Free Republic

Video

DEVELOPING STORY: California businessman Norman Hsu, a former New York apparel executive and major contributor to Democratic candidates and causes, failed to appear for a bail reduction hearing Wednesday, leading to speculation that he again is a fugitive from the law, FOX News has learned. Where is Hsu?

The Iraqi authorities have announced the arrest of a man they say is the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, told a news conference the man, Hamad Jama al-Saedi, was detained a few days ago. Mr Rubaie said the man was behind the bombing of a Shia shrine in Samarra in February that drew revenge attacks. American troops killed the insurgent group's key leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in June. "We announce today the arrest of the most important al-Qaeda leader after the criminal Abu Ayyub al-Masri. He's the second man in the organisation," Mr Rubaie...

Looking for a "passionate, compassionate, great, great" man? Well, according to CNN midday anchor Kyra Phillips, they do indeed exist. During CNN's live coverage of President Bush's remarks from New Orleans, Phillips was unaware that her microphone was on and picked up portions of an apparent restroom conversation she was having with another woman. At 12:49pm EDT, those listening carefully could hear Phillips praise her husband: "Yeah, I'm very lucky in that regard with my husband. My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego -- you know what I'm saying. Just a really passionate,...

PITTSBURGH — Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured in a motorcycle crash Monday and taken to a hospital. "He was alert and conscious," per Allegheny County emergency service. In his second year in the NFL, Roethlisberger helped guide the Steelers to the Super Bowl championship last season. The 24-year-old Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding his motorcycle. He has pointed out Pennsylvania's 35-year-old state law requiring helmets to be worn was amended to make helmets optional. In May 2005, Steelers coach Bill Cowher lectured Roethlisberger on the dangers of riding...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - June 1, 2006 - Several self-avowed pedophiles founded a political party in the Netherlands and plan to endorse broadcasting pornographic material on daytime television and allowing children as young as 12 to feature in porn films. The Charity, Freedom and Diversity party said Wednesday its central campaign platform will be lowering the age of consent in the Netherlands from 16 to 12. "Forbidding children from sex only makes them more curious," party president Martijn Uittenbogaard told The Associated Press. Uittenbogaard said his new party had supporters from "all corners of the country" but acknowledged Wednesday's launch...

While promoters of "The Da Vinci Code" have tried to downplay the film's challenge to Christianity, actor Ian McKellen took a shot at the Bible in an interview with the "Today" show, saying Scripture should carry a disclaimer that it is "fiction." McKellen, who played Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" triology, was responding to a question from host Matt Lauer about the requests by some Christian groups to insert a "fiction" disclaimer at the beginning of the controversial film, which suggests Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife and that the divinity of Jesus was an invention...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has banned arms sales to Venezuela -- which has been on a buying spree to prepare for an alleged U.S. invasion -- accusing President Hugo Chávez of failing to cooperate in the war on terrorism and maintaining close ties to Cuba and Iran. The decision announced Monday may be largely symbolic because Chávez has been buying the bulk of his weapons, including attack and transport helicopters, patrol boats and military transport airplanes, from Russia and Spain. The first batch of 33 Russian helicopters arrived in Venezuela last month, and 33,000 of the 100,000 Russian Kalashnikov...

Drug limits List of maximum allowable drug quantities approved for personal use by Mexico's Congress:Opium: (raw, to be smoked): 5 grams Heroin: 25 milligrams Marijuana: 5 grams Cocaine: 500 milligrams LSD: .015 milligrams MDA: 200 milligrams MDMA (Ecstasy): 200 milligrams Mescaline: 1 gram Peyote: 1 kilogram Psilocybin (concentrate, pure, active ingredient): 100 milligrams Hallucinogenic mushrooms (raw, off the farm): 250 milligrams Amphetamines: 100 milligrams Dexamphetamines: 40 milligrams Phencyclidine (PCP, or Angel Dust): 7 milligrams Methamphetamines: 200 milligrams Nalbuphine (synthetic opiate): 10 milligrams Psilocybin (concentrate, pure, active ingredient): 100 milligrams Hallucinogenic mushrooms (raw, off the farm): 250 milligrams Amphetamines: 100 milligrams...

WASHINGTON — The Senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation Friday, leaving in doubt prospects for passing a bill offering the hope of citizenship to millions of men, women and children living in the United States illegally.

More than 100 Catholic priests in the Dublin region of Ireland are suspected of having abused children in the last 66 years, according to a new report. The Archdiocese of Dublin's report said at least 350 children may have been abused in the region since 1940. More than 3% of some 2,800 priests to have worked in the archdiocese are suspected of abuse - the biggest such figure revealed so far in Ireland. The Irish government is soon to begin an inquiry into abuse in the church. The office of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said it was publishing its findings before...

Cheney shoots lawyer in hunt accident 13 February 2006 07:10 Never sneak up behind Dick Cheney when he has a gun in his hand. That is the painful lesson learned by Texas lawyer Harry Whittington (78) in a hunting accident at the weekend. Whittington, the United States vice-president, and a third person went quail shooting on Saturday at one of the grandest ranches in Texas. While Cheney and the third man laid in wait for the quail, Whittington approached them from behind without signalling his presence. Just then the quail were flushed out. The owner of the ranch, Katharine Armstrong,...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) received a dressing down Monday from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who accused the freshman of using the ethics reform issue for "self-interested partisan posturing." In a sarcastic letter, McCain accused Obama, the Senate Democrats' new lead spokesman on ethics, of not wanting to sincerely negotiate a bipartisan reform of lobbying. Obama replied Monday that he was "puzzled" over McCain's letter and pledged to continue to work together on reform. "I confess that I have no idea" what prompted the letter, Obama wrote Monday. "But let me assure you that I am not interested in...

The search for a possible arsonists was underway Friday after six churches in a rural Alabama county were found burning. FOX affiliate WBRC in Birmingham, Ala., confirmed that the churches in Bibb County burned Friday morning. As of 7 a.m. EST., those churches were Rehoba Baptist Church in Lawley, Ashby Baptist Church in Briarfield, Old Union Baptist Church in Briarfield, Pleasant Sabine Antioch southeast of Centerville, Antoich Church in Antoich and Older Church in Chilton County. Some of the fires caused total loss of the churches.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio upset a former deputy to indicted Texan Tom DeLay on Thursday to become majority leader of the scandal-rocked U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Roy Blunt had appeared to be the front-runner, based on a long list of public commitments, but Boehner, who campaigned on a vow to seek to renew the party's "spirit and vision," defeated Blunt and Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona in a secret election by fellow Republicans. Boehner had 122 votes to Blunt's 109. Shadegg dropped out after a first ballot loss. Boehner's election represented a shake-up in...

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court's conservatives in a death penalty case on his first day on the court. Handling his first case, Alito sided with five other justices Wednesday evening in refusing to allow Missouri to execute inmate Michael Taylor. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting an execution stay issued by an appeals court, but Alito sided with the majority in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) greets people as she arrives for U.S. President George W. Bush's the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington January 31, 2006. REUTERS/Jason Reed

CBS White House correspondent John Roberts is leaving the network to join CNN as senior national correspondent, effective Feb. 20. Roberts had been considered by many to be a prime candidate to take over the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News, but CBS News chief Sean McManus put those ideas to rest last month when he told reporters at the TCA press tour that while Roberts was “an excellent White House correspondent...we are looking in a different direction.” In a letter to his CBS colleagues, Roberts wrote: “For nearly 14 years at the network, and two years at our...

Dubai _ Muslim governments, clerics and parliamentarians are raising their voices in protest against the Danish government for not acting against cartoons published in a Danish newspaper portraying Islam's Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world's largest Islamic political group made up of 57 member states, on Saturday called on Muslims to stick to peaceful protests and said Denmark should ''categorically condemn'' the cartoons published last September in Jyllands-Posten, in which the Prophet is shown wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. Islam does not allow the depiction of Prophet Mohammed, even if...