Free Republic

An acclaimed comedy website which ridicules Northern Ireland politics has had the plug pulled on it by Freeserve. But, writes BBC News Online's Giles Wilson, the site refuses to be decommissioned. Many UK websites have tried - and failed - to become as reliably funny, pointed and popular as The Onion. The success of one stands out, though. It's not produced in a flashy Soho office, it's put together by one man, at home, in an unglamorous town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is the Portadown News. In eight months, it has built a dedicated following of about 1,000 ...

The IRA has said it has put some weapons "beyond use" in what will be widely seen as an historic breakthrough for the Northern Ireland peace process. Confirmation of what the IRA called an "unprecedented" move came in a statement on Tuesday. The IRA leadership confirmed that a scheme agreed with the decommissioning body in August to put weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use" had been implemented. "This unprecedented move is to save the peace process and to persuade others of our genuine intentions" --IRA statement This is the first time that a republican group which has violently resisted the ...

It was in Peshawar, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, as the Red Army was falling apart, and falling back. I badly needed a guide to get me to the Khyber Pass, and I decided that what I required was the most farouche-looking guy with the best command of English and the toughest modern automobile. Such a combination was obtainable for a price. My new friend rather wolfishly offered me a tour of the nearby British military cemetery (a well-filled site from the Victorian era) before we began. Then he slammed a cassette into the dashboard. I braced myself for the ululations ...

Missiles targeted at US cities and intercepted by President Bush's proposed missile defence shield could fall on Europe, Canada or middle America instead, arms researchers warn. Bush's missile defence plan includes a system to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) just minutes after launch, while their rocket boosters are still burning. This "boost-phase interception" should be easier than targeting missiles in mid-flight because tracking a flaming rocket is easier than homing in on a relatively cool and easily disguised warhead sailing high above the atmosphere, experts say. But destroying only the booster could leave the warhead zinging across the sky, ...

By Elizabeth Blunt The International War Crimes Tribunal has given a warning to the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, after he succeeded in giving a live interview to an American television network. Mr Milosevic had phoned the network from the tribunal's detention centre in The Hague where he is being held. What Mr Milosevic said to the reporter from Fox TV was not particularly surprising: he maintained his innocence and attacked the war crimes tribunal. The astonishing thing was that he succeeded in making the call and in giving a substantial interview. In it he told the Fox News reporter ...

In France, a criminal genius reveals himself. Questioned by Marseilles police about a robbery, Jules Versois had the perfect alibi. He told them he was busy buying heroin in Nice at the time, and even took them home to show where he had hidden it.

The sneerers may like to dismiss the war against drugs as futile gesture politics, but it's important to recognise that major breakthroughs do happen. In North Carolina, drugs baron Emmit Scott has been arrested. It's true that Mr Scott may have made a tactical mistake - he called Roanoke Rapids police to report that intruders were sneaking into his back garden to steal his cannabis - but you can't beat solid police work, and when officers arrived to investigate, they found more than three dozen marijuana plants, worth about £700,000, growing in his greenhouse.