Free Republic

SIHALA, Pakistan (AP) — The leader of a banned Muslim extremist group blamed in the deaths of hundreds of people was released Wednesday by Pakistani authorities, who said they have no evidence to continue holding him. Maulana Azam Tariq, whose pro-Taliban group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, had been detained for 13 months without being formally charged. A Lahore appeals court ruled Monday that the government would have to release him if it could not produce evidence against him. ``We do not have any case against him and we have set him free as...

Predictably, liberal politicians and the media overlooked personal responsibility in the case of Jared Loughner, the Arizona shooter. Likewise, that the ne'er-do-well was a pot smoker, a Karl Marx fan and anti-God (any one of which would get member fees waived at the ACLU, Planned Parenthood Foundation or Southern Poverty Law Center), all seem to have escaped the media's notice in the rush to blame responsible religious capitalists of the tea-party sort. As many have observed, the instantaneous and disgusting use of real tragedy and death for utilitarian political gain was disappointing. Rep. Robert Brady's proposed legislation outlawing critical speech...

Nicaragua's legislature is expected today to approve a tough law that outlaws all forms of abortion, including those procedures intended to save the life of a pregnant woman. The measure has been supported by most major political parties ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, as they seek to win over voters in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. Leaders of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua helped draft the bill and have mobilized followers to support it.

Lunch trades outlawed to protect kids with allergies ORMONDALE SCHOOL JOINS THOSE THAT HAVE APPLIED TIGHTER RULES By Kim Vo Mercury News In the underground economy of school lunches, third-grader Siobhan Rickert explained, the demands are straightforward: ``If you give me this cookie, I'll give you this pretzel.'' But no more. This month, Ormondale School in Portola Valley began cracking down on lunch swaps. No more trading mom's turkey sandwich for a peanut butter and jelly -- or exchanging chocolate chip cookies for, well, just about anything you want. Ormondale joins a smattering of Bay Area schools that have banned...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The suicide bombers who tried to kill Pakistan's leader last week belonged to an outlawed militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, three intelligence officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The bombers were part of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a group that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf banned in 2002 as part of a drive to purge Pakistan of terrorism, said the officials, who are all intimately involved in the investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity. One of the attackers was from Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region that is divided between Pakistan and India....

<p>NEW YORK (AP) - A convicted money smuggler was a key fund-raiser for an Islamic charity he knew financed terrorism, and once used an airport bathroom to secretly deliver $10,000 to the group, prosecutors allege.</p> <p>Alaa Al-Saadawi later "defied logic" by telling investigators he gave the $10,000 to a member of the Global Relief Foundation in a bathroom stall at Chicago's O'Hare Airport because he was "scared of gangsters," according to papers filed in federal court in Brooklyn.</p>

Holland outlaws Muslim group after intelligence finds links to terrorism — A Rotterdam-based Islamic charity has been outlawed and its moneys frozen after Dutch intelligence concluded its funds are used to finance Hamas terrorism. Holland’s foreign minister, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, outlawed the Al-Aqsa Foundation after the intelligence service published its 2002 annual report earlier this month. The report says that foundation money is transferred to Hamas to buy weapons and train suicide bombers. Last winter, German intelligence concluded the same about a German foundation by the same name. An attorney for the Dutch group claimed it is not related...