Free Republic

I was wondering, is it possible to add a topic for China? There seems to me to be quite enough interest to justify such an action.

GAZA CITY, Oct. 9 -- In a territory that reverberates with nightly gun battles, in a city full of weapons and armed men in various uniforms, the checkpoint in central Gaza City must have looked like any other as the car carrying Col. Rageh Abu Lehiya approached. Hardly something to worry about for one of Gaza's top Palestinian police commanders. But when Abu Lehiya's car pulled to a stop, someone yelled, "That's him!" and the 20 uniformed men operating the checkpoint sprang into action, according to Palestinian police and other Gaza officials. The men were members of the Islamic Resistance...

Numerous UMKC organizations have hosted discussions that speak out against a United States attack on Iraq. An open forum with presenters from the Departments of Political Science and History brought the U.S.-Iraqi situation to light. On a Tuesday afternoon the classroom was packed, with little standing room available. The speakers were hot with anger towards the situation. The panel began by asking participants why the attack would be needed. Replies ranged from terrorism to oil and boiled down to Bush's political motives. Mention was made of whether the "regime change" was the responsibility of United States and if responses from...

TOKYO -- North Korea will permit five Japanese kidnapped more than two decades ago to visit their homeland next week, although their children born in the Communist nation will not be allowed to accompany them, Japanese officials said Wednesday. North Korea has said the five victims, whose trips will be paid for by the Japanese government, can stay only two weeks. The announcement came as Japanese and North Korean officials prepare for talks Oct. 29 and 30 in Malaysia aimed at establishing diplomatic ties between their countries. The five kidnapping victims are the only ones alive among the 13 Japanese...

The Queen holds up the puck after it was presented back to her by Vancouver Canucks' captain Markus Naslund (R) prior to a National Hockey League exhibition game between the Canucks and San Jose Sharks October 6, 2002. The Queen, who dropped the puck in an honorary faceoff, was given the puck back as a souvenir. Standing behind the Queen [and staring at her ass] is Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (L).

PARIS (Reuters) - Was the hospital waiting list too long or did the patient just get lost? Questions are being asked at the Hotel Dieu hospital in Paris where a plumber working in the basement last week came across a decomposed corpse wearing hospital pajamas, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Thursday. Hospital administrators are asking whether the corpse could be that of a tramp who got into the hospital and donned pajamas for some creature comfort, or a patient who absconded and was never found. An autopsy is to be carried out to try to identify the macabre discovery. But...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most individuals who have been wronged would agree that they feel better after receiving an apology. Now researchers have found scientific proof to back up that claim. "The data suggest that apologies and restitution can have an immediate, positive impact on physiological and subjective responses to transgressions," according to Dr. Everett L. Worthington, Jr., of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and his colleagues. For their study, 61 college undergraduates--32 men and 29 women--were told to imagine that they had been robbed, and that the robber had afterwards either apologized, restored to them the things he...

An unidentified woman wears an unconventional hat as she attends the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp race track outside Paris, October 6, 2002. The entrance to the race is free for women wearing hats. Frankie Dettori of Italy on Mareinbard won the race.