Free Republic

Pakistan has told the US it risks losing an ally if it continues to accuse the country of playing a double game in the war against al-Qaeda, escalating the crisis in relations between the two countries. Hina Rabbani Khar, the Pakistani foreign minister, was responding to comments by Admiral Mike Mullen, the US joint chiefs of staff, who said Pakistan military's spy agency, ISI, was closely tied to the Haqqani network, the most violent and effective faction allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is the most serious allegation levelled by the US against Pakistan since they began an alliance...

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has handed over a historic request to UN chief Ban Ki-moon asking the United Nations to admit the state of Palestine as a full member. The Palestinian leader won huge applause and a standing ovation on Friday from some of the assembly as he entered the hall before beginning his speech. Abbas said he was ready to return to the negotiations, saying he did not want to isolate or delegitimize Israel. "Here I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of...

Can you believe such a comic book could have existed from Archie Comics just a few years ago? In Life With Archie #16, which looks at the world of a twenty-somthing Archie cast has recently created gay character Kevin Keller returning from war to get married to his partner in Riverdale. And everyone turns up to the ceremony… just as Archie is separating from his wife, Veronica. Is this proof that gay marriage does destroy traditional marriage after all? Written by Paul Kupperburg, drawn by Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy, Al Milgrom, Bob Smith with a cover from Batman’s...

Here is the live proceedings of the debate prior to the final floor vote of the Senate of the 112th Congress of the United States of America.

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/ Here is the live proceedings and current vote count from the House of Representatives of the 112th Congress of the United States of America.

I just got off the phone with a source on Capitol Hill who has spent the past few days trying to convince Republicans to vote for a debt ceiling hike. He told me that the biggest obstacle he faces has been "market complacency." "Frankly, a bit of panic would be very helpful right now," he said. As he explained it, lots of people in Washington, D.C. expected that this would be a week marked by panic in the markets. Stocks would tank. Bonds would get clobbered. The dollar would do something dramatic. And all of this would help convince reluctant...

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) cited major civil rights victories as examples of successful presidential executive orders as evidence President Barack Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress fails to do so. “He could do that [an executive order] with a stroke of a pen. We have seen many big things done in history that way,” Clyburn said on MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co.” “I was joking to my staff the other day: ‘Tell me the bill number for the Emancipation Proclamation.’ It was an executive order. We integrated the armed services by executive order. We...

Republican Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker on Friday defended her decision to leave the agency for a lobbying job with cable provider Comcast and pushed back against critics who questioned her impartiality. Baker, who voted to allow Comcast to merge with NBC Universal last January, attracted considerable criticism this week when she said she was going to work for the newly merged company. Baker denied that she was compromised by any discussion with Comcast. “Not once in my entire tenure as a Commissioner had anyone at Comcast or NBC/Universal approached me about potential employment,” she said in a statement....

The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council. And despite calling for an independent investigation into the crackdown, which has left hundreds dead, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently won’t do much about blocking Syria’s path to the human rights group. "That's not really for the secretary general to suggest to a member state," said Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary-general, when asked if the U.N. chief would ask Syria to drop...

Gen. Khalifa Haftr, the self-proclaimed commander of the Free Libyan Army, does not dress for battle. On a recent day after his forces had reclaimed much of the territory they had lost, the commander was wearing a pinstripe suit and a black turtleneck sweater. Haftr, who lived in Fairfax, Va., until recent weeks when he returned to join the rebellion against Moammar Gadhafi, was appointed to lead the rebel army earlier this month. His top aides appear to be his sons. It is difficult for the media as well as the Obama administration to determine who, if anyone, is in...

Since the disaster struck in Japan, about 800 workers have been evacuated from the damaged nuclear complex in Fukushima. The radiation danger is that great. However, CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that a handful have stayed on the job, risking their lives, to try to save the lives of countless people they don't even know. Although communication with the workers inside the nuclear plant is nearly impossible, a CBS News consultant spoke to a Japanese official who made contact with one of the 50 inside the control center. The official said that his friend, one of the Fukushima 50,...

Iraq's largest oil refinery was shut down on Saturday after militants carried out a bomb attack and set it on fire, the governor of Salahuddin province said. The militants killed four people and planted bombs at production units for kerosene and benzene at the refinery in the town of Baiji, a former al Qaeda stronghold about 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, Governor Ahmed al-Jubouri said. "There is a big fire in the refinery and the refinery has completely stopped," Jubouri told Reuters. Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the peak of sectarian conflict in 2006-07, but...

In a letter sent Friday to the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the deans of American medical schools, chief executives of U.S. hospitals and heads of organizations with names like the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Society of Human Genetics said that federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research “is essential” if scientists are to succeed in turning the cells into usable treatments. “The therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells is remarkable and could well prove to be one of the most significant paradigm-shifting advances in the history of...

Pakistani police have arrested seven men suspected of plotting to kill top government officials, highlighting the growing threat Pakistan faces from groups it has historically given a relatively free rein to operate. Abid Qadri, chief of the Bahawalpur police, told reporters late Thursday that the men had been captured after a shootout Wednesday night. They apparently had planned to use an explosive-laden vehicle to kill Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani and other senior officials, including the foreign minister on a visit to Mr. Gillani's hometown of Multan, but were thwarted as their plot was “almost complete.” According to police, the...

NATO’s confirmation that its forces are facilitating talks between Taliban leaders and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a sign that the Afghanistan balance could be shifting from warfare to settlement – and the eventual withdrawal of Western combat forces. With President Obama’s surge of US forces in Afghanistan complete, this was supposed to be the time for breaking the insurgency’s momentum to create more favorable conditions for peace negotiations. Though those conditions have clearly not yet arrived, NATO decided to guarantee safe passage to senior Taliban leaders taking part in the talks – though NATO is not...

Republican Christine O'Donnell was unable to name a single recent Supreme Court decision she disagreed with during a televised debate with her Democratic rival a moment similar to a 2008 gaffe by her mentor Sarah Palin. Miss O'Donnell, 41, who is running for the senate in Delaware, invited the question when she said she opposed activist judges, citing the recent court decision ordering an immediate halt to military discharges of gays who revealed their sexuality. But when the moderators asked her to name a recent Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed, the Tea Party favourite was unable to name...

The Pentagon acknowledged Thursday that some parts of Pakistan's intelligence agency are cooperating with terrorist groups as a new report suggests Inter-Service Intelligence agents are working to undermine U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the Pakistan intelligence service as an organization does not support terrorism, but some elements within the ISI are providing assistance to terrorists. U.S. officials have raised concerns about whether some members of the ISI "might be interacting with terrorist organizations in ways that aren't consistent with what the government and military are doing," Lapan said. Lapan was responding after a report...

KABUL—Afghan officials, retired Pakistani security chiefs and former Taliban leaders are meeting in Kabul, trying to find ways to open peace talks with the insurgents—possibly by dropping key Western-backed conditions to such a reconciliation. The meetings, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and held Tuesday and Wednesday in Kabul's luxurious Serena Hotel, don't involve insurgents. The Taliban's position is to refuse all peace contacts as long as U.S.-led international forces remain in the country. President Hamid Karzai's aides and other officials said, however, that the Afghan government would be ready to abandon some previously announced "red lines," such as a...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strengthened its air defense with a view to preventing NATO forces from intruding into its territory from Afghanistan. The strong US ally has installed anti-aircraft missiles in its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, well-placed sources told Arab News here on Monday. “Now no helicopter will be able to escape after entering into Pakistani territory,” the official sources said. Meanwhile, NATO’s chief expressed regret on Monday for the deaths of Pakistani soldiers last week and said he hoped Pakistan’s border would reopen for NATO supplies to Afghanistan as soon as possible. Angered by repeated attacks by NATO helicopters on...

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) literally lost it on the House floor Thursday over his Republican colleagues' procedural objection to an amendment to the Public Health Services Act. The amendment would extend and improve health care benefits for 9/11 victims suffering from lasting health complications. Weiner is given to House floor drama. The New York Democrat is known for his often passionate and attention-grabbing remarks. He screamed for more than a minute Thursday, calling on Republican colleagues to vote 'no' against the bill, rather than object on procedural grounds.