Free Republic

A new director of customs in Skagway, Alaska, is creating confusion for Yukon boat owners with new registration and reporting rules that don't seem to be written anywhere. The rules affect about 250 Yukoners who have bought and registered boats in Alaska and moor them in Skagway. “We're ready to go,” said Yukon boater Bob Cameron. “We all want to go, but what do we do? We're a little bit scared to untie our boats." That's because if the boater is Canadian, Skagway's director of Customs and Border Services is requiring them to report where they’re going. They must also...

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - A police survey says panhandlers outside a Wal-Mart here can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much. Police say people who have a problem with that needn't look to the law--asking for money is considered protected free speech. "We are not going to target panhandlers," said Coos Bay Police Capt. Rodger Craddock, who spoke a recent gathering of business owners about panhandling. "We can't do that. But if they aren't getting money from us, they aren't going to stand on that corner." He said most panhandlers are...

Two Muslim clerics purportedly caught on camera allegedly taking bribes for declaring fatwas were suspended as ulemas on Monday, decided to form a body to monitor issuance of religious edicts. All India Milli Council set up an inquiry committee and announced "a social boycott" of those involved in the fatwas racket. Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband suspended Mufti Habibur Rehman and Meerut's Shahi Jama Masjid removed Maulana Imran following reports that they were seen accepting the money in return for issuing fatwas. Darul Uloom Vice-Chancellor Marghoobur Rehman said a four-member panel would investigate the matter and if found guilty Habibur...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is adopting new steps in its global tsunami-relief campaign to guard against improprieties like those alleged in the oil-for-food program for Iraq, U.N. officials said Monday

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley bent rules, missed deadlines and failed to do proper paperwork as he spent millions of dollars in federal election money, state Auditor Elaine Howle told a legislative committee conducting its first hearing Monday to investigate the embattled state elections official. Howle meticulously told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that Shelley's management failures, which also included the questionable use of federal money, added up to "disregard for proper controls and poor oversight" of money given California to modernize its voting systems. But a representative of Shelley's office testified under oath that much of the...

ADLAI STEVENSON once argued that a politician is a statesman who “approaches every question with an open mouth”. If the performance of Jan Egeland, of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is an indication, the same is true of those paid by the United Nations. A week ago, despite just one day having passed since the Asian tsunami, with the reported death toll one tenth of what it is now believed to be, and ignoring the fact that public holidays are never the easiest times to start organising an aid effort, Mr Egeland saw fit to dismiss...

I only have access to a few English language television stations while I am visiting Israel: BBC News and CNN International. Every quarter hour they recap the top stories. Today’s big story (after the non-stop images of a tidal wave taking out resorts frequented by Europeans and few Americans) is the comment of U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland who said that western nations, particularly the United States, were being stingy with their aid packages offered for victims of the disaster. Without putting into context the fact that the United States provides more funding to the UN than any...

US targets Lucent Technologies in Saudi bribery probe Two US federal agencies have launched an investigation into the business activities of telecom developer Lucent Technologies in Saudi Arabia. The US-based company has been accused of bribing a Saudi official with offerings valued at $15 million in exchange for business opportunities with the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC). The company’s possible violation of US bribery laws were addressed in a civil lawsuit filed by the National Group for Communications and Computers, a US-based provider of internet services in the Kingdom. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice...

A Saudi Arabian diplomat has been forced to leave Britain following allegations that he bribed a police officer. The Foreign Office (FO) said the man had left the UK after it raised its concerns with the Saudi ambassador about the diplomat's activities. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that an officer had been charged with misconduct and is currently facing prosecution. The Foreign Office refused to discuss details of the allegations facing the diplomat, who is named by several newspapers as "intelligence officer" Ali al-Shamarani. The FO said: "We raised the case of a Saudi diplomat with the Saudi ambassador and we...