Free Republic

<p>GENEVA — The United States, backed by the European Union, Japan and Canada, has turned back a bid by developing nations to place the Internet under the control of the United Nations or its member governments.</p> <p>But governments, the private sector and others will be asked to establish a mechanism under U.N. auspices to study the governance of the Internet and make recommendations by 2005.</p>

The Dalai Lama is willing to return to Tibet if China allows him to go back to his homeland without preconditions, the exiled spiritual leader told the Guardian newspaper in an interview published on Friday. ``I'm hopeful to visit Tibet, to see my old place with my own eyes, and try to cool down the situation,'' he said. ``You ask under what circumstance? China should give me the green light without preconditions.'' The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He was speaking in Dharamsala, northern India, on the eve of a...

America's cities and towns will soon fill with parades, fireworks, and barbecues. They will be celebrating the Fourth of July, the 227th birthday of America. But one hopes that—on this second post-September 11 Independence Day—the speeches will contain fewer bromides and more attention to exactly what is being celebrated. The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but America's leaders and intellectuals have been trying to move us further and further away from the meaning of Independence Day, away from the philosophy that created this country. What we hear from politicians, intellectuals, and the media is that independence is passé, that...

Recently I have had the privilege of embarking upon a guided tour of one of Illinois Tool Works’ 600 mini-companies, a strap manufacturing plant near the company’s headquarters in Glenview, Illinois. Signode Strap, a product invented within a firm owned by ITW, is the most prevalent of its sort in the market. It is furnished of entirely recyclable materials (pop bottle remnants) into gargantuan plastic sheets that are conveyed through rollers at phenomenal temperatures of over 300 degrees Fahrenheit. I was able to observe the plastic rolled into colossal coils, then unwound again to be sliced into uniform strips, while...

Some folks think that because I drive a little 4WD vehicle I do not care about good transportation. That is not exactly true, of course. Within the past couple weeks, I have ridden in two greatly different styled electric vehicles. However, I was also in an older GTO and a Plymouth Roadrunner -- both muscle-cars with four on the floor and duel quads. Fact is, I grew up drag racing. Today, I am more interested in other things. For instance, a couple years ago I reported a little about my visit with a Jeep Commander all electric fuel cell vehicle.(1)...

India ready to discuss Kashmiri autonomy By Maseeh Rahman in Delhi 16 July 2002 The first clear sign that Delhi is working on a new political gameplan for Kashmir came yesterday when the territory's chief minister announced that the Indian government had agreed to discuss autonomy. The move came two days after 27 Hindus were killed in a Kashmir shanty town by Islamic militants masquerading as holy men, in an attack that raised new fears of a war between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory. Until 1953, Kashmir enjoyed autonomy in all areas except for defence, finance and communications....