Free Republic

Cabby who ordered revenge murders gets life in prison By Kathleen Culliton, Jennifer Bain and Laura Italiano A cabby who ordered a pair of revenge murders in Pakistan — all because his young daughter had left her loveless arranged marriage there — has been sentenced to life in prison. Mohammad Choudhry, 61, staggered as he rose to his feet and was led out of Brooklyn federal court to begin serving his sentence, the most severe he could get by law. “You were an egomaniacal force who revealed yourself to be self-absorbed in your merciless pursuit of evil,” Judge William Kuntz...

Islamists kidnap 100 schoolgirls, who face living hell as sex slaves By Associated Press MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Suspected Islamic extremists abducted about 100 female students from a school in northeast Nigeria before dawn Tuesday, but some of the teens managed to escape from the back of an open truck, officials said. The girls were abducted after midnight from a school in Chibok, on the edge of the Sambisa Forest that is an insurgent hideout, said Borno state police commissioner Tanko Lawan. Gunmen killed a soldier and police officer guarding the school, then took off with at least 100 students, a...

Two Muslim clerics purportedly caught on camera allegedly taking bribes for declaring fatwas were suspended as ulemas on Monday, decided to form a body to monitor issuance of religious edicts. All India Milli Council set up an inquiry committee and announced "a social boycott" of those involved in the fatwas racket. Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband suspended Mufti Habibur Rehman and Meerut's Shahi Jama Masjid removed Maulana Imran following reports that they were seen accepting the money in return for issuing fatwas. Darul Uloom Vice-Chancellor Marghoobur Rehman said a four-member panel would investigate the matter and if found guilty Habibur...

Iraq Insurgents in First Attack on Korean Troops Korea's Zaytun Division in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil took cover late Sunday evening when four shells presumably fired by insurgents landed near the unit's base compound, the first direct attack on Korean troops since they were deployed to the area last September. There were no casualties among Korean soldiers or civilians, but the division's activity is likely to be curtailed for some time. "At around 11:00 p.m., there were blasts and flames as two shells landed in wheat fields 500 m south of the Zaytun Division base walls, and two...