Free Republic

PARIS - France, which denied it paid a ransom to win the release of French journalist held in Iraq, refused Monday to give any details that led to winning freedom for the reporter and her Iraqi guide after five months of captivity. Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, who were freed Sunday, had been missing since Jan. 5, when they were seen leaving Aubenas' hotel in Baghdad. French officials have never identified the kidnappers, although authorities in both France and Iraq suggested they were probably seeking money rather than pressing a political agenda. Despite mounting calls for the government to...

Scientists explain the 'man in the moon' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 26/05/2005) The "man in the moon" was created by an upheaval in planetary orbits that took place hundreds of millions of years after the birth of the solar system, says an analysis published today. Apollo mission scientists found the dark areas of the moon are huge impact basins During the Apollo missions scientists found that the dark areas of the moon were huge impact basins flooded with now-solidified lava. These basins formed 700 million years after the birth of the Earth and moon and were caused by...

George Bush has been reelected, no thanks to Michael Savage. Through all the very not niceness of the Kerry campaign, the last thing I needed to hear was Michael Savage (on Conservative News Radio) bad mouthing the president. The Savage Nation use to be my favorite political news show. But then the election got closer and the influence of Michael became very sour to me. One day he would be saying he's not voting for Bush because he's not tough enough on gay marriage. The next day he would say he'll never vote for the Democrats because what they said...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. senator asked the White House to explain how and why the name of an al Qaeda informant was leaked to the press, amid concerns it had hurt the war on terror, a letter from the lawmaker showed on Monday. A Pakistani intelligence source said on Friday that U.S. officials confirmed the name of captured al Qaeda suspect Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan while he was still cooperating with Pakistani authorities as part of a sting operation against Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, thereby compromising his cover. It is not clear who...

Friday, 17 January, 2003, 14:18 GMT Scientists explain Arctic stone circlesA strange landscape explained by freezing and thawing By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Researchers may have an explanation for the natural near-perfect circles of stones that cover the ground in parts of Alaska and the Norwegian islands of Spitsbergen. One of the real mysteries to me was how you can get labyrinths or islands of stones in one location and polygons in another Mark Kessler Elsewhere in the far north, stones also form mysterious striking patterns on the ground. According to scientists, the circles are not...