Free Republic

The former top cop in Washington and Philadelphia said Sunday that the country is “sitting on a powder keg” amid outcry over a number of fatal police shootings, including two last week that prompted nationwide protests.

The socio-economic gap between Jews and Bedouin has turned the Negev into “a powderkeg,” warned Sigal Moran, head of the Bnei Shimon regional council in the Negev, in an interview with Arutz Sheva. Moran suggested that the government start with the “carrot” of improved living conditions in authorized, planned cities before moving to the “stick” of destroying illegal encampments. “Let them improve the quality of life in the towns first… Then they can talk about evacuating unauthorized settlement,” she said. The government is planning to implement the “Prawer plan,” which will authorize many illegal Bedouin towns and expand existing Bedouin...

A UNITED State Federal judge ordered the detention on Monday of an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen who was arrested at Detroit's airport last week for carrying nearly $79,000 in cash and articles on suitcase bombs and the Sept. 11 attacks. Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 34, was arrested on Nov. 14 on arrival in Detroit after a dog smelled narcotics on his cash, according to federal prosecutors who had appealed a decision for him to be released on bond as a threat and a flight risk. Dinssa is charged with failing to declare he was bringing more than $10,000 into the United States, a...

Abstract: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il's faltering health has raised concerns about regime stability. Succession rumors have been swirling for years, with Kim's third son, Jong-eun, currently rumored to be Kim's favored choice. But regardless of whether leadership stays in the family or is wrested away by a challenger, a new North Korean leader is likely to keep in place the same belligerent policies--toward South Korea, toward China and Japan, and toward the U.S. If succession does not go smoothly, and if the North Korean regime were to collapse, the ensuing chaos would require immediate action by the U.S. and...

If wasn't clear before it should be now: the Bush administration can't afford to attack Iran. With gas already at $4 a gallon and rising almost every day, Iran figuratively and literally has the United States over a barrel. As much as the administration is tempted, it is not about to test Iran's promise to "explode" the Middle East if it is attacked.

The US Navy is sending three warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon...... Another military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because full details about the ship movements are not yet public, said the USS Cole is headed for patrol in the eastern Mediterranean and that the USS Nassau, an amphibious warship, would be joining it shortly. The officer said a third ship would go later, but he did not identify it by name.

Thousands and thousands have rushed toward the southern poor suburbs of Tehran in order to help or support, by their presences, those who defied the Iranian regieme this afternoon in order to make a massive protest in the localities of Nassim Shahr and Eslam Shahr.Heavy traffic jams are blocking most major traffic arteries which is unprecented for this area and shows the cement of unity solidifying between the different layers of the population. Violent clashes rocked the area earlier in the afternoon as groups of demonstrators tried to approach the warehouses of the GTC where food and different items are...