Free Republic

AUSTRALIA has lost patience with Mufti Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali and he should think about somewhere else to live, Immigration Minister Kekin Andrews says. Calls for the sheik to be sacked intensified today after reports that he travelled to Tehran and urged Muslims worldwide to support the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, whose nuclear ambitions have raised the ire of the international community. "The mufti of Australia has called on the Islamic world to stand in the trenches with the Islamic Republic of Iran which possesses the might and the power," the Iranian Alalam News reported in Arabic on its...

Documents released today have confirmed a number of journalists embedded with Canadian troops in Afghanistan were removed on short notice after complaints from other nations including the United States and Australia. According to the documents, several of Canada's allies had complained the country's policy on embedded journalists was too liberal. A Canadian Defence Department source has confirmed Australia was one of the nations that did the most complaining. The actual incident occurred in April, when four journalists were removed from their embedded positions after very short notice. In at least one case, a helicopter was sent in during fighting to...

Sure, Kerry has been formally ‘excommunicated’ from the Catholic Church. Actual excommunication was likely long before we thought. But 2004 is when you heard from the Vatican that it was official. But the real question is, what about the rest of all the Catholics in public office? Unfortunately, there are many Catholics who refuse to believe and vote for Catholic principles. What should be done with them? It’s true that 24% of the American population claim they’re Catholic. But it’s also true that voting for a politician who votes for policy in direct opposition to Catholic doctrine(i.e., the “non-negotiables”: 1)abortion,...

MORE than half of Britain's voters believe Prime Minister Tony Blair has run out of steam and should leave office by the end of this year, The Times reported in Tuesday's edition. Nearly three fifths (57 percent) of those polled think the Labour Party leader has "run out of steam and is unlikely to achieve anything else as PM", the newspaper said. On the other hand, some 37 percent agreed that "there are plenty of things that Blair can still achieve before he stands down as PM". Blair dismissed renewed talk Monday of a rift with his finance minister Gordon...