Free Republic

In a move to keep a State Senate seat in the Republican Party’s hands, Robert J. Helbock, the Conservative candidate in a three-way race, announced yesterday that he was withdrawing from the battle to succeed longtime Senator John J. Marchi of Staten Island. Mr. Marchi, a Republican who has held his seat for 50 years, announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election. Earlier this month, Mr. Helbock, who was a longtime counsel to the retiring senator, was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary for the Senate seat by City Councilman Andrew J. Lanza. Mr. Helbock decided...

A South African spy captured by Zimbabwean counter intelligence is alleged to have been severely tortured before agreeing to co-operate with local officials, the Institute for Security Studies said in Pretoria today. The spy recently was nabbed by Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives at Victoria Falls and under questioning, revealed the names of his collaborators within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu(PF)). Chris Maroleng, an analyst, said the spy would not have naturally agreed to work with the Zimbabweans as they had alleged and therefore must have reached his "pain threshold". "The Zimbabwean CIO are renowned...