Free Republic

A drug-smuggling suspect was arrested Friday after he led authorities on a chase from Santa Cruz County to Interstate 10 and Houghton Road, tried to steal a car, and was detained by off-duty deputies. The incident started on Arizona 83 when Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department depu-ties began following a late-model SUV with a large amount of marijuana visible inside. Deputies stopped their pursuit and Department of Public Safety officers attempted to stop the vehicle, said DPS Lt. Brant Benham. DPS officers twice tried stopping the SUV with tire spikes, but the driver avoided them. Officers stopped their pursuit when...

PARIS - Muhamed al-Jundi, the Syrian driver of two French journalists taken hostage in Iraq in August, filed suit at a Paris court Tuesday alleging torture and mistreatment by the US army. “The suit is against members of the US armed forces in Iraq who were guilty of mistreating me, who tortured me, who threatened to kill me,” he said. Jundi, 47, was captured with reporters Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot on August 20 south of Baghdad and found in a house in Fallujah on November 12 when US troops invaded the city. The two Frenchmen were released on December...

A judge ruled Monday that Jason R. Reese, convicted of manslaughter in the death of a sheriff's deputy in a drunken driving accident, may leave prison to report to a job as long as he returns each night. The ruling comes despite the wishes of the victim's family, who had asked Hennepin County District Judge Diana Eagon to keep Reese locked up for his full eight month sentence, without work-related releases. Reese, 22, has served 178 days of his sentence so far. In her order granting Reese a furlough for work, the judge wrote that he has followed the rules...

Text of press release from the office of Rep. Joe Pitts:Washington -- Congressman Joe Pitts (R, PA-16) called S. 2845 National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 good, but incomplete. The legislation, modeled after the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, outlines an overhaul of the U.S. intelligence community. Congressman Pitts opposed the bill which passed the House this evening. He issued the following statement outlining his concerns with the bill. "The purpose of this bill was to enact the 9/11 Commission's most important recommendations," said Congressman Pitts. "The House version did just that, and I voted for it. This House-Senate...

Women would be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more for their car insurance under new EU anti-sexism laws expected to come under heavy fire from a parliamentary inquiry this week. Female drivers are charged up to 30 per cent less than male drivers because they have fewer crashes. They also pay less for life insurance, because they are less likely to die young. The measures proposed by the European Commission to enforce 'gender equality' would force the financial services industry to treat the sexes equally. It argues that differences in men and women's life expectancy are down to potentially...

Police arrest an Indianapolis woman after she openly told them three children were riding in the trunk of her car. It started with a 9-1-1 call from 21st and Post Road around 1:30 Saturday afternoon. The caller said she'd just seen a woman put three small children in the trunk of a car and close it. The driver went south on Post Road and police stopped her at 10th and Post. Inside,45-year-old Linda Crenshaw and six children. Two of the children were in the front seat, four others in the back seat The officer asks her is she has kids...

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would be the campaign issue of this election if either party did not endorse it.  The effect of this accord will make our Constitution bow to this international body.  The original deadline of May 2004 was purposely and deliberately changed to Jan 2005, after our elections. "We direct our Ministers to ensure that negotiations of the FTAA Agreement are concluded no later than January 2005 and to seek its entry into force as soon as possible thereafter, but in any case, no later than December 2005." SOURCE: Deadline "We have a great...

Bad motorists are driving me crazy How do you rate yourself as a driver? No, that's a stupid question. You rate yourself above average. It's a well-known fact that all humans consider themselves to be above-average drivers, including Amazonian mud people who have not discovered the wheel. No amount of physical evidence will convince a bad driver that he or she is a bad driver. You take a motorist who, while attempting to pull out of a parking space, mistakes "forward" for "reverse," then, in an effort to correct this error, mistakes the accelerator for the brake and sends his...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A bill allowing an estimated 2 million illegal immigrant drivers in California to get legal driver's licenses cleared a Senate committee Tuesday, which was the bill's first hurdle in the Legislature. The latest attempt to make illegal immigrants eligible for the licenses, the bill would require applicants who cannot prove legal residency in California to be fingerprinted, undergo background checks and get adult sponsors. Illegal immigrants would pay $146 for a license to cover extra costs of guaranteeing that licenses aren't used as a tool for terrorists to move freely in California. Senate Transportation Committee Democrats favored...

BERLIN -- Halliburton truck driver Thomas Hamill arrived in Germany Monday from Iraq, where he escaped from Iraqi captors. A senior U.S. official said the former hostage will be examined at a military hospital in Landstuhl, where he'll be reunited with his wife. It's not known how long he'll stay there. Hamill was reported in good health, but a gunshot wound to his left arm

<p>Todd Birch apparently knew he was too intoxicated to drive, but he gave his car keys to the wrong person, authorities said.</p> <p>Shortly after leaving a Downtown bar early Thursday, the 24-year-old man died after he was run over by his own car.</p>

Last Updated: Saturday, 20 March, 2004, 17:02 GMT Russia snares smuggled bear paws Bear paw is a delicacy in parts of China Russian customs officers have arrested a Chinese truck driver they say was trying to smuggle several hundred severed bear paws into China from Siberia. Guards at Ussuriysk border point were taken aback by the large amount of animal parts found hidden in sacks in the back of the truck, Russian Channel One TV said. As well as some 800 bear paws and bear pelts, officers found thousands of Siberian weasel and sable skins, grey squirrel and pheasant carcasses....

<p>WASHINGTON -- Your driver's license soon may become a lot smarter, and a lot more worrisome.</p> <p>State motor vehicle agencies want Congress to standardize the license, share more driver data between states and mandate techniques such as biometrics to "uniquely identify" each of America's 228 million drivers.</p>

A British tourist has died after becoming stranded in Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert near Marble Bar. It is understood the man was attempting to drive across the desert to New South Wales.He left the Punmu Aboriginal Community near Marble Bar on Thursday morning but became bogged.Two motorists discovered his car that afternoon and followed his tracks for 40 kilometres back towards the community, but a sandstorm force them to abandon the search.Constable Cindy Morgan from Marble Bar police says the man was still alive when he was found this morning."He was obviously in a very bad state and quite...

<p>The state Senate moved to fulfill one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign promises Monday, voting to repeal a bill that would have allowed 2 million illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses starting Jan. 1.</p> <p>The overwhelming vote to repeal the law came after the measure's author met with Schwarzenegger and decided to endorse the repeal in exchange for cooperation on a new measure. Quick action is expected by the Assembly, and the bill repealing the law is likely to hit Schwarzenegger's desk next week.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Senate's Republican leader predicted Thursday that there will be enough Democratic votes, at least in the his house, to overturn a controversial new law allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers' licenses. But he said a different form of the statute with more security precautions could win support from some GOP lawmakers.</p>

By Associated Press October 23, 2003, 2:28 PM EDT CHICAGO -- Jewelry designer Anthony Camargo says he began chasing after the cab when realized he'd left a bag containing samples of his latest collection in its trunk. But the cab -- and the $230,000 worth of jewelry inside -- were nowhere to be found. Luckily, the bag was left in a cab being driven by 26-year-old Mohammed Hussain. On Wednesday, Hussain returned the 42 pieces of ornate jewelry and received from Camargo an undisclosed monetary reward and a pair of sapphire earrings. "What he did was so admirable," Camargo said....

At today's White House news briefing, WND asked presidential press secretary Scott McClellan about Gov. Gray Davis' signing of a bill allowing illegal aliens to get driver's licenses. WND: Scott, I have a two-part. Since illegal aliens in the United States are undeniably a federal matter and the Constitution requires the president to see to it that the law is enforced, will the federal government take any action against Gov. Gray Davis for signing a bill to extend driver's licenses to illegal aliens, and thus aid felons? McCLELLAN: Sounds like another way to try to insert us into current matters...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After weeks of accusations that he was ducking controversy, Arnold Schwarzenegger seized on one of the state's most bitterly debated issues on Thursday, vowing to fight a California law granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The Democratic-controlled California Senate on Wednesday approved the legislation and sent it to Gov. Gray Davis, who has promised to sign it "in a heartbeat" while wooing Hispanic voters in an Oct. 7 recall election. The measure has infuriated conservatives across California and Schwarzenegger -- a Republican who has called for tighter controls on the U.S. border with Mexico as he...

By OREN DORELL, Staff Writer A Raleigh man was arrested twice Friday morning on charges of drunken driving -- once after an accident and again three hours later after returning to his car and driving it away from where it was parked. "It was absolutely terrible," Sougata Mukherjee , editor of the Triangle Business Journal, said Friday afternoon, summing up a night that began at Sullivan's Steakhouse on Glenwood Avenue. "This is the first time something like this has happened to me." Mukherjee's first arrest occurred after his 2001 Nissan Pathfinder rear-ended a 2001 Saab driven by Winston Cavin, a...