Free Republic

Hopefully the Beijing babble will give way to serious business in Brisbane The 2014 APEC Conference in Beijing this past week has been and gone and the G20 Conference in Brisbane is taking place in Brisbane this weekend. If the APEC Conference is any guide the world leaders assembled in Australia will have little to say about the meteoric rise of Islamic State (IS) over the past six months and the threat to world peace and security Islamic State poses. Expectations were high that Islamic State would be discussed at the APEC Conference.

Extending grace and compassion to the PETA crowd, along with another more particularly touched by the action, President Bush pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey at the White House today. Staffing changes: Bush named Harriet Miers as White House counsel, to succeed Alberto Gonzales. Margaret Spellings, the current White House domestic policy adviser and long-time Texas associate, was chosen by President Bush to replace Rod Paige as Education Secretary. The president met with National Medal of Arts recipients opera composer Carlisle Floyd from Latta, S.C., left, and dancer, producer and choreographer Twyla Tharp, of Portland, Ind., in the Oval Office. Bush...

Report: APEC journalists lavished with free beer, foot massages in Thailand BANGKOK (AP) - Reporters at a summit of world leaders have been treated to more than a taste of Thailand's renowned hospitality - they've been served thousands of dollars worth of free beer and massages, a report said Tuesday. Journalists covering the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum are being given food and beverage vouchers worth 3,000 baht, about $76 US, in press kits and some have exchanged them for dozens of cans of beer, The Nation newspaper reported. A salesperson at the Bangkok's Queen Sirikit Convention Centre said about 170,000...