Free Republic

Redating of the latest Neandertals in Europe By Neil Schoenherr Jan. 5, 2006 — Two Neantertal fossils excavated from Vindija Cave in Croatia in 1998, believed to be the last surviving Neandertals, may be 3,000-4,000 years older than originally thought. Erik Trinkaus An international team of researchers involving Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences; Tom Higham and Christopher Bronk Ramsey of the Oxford University radiocarbon laboratory; Ivor Karavanic of the University of Zagreb; and Fred Smith of Loyola University, has redated the two Neandertals from Vindija Cave, the results of which have...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to President Bush's speech on Iraq at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington: "I am pleased that Iraq appears to be moving towards democracy, as indicated by tomorrow's upcoming election. However, democracy is not the reason that President Bush gave for invading Iraq more than 1,000 days ago. President Bush asserted that Saddam Hussein presented an imminent threat to the security of the United States, a threat that could only be reduced by going to war. The president was wrong. "How much...

ROSELAND -- Battles over zoning and permits appear to be a common problem lately in the small town of Roseland. But residents now have a complaint that's not just about small town ordinances. It's about the nation's Constitution and its First Amendment, freedom of speech. This week, some residents have pitched signs in their yards, urging the two married members of the three-person Town Council, David and Dorothy Snyder, to resign. In return, residents have received warnings or tickets from the town, telling them they are breaking the law. "We don't have freedom of speech. We can't say what we...

Latest academic freedom fight: conservative students vs. liberal profs By JUSTIN POPE December 25, 2004 At the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sue over a reading assignment they say offends their Christian beliefs. In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicizes student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty get hate mail and are pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college says a teacher received a death threat. And at Columbia University in New York, a documentary film alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel draws the attention of administrators. The three episodes differ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani authorities have banned an issue of Newsweek magazine for publishing material they said was offensive to Islam, local media reported Friday. A government official in Islamabad had ordered the "forfeiture of all copies of the weekly Newsweek of November 22," the state-run agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported, quoting Tariq Mahmood Bajwa, a government official in the capital, Islamabad. The edition published "objectionable remarks which (were) tantamount to desecration of the Quran," Islam's holy book, the agency said. The report said authorities were considering legal action against the magazine but gave no details. The action...

Kerry's Latest Attacks on Bush Borrow a Page From Scripture By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and DAVID E. SANGER Published: October 25, 2004 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 24 - Appealing to late-deciding voters in explicitly religious terms, Senator John Kerry used the Bible on Sunday to accuse President Bush of trying to scare America, and said his own Catholicism moved him to help those in need but not to "write every doctrine into law." "The Scripture teaches us - John says, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,' " Mr. Kerry said, alluding to Mr. Bush's strategy...

As medical technology concentrates on prolonging life, a group of people in Kerala are looking for the right to commit suicide -- not because they are sick or despondent but because they are completely content. Turning the definition of euthanasia, or mercy killing, on its head, these people want to follow their motto of "live well and leave well". They have been shown the way by Thomas Master, an 85-year-old schoolteacher who hanged himself to death in Thrissur earlier this week because he had accomplished what he had to in life.And the leader of the pack that wants to determine...

<p>WASHINGTON -- American taxpayers are about to reap their last big bonanza from an extraordinary three-year run of federal tax cutting, pocketing substantially higher refunds on their 2003 income tax returns.</p> <p>But that doesn't mean anti-tax talk in Washington will fade away.</p>

The latest refugees from Mugabe's lawless Zimbabwe - hundreds of elephants Wildlife experts in Zambia fear flight from poachers is damaging crops and property Michael Durham in Mosi-o-Tunya National Park, Zambia Monday December 29, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Hundreds of wild elephants are the latest refugees from violence and disorder in Robert Mugabe's crisis-torn Zimbabwe. The animals are fleeing the country by wading across the Zambezi river to escape being shot or trapped by so-called "war veterans" and illegal hunters. Game wardens in Zambia say record numbers of elephants are crossing the Zambezi, which forms the border between the two...

U.S. Puts Its Latest Arms in S. Korea Sun Dec 21, 6:03 AM ET Add Top Stories - Los Angeles By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer SEOUL — Even as the Bush administration seeks a negotiated settlement to the North Korean nuclear standoff, an intimidating array of high-tech weaponry, much of it battle-tested in Iraq and Afghanistan , is being deployed south of the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula. The weaponry has been quietly moved into South Korea since the summer as part of a significant restructuring of the 37,000 U.S. troops in the country. In return for...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The idea that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) will run for the Democrat nomination for president in 2004 remains a possibility as none of the other ten Democrat candidates has been able to emerge as a clear frontrunner. Former President Bill Clinton spoke candidly about his wife's possible presidential aspirations in a Democrat forum hosted by his former chief of staff Leon Panetta that took place at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, California on Wednesday. "I'm not about to take a position in the primary," Clinton told Panetta regarding who he supports for the Democrat...

U.S. Says Iraqi Police Made Latest Arrest 1 hour, 16 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo! By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - The country's newly revived police force was credited Saturday with nabbing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s finance minister — the first time authorities of the new Iraq (news - web sites) arrested a top official of the old regime. American forces touted the arrest of Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi as an example of the Iraqi-U.S. cooperation for which they are striving. News of the arrest came as Marines started...

The Al-Aksa Brigades announced last night that one of their members had murdered a Jew - and today the victim's body was found, burnt beyond recognition, next to his car. Masoud Alon, 70, of Menachemiya - a community between the Jordan Valley and the Kinneret Sea - was reported missing yesterday. A massive search involving hundreds of police, soldiers and volunteers was then undertaken, and helicopters, ATV's, and dogs were also utilized. The body was found this afternoon in an area not frequented by Jews, some 50 kilometers to the south of the victim's home. A suicide-murder attack was thwarted...