Free Republic

Part three: The Fedayeen have vowed to step up their suicide bombings. Neil Mackay reports that they are just one string of militias ready to fight to the death for Saddam YOU'LL have seen one of their number already -- a middle-aged man in a blue serge suit with a keffiyeh scarf wrapped around his head. As the TV cameras rolled, he triumphantly waved his Czech-made assault rifle in the air while Iraqi villagers in the distance behind him stripped down the US Apache helicopter he'd just shot down. This avuncular-looking farmer, Ali Obeid, now praised as a national hero...

Big kittys doing big kitty stuff while Mommy snoozes near by... Cute as all get out.

Two rare white lion cubs have been unveiled by a conservation charity in north-western France. Nala and Simba's parents were rescued from the circus by Caresse de Tigre. White lions are native to South Africa, but only a handful remain in the wild.

Gaza authorities say two newborn lion cubs just unveiled by Hamas as prized additions in a zoo they run have died. Mohammad Abdel-Rahman, the acting manager of the Beit Lahiya zoo in northern Gaza, said Thursday the cubs died of an unspecified illness. He said the zoo's staff was unable to save them because they lacked experience in caring for newborn cubs. …

The fear of Saddams child soldier If it should come to the war in the Iraq and to the house fight into Bagdad, American soldiers will encounter a threat, which can bring them into a cruel conscience conflict: Child soldiers, who fight to thousands in Saddam Husseins army and are programmed on killing - as for instance the "lion club Saddams". Berlin - Nathan Ross Chapman did not suspect that he would only have to live few minutes. On 4 January it stood on a kleinlaster and let its view over the fissured mountain region before the gates of...