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In a span of a week, Turkey’s socio-political landscape featured the following examples of social engineering: First, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on Israel to remove its foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who Mr. Erdoğan says poses an obstacle to Middle East peace. Mr. Lieberman is probably not the most qualified man for peace anywhere in the world, but he, like Mr. Erdoğan, is a democratically-elected politician. Mr. Erdoğan thinks it would be most appropriate if Mr. Lieberman were to be removed, but that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and the Hamas chaps stay in power – for peace! Second,...

The first gathering of Vatican and Islamic scholars is to focus on religious harmony and freedom Pope Benedict XVI Bess Twiston Davies Yesterday leading Vatican and Muslim scholars gathered for the first the Catholic-Muslim Forum, a new initiative founded to improve relations between Christianity and Islam. The aim of the three-day seminar, which ends tomorrow, is to discuss points of unity and division in Roman Catholicism and Islam. Interfaith relations hit an impasse two years ago following a speech by Pope Benedict XVI in which he cited a Byzantine emperor whose words appeared to imply that Islam was a violent,...

I just came back home from being overseas, and as I was passing through Immigration, I noticed something strange. There were the lines for non citizens, citizens, Military and then there was another line for "Global Community". Who the heck is that? This line had no one manning it, but appeared to have a card that they swiped. Under the title Global Community there was smaller print that said "Friends of the World". Who are these people and why are they being admitted to our country without any questions?

Since Iran has unique historical, cultural and natural tourism attractions, its tourism industry has the potential to replace oil as a source of revenue. Expressing this on Wednesday at the International Conference on World Trade in Furniture, Home Designing, Interior Decoration, deputy head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) for tourism affairs Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh said that certainly over-reliance on oil alone are among the reasons for the underdevelopment of the national economy. He further said, "In the past three years, a considerable growth was witnessed in the tourism industry thanks to efforts made as well as...

THE INCOHERENT DEBATE over sharia, or Islamic law, continues in Britain. The main culprit: multicultural confusion among non-Muslim leaders. In February, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams argued that the introduction of sharia as a separate legal system for British Muslims is "unavoidable" (see this article). Williams's comments produced widespread alarm and condemnation, so Britain's Lord Chief Justice, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers then stepped in. (He's the rough equivalent of our Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but with more latitude for public tomfoolery.) Phillips declared early this month that family and business disputes can be submitted to sharia mediation...

Three German mountaineers were kidnapped by terrorists in Turkey's eastern province of Agri, the state-run Anatolian Agency reported Wednesday quoting the governor. (UPDATED) PKK terrorists seized the climbers, part of a group of 13 mountaineers, as they were ascending the mountain in Agri province, provincial governor Mehmet Cetin told the AA. "The terrorists said they carried out this action because of the German government's recent moves against PKK associations and sympathizers," the Anatolian Agency reported the Governor Mehmet Cetin as saying. Cetin said the terrorists kidnapped the three late on Tuesday, adding the gendarmerie had launched a wide-scale search and...

Three unidentified gunmen and three Turkish policemen were killed Wednesday in an attack on a police guard post at the main entrance of the well-fortified U.S. Consulate in Istanbul that officials labeled a "terrorist" act. One person has been taken into custody, Dogan News Agency reported. (UPDATED) The attack was "an obvious act of terrorism" aimed at the United States, the country's ambassador to Turkey said. "This was an attack on an American diplomatic establishment. The persons who lost their lives are Turkish citizens and we are very sad about that," Ross Wilson told reporters in Ankara. The three assailants...

Hey fellow Freepers. I'm going to be away for two years because of an overseas committment in a land where I will be censored and cannot visit sites like this. What will happen to my account on Free Republic? Can I let it sit inactive that long?

During each program, “A Muslim Journey to Hope” presents the true stories of people who have had a life-changing experience. Each story is true, and each story is different. Yet they are as different as the lives of each person: Women and men. Young and old. Rich and poor. From many countries in the world. But each story tells how each of these people has found hope. Link is to Testimony #47 at muslimjourneytohope dot com by a man simply identified as “Afshin”. body of comment An Authentic Encounter with Jesus

After four weeks in police custody, Iranian Christian Mohsen Namvar was released “temporarily” last week to return to his home in Tehran. A doctor summoned to Namvar’s home after his release last Thursday (June 26) administered medicines and serum to treat the badly beaten prisoner. The physician reported that the 44-year-old house church leader had a fever and very high blood pressure. “His body is still in shock,” one Iranian Christian told Compass, “and his hands and feet are shaking all the time.” The source added, “Maybe they were afraid he would die in prison.” Arrested on May 31 from...

Officers seize Christians from their home, leaving ill 4-year-old girl unattended. LOS ANGELES, June 25 (Compass Direct News) – Security police officials in Tehran this month tortured a newly converted couple and threatened to put their 4-year-old daughter in an institution after arresting them for holding Bible studies and attending a house church. A Christian source in Iran said that 28-year-old Tina Rad was charged with “activities against the holy religion of Islam” for reading the Bible with Muslims in her home in east Tehran and trying to convert them. Officials charged her husband, 31-year-old Makan Arya, with “activities against...

The Moscow City Court on Monday commuted the prison sentence of a U.S. pastor convicted of smuggling rifle ammunition into the country and ordered his release. Judge Natalya Nikishina reduced Phillip Miles' three-year sentence to 10 months suspended and said he could be released as early as Tuesday morning. Miles, a pastor at the Christ Community Church in Conway, South Carolina, watched Monday's hearing from jail via video link and was jubilant after hearing Nikishina overturn his sentence by a lower court. "Hallelujah!" Miles, his arms spread wide, exclaimed after his interpreter told him he would be freed. With six...

BERLIN - Sometimes it just takes a knack for attracting attention. German police say an American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps for nearly three days was rescued after using her sports bra as an SOS flag. Twenty-four-year-old Jessica Bruinsma of Colorado was lifted to safety by helicopter last Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain. Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp describes Bruinsma as "a very smart girl" who acted "very resourcefully." He says "she kept her shirt and jacket for warmth, but thought...

Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its arsenal. Carter made his comments on Israel's weapons at a press conference at the annual literary Hay Festival in Wales. He also described Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "one of the greatest human rights crimes on earth". Carter gave the figure for the Israeli nuclear arsenal in response to a question on US policy on a possible nuclear-armed Iran, arguing that any country newly armed with atomic weapons faced overwhelming odds. "The US has more than 12,000 nuclear weapons; Russia has about the same; Great...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The international space station's lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go. So NASA may order an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week. Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate. according to NASA. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off. Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally. Russian officials don't know the cause of the problem and the crew has been unable to fix it. The crew...

MONTREAL - Canadian women are being asked to volunteer their undergarments in an international effort to shame Myanmar's ruling junta into giving citizens greater access to humanitarian aid and human rights. Organizers launched the Canadian edition of the Panties for Peace! campaign Tuesday with a call for women to send their underwear to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa. The campaign plays off regional superstitions that contact with women's panties can sap a man's power. Activists claim the fear is shared by the leaders of the country's military regime. "If you don't believe me, you can bring this to the Yangon...

NEW YORK - Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's is introducing a new flavour called "Imagine Whirled Peace." That's w-h-i-r-l-ed not w-o-r-l-d. The idea of giving peace a lick is a takeoff on the John Lennon tune Imagine, recorded in 1971. The new flavour is a caramel and sweet cream whirl of chocolate-covered peace signs and toffee pieces. The company worked with the estate of Lennon, who was shot to death in Manhattan in 1980, to introduce the new flavour. The promotion also includes a recreation of the "Bed-In" staged by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 aimed at...

Sales of Desire - an unlicensed drug that is said to improve sexual performance - apparently went limp in Edmonton long before Health Canada's recent warning about the harmful side-effects of such drugs. Only one store contacted by Sun Media yesterday, and which asked not to be identified, said it normally stocked Desire but hadn't been able to order any for some time. Other Edmonton stores, like Popeye's supplements at 10651 124 St., stick with reputable suppliers and well-known brand-name products, according to manager Greg Lewis. Health Canada issued a warning Thursday about Desire, which was found to contain the...

A Chinese magazine has been shut down for printing pictures of scantily-clad women posing in rubble for a special report on the country's devastating earthquake. The New Travel Weekly, a small lifestyle magazine, ran photos of sultry models in their underwear amid the debris in an issue that hit the stands on Monday - the first of three days of national mourning. The press and publication department of the southwestern city of Chongqing, where the magazine was based, said it decided to close the magazine down for "rectification." The department said the magazine "seriously violated propaganda discipline and went against...

MILTON, Vt. (AP) — For fighter pilots, the difficulty in answering nature’s call is as old as flying itself. After all, there are no rest areas when you’re zooming through the sky at 500 mph. Over the decades, pilots have used bottles and bags — or just held it. Many avoid liquids, or make sure their last stop before climbing into the cockpit is a bathroom. Now a Vermont company has come up with a 21st-century solution that pilots can use without unstrapping themselves from their seats. The system uses special underwear equipped with a hose linked to a pump...