Free Republic

He was arrested after a roughly 5-hour standoff with police Atlanta police have identified the man arrested last week after allegedly spray-painting swastikas on the city's rainbow crosswalks that honor the gay community. Police identified Jonah Sampson, 30, as the man who allegedly spray-painted swastikas on Atlanta’s Midtown rainbow crosswalks. Authorities believe he is also responsible for graffiti that was found on a monument at the Federal Reserve Building, Fox 5 reported. Sampson was arrested in Atlanta on Friday outside his apartment after a roughly five-hour standoff with a SWAT team. Jail records show Sampson is facing three charges of...

As a child growing up in rural India in the 1960s and 1970s, Naveen Jain would gaze up at the moon and imagine a life beyond his modest surroundings. Today he's still gazing at the moon, but for far different reasons. Jain, 55, is co-founder of Moon Express, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that's aiming to send the first commercial robotic spacecraft to the moon next year. This serial entrepreneur-he founded Internet companies Infospace and Intelius-believes that the moon holds precious metals and rare minerals that can be brought back to help address Earth's energy, health and resource challenges. Among...

Boston, MA (March 13, 2013) -- The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) welcomed the appointment of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy, following the sudden and unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Foundation leaders expressed hope that the Catholic Church, under Pope Francis I, as he will be called, will respect and privilege pluralism and interfaith relations, based on earlier efforts with Nostra Aetete, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. “As our Catholic friends, neighbors and colleagues celebrate the naming of their pontiff, we, as Hindu Americans, congratulate the Catholic Church and welcome Pope Francis...

August 14, 2005 -- LONDON — The $21.3 billion United Nations oil-for-food scandal has now widened to include the brother of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, is said by investigators to be "connected" to an African businessman at the center of the scandal. The probe into Kobina's dealings are at an early stage and he has not been interviewed. However, investigators are understood to suspect that Michael Wilson, an African businessman, and Kobina had a business relationship at the time of the scandal. A source close to the investigation said: "We believe Kobina Annan...

Archaeologists have found another ancient brick-built structure with floor and artefacts under the basement of the main temple at world heritage site Paharpur. Earlier, two brick-built structures of Gupta dynasty were found during an excavation, according to archaeologists of the Department of Archaeology. Dr Md Shafiqul Alam, director, Department of Archaeology, said the recently excavated structures were built in pre-Pal period. "Most probably the structure of temple was built by followers of Jain religion," Alam added. Nahid Sultana, custodian, Rabindra Kacharibari, Sirajganj and member of the excavation team, said the 2.1-metre width brick-built structure crossed the basement of the main...

<p>From Muslims in Europe to evangelical Christians in Africa, it is religious believers who are shaping the early 21st Century. Charismatic movements are sweeping throughout the Southern Hemisphere, while high birth rates among immigrants are provoking soul-seeking in the historically Christian West. For this week's List, FP looks at the fast-growing faiths that are upending the old world order.</p>