Free Republic

Ancient artifacts from the Nigerian city of Ife can give observers insight into the history of its culture, dynasties and many deities. Art objects from the once-powerful Yoruba kingdom are prized by collectors and considered cultural treasures of the African nation, but a bronze sculpture that recently had been reported as stolen from the area proved to be something else. On Feb. 25 Mexico seized what was thought to be an ancient bronze sculpture from the southwestern Nigerian city after a buyer, whose identity was not revealed, attempted to smuggle it into the country via Mexico CityÂ’s main airport, Mexican...

The public release of an independent actuarial study of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was delayed late Tuesday as the firm conducting the review completes additional tests. The supplemental tests come after FHA questioned the accuracy of the actuary’s modeling. The audit of FHA’s fiscal year 2009 — which ended in September — was scheduled for release today in conjunction with a press conference addressing the FHA’s fiscal health and financial outlook. A US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokeswoman indicated hours before the scheduled release that the report would not be completed in time, and FHA commissioner...

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Engine failure is to blame for the Thursday afternoon incident that saw a F-16 pilot jettison bombs and fuel tanks over the west side of Hill Air Force Base, Air Force officials said Friday. Base emergency personnel will dispose of one unexploded bomb today by blowing it up in place. The other bomb exploded on impact with the ground. About 4 p.m. Thursday, a male F-16 pilot from Hill’s 388th Fighter Wing had engine problems approximately 20 seconds after takeoff, causing the pilot to drop two external fuel tanks and two 500 pound Mark 82...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military says a B-1 bomber has crashed at an American Air Force base in the Middle East. A military official says that details remain sketchy but the bomber crashed in the nation of Qatar at al-Udeid Air Base, the headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East.

The TEPJF will begin alleviation of appeals of electoral inconformity The Ex-Executive Secretary of the IFE,1 Maria del Carmen Alanis Figueroa, assures that they will not open a single additional electoral packet. With the end of the partial recount of votes in the 11,839 electoral packets of the presidential election, the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF) now has all the elements to begin to alleviate the 374 appeals of electoral inconformity, according to Maria del Carmen Alanis Figueroa, Ex-Executive Secretary of the IFE. In her analysis of the phase that the tribunal is about...

The For the Good of All coalition1 asks for an annulment of the votes of the 11,800 electoral packets under revision2 In light of the scant variations which the partial recount of votes ordered by the Electoral Tribunal has shown, the strategy of the For the Good of All coalition spun towards the nullification of the more than 11,800 electoral packets which began to be opened the 9th of August. Horacio Duarte, representative of the PRD in the IFE3, asserted that in 5,177 electoral packets of which he has reports, [the coalition] has detected 18,142 ballots overcounted4 and 51,658...

TEPJF rules against vote by vote recount The Electoral Tribunal presented the legal-electoral obstacles that the For the Good of All coalition1 did not surpass to attempt a precinct by precinct, vote by vote recount. The Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF) rejected this morning the aspiration of the For the Good of All coalition that they carry out a recount of all the votes of all the precincts set up for the presidential election of this past July 2. To the hope of leaving it to judge this aspect of the vote, the Secretary...

The total recount would be absurd and illegal, the PAN leader indicates; he offers to accept the judgement of the TEPJF.1 The virtual winner of the presidential election of July 2, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, said he is willing to accept a partial recount of the vote, but he ruled out a total reexamination considering it "absurd and illegal," [according to] an interview with the United States daily newspaper The Washington Post. With the purpose of preventing "the escalation of tensions," Calderón ruled out summoning his followers to go out into the streets and counteract Andrés Manuel López Obrador's sympathizers.2 He...

The institute waits to know the resolution of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation. In order to bring a measure of tranquility to society, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) resolved to suspend the opening of electoral packets.1 Even though the General Law of Systems and Means of Challenge in Electoral Matters authorizes the IFE to open the packets to recover files of the presidential election and to send them to the Federal Electoral Tribunal, [the IFE] determined to suspend this procedure. Miguel Ángel Solís, Executive Director of electoral organization of the institute, explained that they will...

The President Advisor of the Federal Electoral Institute, Luis Carlos Ugalde, indicates that they have fulfilled their work, and if some party wants to interpose some recourse [to challenge the result], it will count on the TRIFE1 The President Advisor of the Federal Electoral Institute, Luis Carlos Ugalde, said that "to doubt the IFE is to doubt hundreds of thousands of Mexicans" who worked in Sunday's elections. With respect to the citizenry the election should not have to be put in doubt. The political parties have the obligation to conduct themselves legally, emphasized Ugalde, in relation to the questionnaires2 of...

Fully aware she was walking a thin ethical line and would face a highly skeptical audience, a Mexican congresswoman made a solo foray into San Antonio on Friday to convince her countrymen to vote in next year's presidential election. It was a bold move criticized by other politicians as potentially violating Mexican electoral laws. Consuelo Camarena Gómez, a member of Mexico's House of Representatives from President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (PAN), said her country's get-out-the-vote campaign outside its borders has failed, prompting her to take action. Her Alamo City visit was part of a larger PAN effort. Representatives also...