOn.org were having a rally supporting health care reform. A group of anti-health care reform protesters formed across the street. When someone from the pro-reform side crossed over to the anti-reform side, a fist fight ensued, which resulted in the man's pinky finger getting bitten off. It's believed the man was on the...