Free Republic

A large number of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority are backing presidential front-runner Ahmed Shafiq. The 70-year-old former prime minister represents their best hope for a secular presidency, something Copts worry will not happen if an Islamist candidate wins. “People see what happened with the Islamists in the parliament and Shura Council. People won’t make the same mistake twice,” said one man in Cairo waiting to vote. Another woman said she felt it was time for someone other than an Islamist: “Frankly from what I see, the Copts fear the current Islamists. I think because they won control of the parliament...

Times Square Is Evacuated in Bomb Scare The scene at Times Square on Saturday night after police found a suspicious package inside a Pathfinder on West 45th Street. RAY RIVERA and KARIN HENRY May 1, 2010 A bomb in Times Square led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said. There was no explosion. “It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The device, he said, contained “explosive...

SNIPPET: "(03-03) 17:42 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Three cousins from Hayward have been charged in San Francisco with a hate crime and assault for allegedly firing a BB rifle at the face of a man they believed was gay, an attack the men videotaped, authorities said Wednesday." SNIPPET: "Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi and Sayed Bassam, all 24, are scheduled to be arraigned today in San Francisco Superior Court. They are free on $50,000 bond apiece." SNIPPET: "Investigators believe the assailants chose the victim because he appeared to be gay. When the men were pulled over, police found a video camera...