Free Republic

Wafa News Agency reported that since the beginning of the month of Ramadan (which began last Wednesday), the markets in Gaza are full of goods. Wafa also published a photo of the Gaza market, showing it laden with fruit and candy of all kinds. This report comes despite the ongoing claims by the ruling Hamas government that there is a siege on Gaza. Last Monday, the Hamas government in Gaza announced the arrival of a European medical convoy of ships. The convoy brought 45 ambulances and over 50 other vehicles loaded with medical goods and equipment worth an estimated one...

Dubai airports will not use hi-tech full-body scanners because they "contradict Islam" and violate passengers' privacy, according to reports — even though the scanners can detect terrorist threats like those posed by the Christmas Day bomber. Neither of Dubai's two airports will use the scanners "out of respect for the privacy of individuals and their personal freedom," the head of airport security for the emirate told Al-Bayan daily, AFP reported.

Another Democrat has seen the writing on the wall and decided to jump ship rather than face the electoral firing squad in November. This time, it is Arkansas Congressman Marion Berry, who openly admits that Election 2010 is going to be an outright "bloodbath" for Democrats...

Women who have plump full lips look younger than their years, scientists have said. Devotees of collagen injections and silicone implants have long believed it and now research has backed their theory that a bee stung pout can belie their true age. Even if the woman in question has wrinkles, eye bags, sagging jowels and greying hair, a rosy and firm set of lips will make them appear younger

The auto industry, AIG and other struggling recipients of the government's $700 billion Wall Street bailout will make it "extremely unlikely" that taxpayers will receive a full return on their investments, says a new report by the Treasury Department's independent watchdog. About 17 percent of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loans issued since the program began a year ago have been repaid, according to a 252-page report released Wednesdayby TARP's Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky.

Travellers to Europe face being treated like drug smugglers as security chiefs are expected to recommend new intrusive security measures. French anti-terror chiefs are expected to propose the new measures, such as full body X-rays or handing in all electronic devices, after a terrorist tried to kill a Saudi prince with a bomb he had inserted into his body. Al Qaeda's latest ploy was first pioneered by Abdullah Hassan al Asiri, who blew himself apart in Jeddah in late August in an attack on Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi anti-terrorism chief. The 23-year-old terrorist blew himself into 70 pieces...

China has filled all four of its state-owned emergency oil reserve tanks to the brim and should now invest in oil tankers to add more to inventories while oil prices are low, a senior industry executive said on Monday in a rare acknowledgement of Beijing's secretive oil inventories. Coupled with data last week showing a one-third rise in commercial crude oil stockpiles last year, the admission suggests that a large share of of China's oil import growth last year was pumped directly into storage, and could be relied upon quickly to soften any demand recovery or if prices should rise....

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2009 – The Army National Guard is over strength and the Air National Guard has met its target end strength for the first time since 2002, the directors told Congress yesterday. Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, director of the Air National Guard, right, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel subcommittee in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “This is a new era for us,” said Army Lt. Gen. Clyde A. Vaughn, the director of the Army National...

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq, Dec. 19, 2007 – There must be a “full and complete” partnership between coalition and Iraqi security forces for success in the country, the coalition’s day-to-day commander of ground operations in Iraq said here today. Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, spoke as the 1st Cavalry Division – commanded by Army Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil – transferred authority for Multinational Division Baghdad to the 4th Infantry Division – under Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond – during a ceremony here. Odierno said that when the 1st Cavalry took command of the Multinational...

Seahenge saga comes full circle 23 August 2007 The story of Seahenge has turned full circle, as the ancient timbers are returned to Norfolk. But as experts prepare them to go on display at King's Lynn Museum, CHRIS BISHOP finds an enigma that remains unsolved. Nearly 10 years after its controversial excavation, the mystery remains. While the upturned oak tree and its ring of timbers have taught us a few things we didn't know about our ancestors, we still don't know why they built it. Late in 1998, a long-forgotten landscape began re-emerging from beneath the sands of Holme Beach,...

Iran offers Iraq 'full support' Iran-Iraq relations have improved since Saddam Hussein's overthrow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has offered Iraq full support in stabilising the security situation in the country. He made the remarks in Tehran after talks with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Mr Ahmadinejad said "Iraq's security is Iran's security". Mr Maliki is making his first official visit to Iran since he took office in May. "Iran supports the Iraqi government that has been created by the Iraqi people's votes, and strengthening a united and independent Iraq is in the interest...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Aug. 18, 2006 – There’s plenty of fuel available to fill the tanks of U.S. military vehicles and aircraft despite widely reported accounts of a commercial oil pipeline rupture in Alaska, a senior Defense Department logistician said here yesterday. “We’re in good shape all the time. We have significant fuel reserves. If fuel became locally unavailable, … we could move fuel from elsewhere in the United States to cover DoD’s requirements,” John S. Bartenhagen Jr., Defense Energy Support Center deputy director for operations, said. The center buys fuel for defense department needs. It is a component...

Drugs Worth Millions Stolen From Area CompanyUPDATED: 12:07 am EDT August 10, 2006 WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- Federal, state and local authorities are investigating an interstate drug heist, after millions of dollars in medications never made it to their intended destination. Authorities said that the alleged heist occurred at Longistics Corporation in Wake County near Research Triangle Park late Saturday. According to police, at least three suspects targeted the company, which handles shipments for the health care industry, and stole two tractor-trailers full of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. "The FBI estimates that the total value of the prescription and non-prescription...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2006 – The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is great news for Americans and Iraqis alike, but ultimate victory in Iraq depends on the success of the country's new government, President Bush said today. "Removing Zarqawi is a major blow to al Qaeda. It's not going to end the war, it's certainly not going to end the violence, but it's going to help a lot," Bush said during a joint news conference with Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen at Camp David, Md. Victory in Iraq will come only when the country "can sustain itself, govern itself and...

Hamas leader's three sisters live secretly in Israel as full citizens By Tim Butcher in Tel Sheva (Filed: 02/06/2006)Ismail Haniyeh: Visited family Israel regards Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian Hamas prime minister, as an enemy of state. But three of his sisters enjoy full Israeli citizenship, having moved 30 years ago to the desert town of Tel Sheva. Some of their offspring have even served in the Israeli army, the force responsible for decades of Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, an occupation that the Islamist movement, Hamas, was founded to fight.The Daily Telegraph tracked down the Haniyeh sisters,...

Full steam ahead: Brussels draws up plan for 'EU navy' By Justin Stares in Brussels (Filed: 21/05/2006) The European Commission has drawn up plans to set up a European coastguard, which critics fear is a back-door attempt by Brussels to create an EU navy with its own powers to stop and search shipping. Plans to upgrade the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) into a fully-fledged coastguard are buried in a document revising European Union (EU) transport policy that is due to be published next month. Armed coastguard will be embryonic naval service They come on the back of other "empire...

FORT HUACHUCA — “Bobby died doing what he knew best, being a soldier,” Chaplain (Maj.) Frank O’Grady said. As the soldier’s family listened, the Catholic priest said the combat death of 1st Sgt. Bobby Mendez, Rob to his loved ones, is sorrowful when seen through human eyes. To all of Mendez’s family, his wife, children, mother, father, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as the extended relationship called soldiers, “It is a sad day,” the chaplain said. But, God’s compassion is a wonderful, joyous thing and now, the soldier is serving along side of Christ, he said during...

NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE KINGS BAY, Ga. (NNS) -- The guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived at its new home of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., April 11, completing the sub’s three-year refueling and conversion at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. Florida is the second Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine the Navy has reconfigured, replacing its 24 Trident missiles with nearly 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, switching the boat from a nuclear deterrent to a source of more conventional firepower in the global war on terrorism. “We’ve taken the Trident submarine, which is a well proven design, and we’ve done...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – A once-unidentified sailor killed in the Pearl Harbor attack almost 65 years ago was laid to rest today with full honors and a grave marker bearing his name, thanks to sleuth work by a Pearl Harbor survivor and U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command's expertise. Navy Seaman 2nd Class Warren Paul Hickock was buried with full military honors in Honolulu on March 29, more than 64 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were only recently identified. Courtesy photo   Seaman 2nd Class Warren Paul Hickok was reinterred this morning...

A group of people dressed as sperm cross a main avenue during a campaign promoting use of condoms in Bogota, Colombia, in this May 18, 2005 file photo. Roman Catholic priests in a Colombian town are furious over a councilman's proposal that people 14 and older must carry a condom at all times to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006. (AP Photo/ Javier Galeano, file)