Free Republic

Doctors denied her infertility treatment on religious grounds The state Supreme Court stepped into a clash between gay-rights advocates and religious conservatives Wednesday, agreeing to decide whether doctors at a Southern California infertility clinic were entitled to deny artificial insemination to a lesbian. Five of the seven justices voted to grant a hearing to Guadalupe Benitez, who appealed a lower court's ruling allowing the doctors to assert their religious beliefs in defense of their actions. The case should clear up "confusion in the public mind about whether religious beliefs excuse discrimination,'' said attorney Jennifer Pizer of the Lambda Legal Defense...

PARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - Police in Belarus have arrested 22 reporters since the beginning of this week, an international media watchdog said on Friday in what it called an unprecedented crackdown on journalistic freedom. "These arrests are intended to gag dissent and to sow a climate of terror in the country. The independent journalists should be immediately released," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement. RSF said 13 of the journalists were still in prison, mostly serving sentences of several days "for alleged 'hooliganism', 'taking part in an unauthorised gathering' or for 'offering obscenities'". It said...

The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance. A senior U.S. official reiterated Thursday that the country wants to remain the Internet's ultimate authority, rejecting calls in a United Nations meeting in Geneva for a U.N. body to take over. EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource." "The EU ... is very firm on this position," he added. The Geneva talks were...

STRASBOURG, France - The European Parliament voted Wednesday in favor of an obligatory 48-hour maximum work week, saying that an opt-out widely used by Britain should be scrapped. The opt-out, which allows employees to work longer hours if agreed with the employer, has also been applied to specific industries like health care in other countries, including Germany and Luxembourg. Lawmakers voted for it to be phased out over three years following the adoption of a new EU Working Time Directive, expected in 2007. Socialist, Labour and Green deputies supported scrapping the opt-out, while the European People's Party and some independent...

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili delivered his New Year's address to Georgia from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where he had flown to congratulate Viktor Yushchenko on his victory in the presidential elections. This step emphasizes the importance Saakashvili gives to warm relations with a Yushchenko-governed Ukraine. Before his departure for Kyiv, Saakashvili convened a news conference on December 29 to evaluate his government's performance for 2004. He called the year "the most successful in independent Georgia's history." As expected, Saakashvili named the restoration of control over the Ajarian Autonomous Republic as the year's most important achievement. The president also enthusiastically spoke...

...On October 10, 2004, the four Christians were arrested in Philadelphia. They are part of Repent America. Along with founder Michael Marcavage, members of Repent America-with police approval--were preaching near Outfest, a homosexual event, handing out Gospel literature and carrying banners with Biblical messsages. When they tried to speak, they were surrounded by a group of radical homosexual activists dubbed the Pink Angels. A videotape of the incident shows the Pink Angels interfering with the Christians' movement on the street, holding up large pink symbols of angels to cover up the Christians' messages and blowing high pitched whistles to drown...

EJDM Europäische Vereinigung von Juristinnen und Juristen für Demokratie und Menschenrechte in der Welt e.V. EALDH European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights AEJDH Asociacion Europea de los Juristas por la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos en el Mundo AEJDH Association Européenne des Juristes pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme dans le Monde AEGDU Associazione Europea delle Giuriste e dei Giuristi per la Democrazia e i Diritti dell’Uomo nel Mondo Statement of EALDH Administrative Council On the Draft Constitution of the European Union The draft of the Convention for a Constitution for Europe does not...

Pyongyang, August 17 (KCNA) -- Workers and office employees of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are enjoying summer holidays at rest homes together with their families. Nearly twenty reconstructed rest homes in Sokam, Lake Sohung, Onpho, Kuam and other scenic spots have received holiday-makers. The holiday-makers at the Onpho Rest Home in Kyongsong County, North Hamgyong Province, and the Majon Rest Home in Hamhung City, South Hamgyong Province, are playing various kinds of sports games and amusements and swimming and boating in the sea. The Kuam Rest Home in Hwayang-ri, Chongdan County, South Hwanghae Province, has also opened the...

By you own admission, the Free Republic hates democrats, non-Christians, gays, the environment, strong women and pacificts to name a few. That's about 80% of your fellow Americans that you oppose. You claim to be defenders of the constitution and yet you support amendments allowing the federal government to tell you who you can marry and what religion you should follow. You claim to believe in free speech and in the next sentence say you will censor anyone that doesn't agree with you. And yet you claim to to be pro FREEDOM? I don't get it.

Introduction Although the closing for two months by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of his weekly, Al-Hawza,triggered violent demonstrations by Muqtada Al-Sadr's [1] supporters, particularly his armed militia known as the Mehdi Brigades, it is by no means the primary reason for the recent violence. Al-Sadr has been angry and frustrated for some time at being kept outside the Iraqi Governing Council. Not unlike the Iranian Ayatollahs who prepared him as a cleric, Al-Sadr is interested, first and foremost, in achieving an Islamic state in Iraq, and he will not avoid confrontation if it enables him to achieve his ultimate...