Free Republic

SNIPPET: "An Argentine prosecutor has accused Iran of trying to infiltrate countries in Latin America to sponsor and carry out "terrorist activities". Alberto Nisman said Iran was attempting to set up intelligence-gathering stations in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and other countries in the region. Mr Nisman is investigating a bomb attack that killed 85 people in a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994." SNIPPET: ""I legally accuse Iran of infiltrating several South American countries to install intelligence stations - in other words espionage bases - destined to commit, encourage and sponsor terror attacks like the one that took place against...

Now the Iranian constitution requires a new president to be elected, and Rafsanjani’s entry into the contest radically alters what was previously seen as a contest between rival conservative groups. Not that Rafsanjani currently is more than a relative moderate – currently, because in his time he has veered sharply from side to side across Iran’s political spectrum; and relatively moderate because, although he now favours a domestic free market, privatization of state-owned industries, and a moderate position internationally, he is still sought by the Argentinian government for ordering the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in...

On Monday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel’s state archive released the 53-year-old transcript of the Cabinet meeting at which then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion informed his ministers that Adolf Eichmann had been captured and was held in Israel. The transcript offers a unique and entirely candid look at one of the key moments in Israel’s history. One of the ministers, Yitzhak Ben-Aharon, was so flabbergasted by the news that he blurted out in Yiddish, “Ve macht man das?” How does one do that? The Cabinet meeting took place on May 23, 1960. Twelve days earlier, a Mossad team captured Eichmann outside of...

Buenos Aires, Argentina – When torrential rains and flooding hit Argentina, leaving thousands homeless, the “Solidarity Network” founded by a social entrepreneur and Catholic layman named Juan Carr sprang into action. They positioned a large red truck in downtown Buenos Aires outside the Cathedral of Buenos Aires to collect food, clothes and other supplies for the flood victims, with a hand-painted banner reading: “You are not alone … the entire country embraces you!” This reflects the fact that the former occupant of the cathedral, now known to the world as Pope Francis, was a major supporter of Carr's concern for...

10 Facts about our new Holy Father Pope Francis. Major curveball. Who saw this coming? Here are 10 quick facts about Pope Francis (Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio): Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife. He's a Jesuit. The first Jesuit Pope ever.Pope Francis is known for his humility, doctrinal conservatism, defender of the Church's moral theology, and a commitment to social justice.He has been critical of liberation theology.He is close to Comunione e Liberazione.He has opposed legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine Government to allow same-sex...

<p>Argentine Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope on Wednesday and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.</p> <p>A stunned-looking Bergoglio shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter's Square, marveling that the cardinals had had to look to "the end of the earth" to find a bishop of Rome.</p>

BACKGROUND: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ (born December 17, 1936) is the current pope of the Roman Catholic Church, elected on March 13, 2013, and taking the regnal name of Francis I. Prior to his election, he served as an Argentine cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001. He was elevated to Pope in March 2013. Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife. After studying at the seminary in Villa...

Explanation: Now shining in eastern skies at dawn, bright planets Venus and Jupiter join the Pleiades star cluster in this sea and sky scape, recorded earlier this week near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Venus dominates the scene that includes bright star Aldebaran just below and to the right. The planets are easy to spot for early morning risers, but this sky also holds two of our solar system's small worlds, Vesta and Ceres, not quite bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye. The digital camera's time exposure just captures them, though. Their positions are indicated when you put your...

Face of evil: MOHSEN RABBANI The Islamic Shiite cleric active in Latin America since the early 1990s. Responsible for the 1992 and 1994 anti-Jewish massacres in Argentina. Wanted in that country and by the Interpol for the crimes. Called for Israel to be "wiped off," in 1994. 'Chief' Islamic operator of Hezbollah - Quds activities of: Islamizaton --including 'recruting converts for Islam'-- and terror networks in Latin America, resides in Brazil. Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil - Pages 122-3Tom Diaz, Barbara Newman - Random House Digital, Inc., 2006 - History - 272 pagesThe man directly responsible for this cell-building...

In 1994, 85 innocent civilians were killed in a bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hundreds more were wounded. To this day, that bombing is the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on the South American continent. The bombing is believed to have been a joint operation of Hezbollah and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Recently there has been a new development in the case.

Last week a train accident in Buenos Aires claimed the lives of 50 individuals. While the event is obviously intensely mournful, much of the emotion within Argentina also includes a high level of frustration over the system and society which allowed this to happen. Argentinian culture is known for being proud. Nationalism has been the tool of many leaders, and drove the nation to war over the Falkland Islands in the 80s. Yet there is a general sense of malaise and indignation in a country that was one of the wealthiest in the world a century ago. Indignation is brewing...

LA PAZ, Bolivia—The defense minister of Iran, whose extradition is sought by neighboring Argentina for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center, is in Bolivia participating in the dedication of a military academy

Cell seeks to avenge assassination of Imad Mughniyeh; attack could target Israelis in immediate future, security sources warn; Talal Hamia named as Hezbollah commander charged with carrying out strike. Hezbollah is planning a terrorist attack against Israelis abroad within days, security sources warned on Thursday night. The warning of the imminent attack did not mention specific locations. It was issued as many Israelis were abroad for the weeklong Pessah holiday. Security is being stepped up at potential Jewish and Israeli targets overseas, the sources said. They named Hezbollah operative Talal Hamia as the commander of a small but well-organized overseas...

Chris Burgard, BORDER documentary filmmaker, speaks to thousands at the Tea Party Express national tour kickoff in Searchlight NV. You know that ‘off limits’ area in Arizona called Buenos Aires Wildlife preserve? It has essentially been closed to Americans and surrendered to the Mexican drug cartels. That is the exact area where Chris Burgard (seen above at the Tea Party Express kickoff in Searchlight NV) filmed his movie BORDER, and watched columns of heavily armed men escorting people across the border. His movie predicted the increasing violence and conflict in that exact area several years back, but no one wanted...

The thing that caught our eye in the plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport and its oil lines concerns a detail in respect of the arrest of one of the key Guyanese suspects. It was the fact that the former member of the Guyanese legislature who was fingered in the plot, Abdul Kadir, was arrested in Trinidad on his way to Caracas, Venezuela. According to Mr. Kadir's wife, who was quoted in the Guyanese press, he was there to pick up an Iranian visa that would enable him to attend an Islamic conference in Tehran. No doubt...

Mar 8, 2009 10:29 | Updated Mar 8, 2009 10:33 Top AMIA Bombing Investigator Briefly Kidnapped in Argentina By JPOST.COM STAFF One of the senior investigators in the 1994 Iranian-Hizbullah bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was attacked and briefly kidnapped in Argentina, Israel Radio reported on Saturday night. The masked attackers reportedly nabbed Claudio Lipschitz from his home, threw him into the trunk of a van and violently interrogated him for several hours. The men identified themselves as members of the Argentinean intelligence service and demanded to know if Lipschitz had any case material that...

Buenos Aires, Oct 10, 2008 / 01:28 pm (CNA).- Pablo is one of the one hundred Argentinean young people who stood outside the Cathedral of Neuquen on August 17 to shield the church from protests by feminists who want abortion to be legalized.Thousands of people have been moved by a video of the young people posted on CNA’s YouTube channel, which shows the ferocity of the confrontation by the feminists who were gathered for the National Encounter of Women in Neuquen.  They shouted insults and threw objects at the young people who were shielding the Cathedral. One of the young...

Brazil honoured the great Pele on Thursday and the other eight surviving players from its maiden FIFA World Cup™ triumph in 1958, a victory that put the nation on the football map and paved the way for four more titles. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave the nine men medals of honour at a banquet dedicated to their 5-2 final victory over hosts Sweden 50 years ago. "You helped us understand...we could make Brazil a winner," Lula told the players at the ceremony. Brazil, the most successful football nation with five FIFA World Cup titles, is now in a...

A Norwegian cruise ship carrying some 300 people lost engine power during an electrical outage and struck an Antarctic glacier, smashing a lifeboat but causing no injuries... The MS Fram hit the ice late Friday near Browns Bluff in the Antarctic... The engine started again and the liner continued to King George Island for an inspection. "We hit a glacier. We have damage to a starboard lifeboat and a little bit forward," ... the ship apparently suffered no serious damage. Hansen said the power outage lasted 40 to 50 minutes and sent the vessel adrift against the glacier, where it...

Phoenix – A mother and daughter, both wanted in Florida on charges of racketeering, were apprehended by alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Wednesday night. While screening passengers arriving from Mexico City, CBP officers examined documents belonging to 24-year-old Silvana Theurell-Portillo. While asking routine questions of Theurell-Portillo, the officers queried her name in their systems and discovered that she was a fugitive, wanted in St. Lucie County, Fla. on gambling and racketeering charges. During questioning of her mother, 65-year-old Marina Portillo, CBP officers discovered that she also was wanted on similar charges in...