Free Republic

Robert Bijold has heard plenty of news stories about pit bull attacks. But this weekend, Bijold suddenly found himself fighting a 60-pound pit bull-boxer mix that had his 3-year-old daughter, Jessie, in its jaws. “It was the most horrifying thing a parent can go through,” said Bijold. The Bijolds were at a family get-together Saturday evening on Park Avenue in Yuba City when the dog, which belongs to a relative, attacked Jessie in the backyard. Other children were playing with it only minutes before. Bijold was horrified when he saw the dog grab Jessie's head and shake the little girl....

The Lubbock County Medical Examiner is completing the autopsy of a man brutally mauled to death in Spur. Dickens County Sheriff Ken Brendle tells us two pit bulls apparently attacked 49-year-old Frank Campbell Baber early Monday morning. Baber lived in a motor home inside Blackburn's Auto-Salvage in Spur. The owner discovered Baber's body around 9:20 a.m. and called police. Right now, investigators do not know what prompted the attack. We're told the victim has lived around the animals for about the past three months. He does not own the dogs, but shares the salvage yard with them. Sheriff Brendle tells...

LONDON (AFP) - A 13th person was charged in connection with the foiled alleged terror plot to blow up US-bound passenger jets from Britain, a police spokesman told AFP. Nabeel Hussain was one of 25 people arrested since police staged pre-dawn raids on August 10 in connection with the plot. Five have since been released without charge. Police also have warrants to quiz the remaining seven until Wednesday. Under British anti-terror laws, suspects can be detained for up to 28 days without being charged, subject to regular court approval. Hussain is the ninth of the terror suspects to be hit...

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A nine-year-old Florida boy is home from the hospital after being severely bitten by a pack of dogs while riding his bike to school. The dogs turned on the boy and five other children as the students arrived at Hogan-Spring Glen Elementary on Beach Boulevard near Jacksonville Tuesday morning. "We were riding our bikes to school then these dogs came up and bite us," said Kristy Nesbitt. She was one of the students attacked by the dogs. "One of the kids did get bitten in the forehead, and in the leg and arm," the girl said. Teachers...

FT WAINWRIGHT (Army News Service, Aug. 18, 2006) -- When the extension of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Iraq was announced, the Department of the Army responded by deploying a Tiger Team to Fort Wainwright to begin working Soldier and family issues. The Tiger team got down to business Aug. 4 and worked long hours before leaving last weekend. While at Fort Wainwright, the Tiger Team confronted a variety of issues affecting deployed Soldiers and their families. “This is the top priority of the Army’s leadership,” Col. Dennis Dingle, chief of the DA Tiger Team said. “We are...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that militant groups promised to suspend attacks on Israel in hopes of ending a nearly 2-month-long Israeli crackdown in the Gaza Strip. The militants denied there was a formal agreement with Abbas, but left the door open to a possible halt in attacks. Only minor violence was reported Thursday, and there appears to have been a drop in rocket attacks on Israel in recent days. Abbas said the groups reached their accord late Wednesday during renewed talks on forming a unity government including his Fatah Party and the rival...

Cameron attacks Blair over terrorism fight By George Jones and Graeme Wilson (Filed: 16/08/2006) The united front in the battle against terrorism was shattered yesterday as David Cameron accused the Government of not doing enough to fight Islamic extremism. Ministers immediately accused him of "playing politics" with national security. The Conservative leader, making his first political intervention since returning from holiday, launched an outspoken attack on the Government's security record in the wake of the alleged attempt to blow up transatlantic passenger jets. He praised the police and security services but called for an urgent rethink of the "bizarre" decision...

Tehran, Aug. 13: One of Osama bin Laden’s sons, Saad, together with a number of top Al Qaeda commanders, including Seif al Adel, are hiding in Iran and are not in Syria as reported by several Western papers this week, a well informed source said. The source, a top Iranian intelligence official until a few months ago, said Al Qaeda and members of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, are negotiating coordinated actions against the United States and Israel. The Al Qaeda members had been living for the past four years in a neighbourhood in northern Tehran under the surveillance...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces killed three al Qaeda members and detained three others during a raid today in Afghanistan’s Khowst province, U.S. military officials reported. Intelligence linked the targeted terrorists to previous remote-controlled and makeshift car bomb attacks in Khowst. Upon arrival, the assault force received small-arms fire from the targeted building. The ground force returned fire, killing the three terrorists. The other three were detained on site without incident. Numerous assault rifles with armor-piercing ammunition, along with a weapons cache of grenades and other ordnance was found in a building at the target location....

A PRIEST is set to install high fences around his church in Blackburn in a bid to combat racist attacks. The move was revealed as a Muslim leader blasted the gang of youths which targeted St Joseph's RC Church, in Audley, Blackburn. Coun Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said the gang were "disgraceful and disrespectful" and he was so angry that when he found out who was responsible he would personally report them to the police. The latest incident happened on Sunday at 11pm and although the church's alarm system prevented the youths from gaining access...

The Gila National Forest has temporarily closed the area around Quemado Lake, including all the lake’s campgrounds, because of bears. Forest officials say several bears have been frequenting the campgrounds and are becoming increasingly aggressive. The state Department of Game and Fish is working to capture and relocate the bears. The closure went into effect Wednesday.

Coalition forces rebuild mosque, provide medical care to villagers. WASHINGTON, July 23, 2006 — Coalition forces continue to aid and develop Afghanistan, even as they fight back terrorist extremists who are determined to stop progress, U.S. military officials reported today. Aid and reconstruction efforts include a rebuilt mosque in the Paktya province and medical and humanitarian aid to hundreds of Afghan villagers in the Kandahar province, said Combined Forces Command spokesman Army Col. Thomas Collins. " Coalition forces are not now and will not ever be dissuaded from their mission of building a free, secure, and independent Afghanistan. " Maj....

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006 – Extremists in Afghanistan attacked coalition forces from a religious site yesterday, and targeted several civilian areas this week, including a bridge, a school and a wedding party, military officials in Afghanistan reported. Extremists began firing on coalition forces in the village of Nowzad in Helmand province yesterday. The sniper fire came from the direction of a religious shrine. There were no reported injuries to coalition forces or damage to equipment. In a separate incident in Kandahar province, a supply convoy received small-arms fire from a nearby mosque. While there were no casualties in this incident,...

SACRAMENTO - The effects of California's sweltering heat became a political issue today for the candidate seeking to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Phil Angelides, the Democratic nominee for governor, charged that Schwarzenegger has failed to deliver on a campaign promise to attract new power plants to ease energy shortages on summer days that lead to high electricity consumption, thus creating a new energy crisis. ``With this heat wave our energy grid has been strained almost to breaking,'' Angelides said. ``His lack of attention on this issue, his failure to move us forward, has resulted in the state once again playing...

A camper on Grand Mesa was treated and released at St.Mary’s Hospital Saturday morning after a black bear took a swipe at her after waking her up. “It wasn’t that the bear attacked her,” said Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “The bear came into her tent, and when she surprised him, he took a swipe at her.” The woman, who was not identified, felt a tugging on her sleeping bag Saturday morning at about 6:30 as she was sleeping, ... She was camping with a group on Grand Mesa near Waterdog Reservoir south of Powderhorn Resort....

Attacks by Hezbollah caused panic. More than 300 short-range Katyusha rockets have fallen on 20 Israeli towns since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted. Around 70 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Friday alone. For the people of Nahariya, life is now on the frontline. This elderly man was woken by attacks - he told police he was OK. Other towns targeted in northern Israel include Kiryat Shemona, Safed, Meron, Karmiel and even Haifa where two rockets landed on Thursday night. Another target was a military base which has a stock of Patriot missile batteries. One of Hezbollah's Katyusha...

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control is investigating a pit bull attack that sent a Boca Raton man and his dog to a hospital. Last Thursday, Curtis Harris said he was walking his 5-year-old retriever-mix in the Palmetto Pines neighborhood when two pit bulls attacked them. Harris was treated for bites to his elbows, legs and hands. His dog Rascal received numerous bites, and his leg was shattered. Harris said two women had to pull the pit bulls off him and his dog. "I'm a combat veteran. I was in Vietnam, and I don't think...

“If a link is proved,” Whiteman said, “it is likely Bakri will be investigated also, as he has been cyber-preaching from Beirut to British extremists through the U.S.-based Paltalk network, and it is known that Izadeen and Bakri are close. Following his 7/11 comments on July 2 in Birmingham, the question are will he be investigated for involvement in mass murder or was he just talking about a ‘shop?’”

TWRA ANSWERS PUBLIC CONCERNS OVER BEAR SITUATION The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has received numerous calls about its decision to euthanize a female black bear that injured an individual in Sevier County last Friday. Bob Nichols, Regional Manager wanted to advise the public concerning TWRA’s decision. “The problem with this and most bear problems in Tennessee is people, or rather what people do or do not do, said Nichols. “This particular bear was day active (not normal for a "wild bear" especially with cubs), in the middle of a condominium complex, (not in a natural area at a natural...

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2006 – Several Iraqi civilians were killed and injured during two July 7 terrorist attacks, and multiple weapons caches were found last week, military officials in Iraq said. Terrorists fired four mortar rounds at an open field in the northern Baghdad district of Khadimiyah on July 7, killing four Iraqis and wounding 38 children. Iraqi children frequently use the field as a playground, officials said. Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, responded to the scene and assisted in the evacuation of the wounded and dead to a local hospital. In a separate incident,...