Free Republic

New York (AFP) – An American of Lebanese descent was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Tuesday for buying weapons and plotting attacks on behalf of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Ali Kourani, 34, was found guilty in May of gathering intelligence on potential attack targets, including New York’s JFK International Airport and a federal building in Manhattan. A federal court in America’s financial capital convicted him of eight allegations including conspiracy to use weapons in a violent crime. Born in Lebanon but naturalized by the United States in 2009, Kourani attended several Hezbollah training camps in his country...

Today I reported on the refusal of CNN International (CNNi) to broadcast an award-winning documentary, "iRevolution", that was produced in early 2011 as the Arab Spring engulfed the region and which was highly critical of the regime in Bahrain. The documentary, featuring CNN's on-air correspondent Amber Lyon, viscerally documented the brutality and violence the regime was using against its own citizens who were peacefully protesting for democracy. Commenting on why the documentary did not air on CNNi, CNN's spokesman cited "purely editorial reasons".

BANJUL (Reuters) - Europe and the United States should apologize to Africa for the cruelties of slavery, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday, calling on African states to resist modern day U.S. colonialism. Attending a summit of African leaders in Gambia, Chavez said both Africa and Latin America had been blighted by slavery and colonialism for centuries, to the benefit of Europe and North America. "Africa is still weeping ... and Europe does not recognize it. Europe should apologize, get on its knees and apologize," Chavez, invited to attend the summit as a guest, told reporters. "They should lower...

Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts on Tuesday told an audience at the liberal Take Back America conference that he was sorry for voting to authorize the war in Iraq, calling the entire mission "a mistake." "We were misled, we were given evidence that was not true," Kerry said. "It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote [for it]." Kerry, who led an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004, said it was necessary to admit mistakes because "you cannot change the future if you''re not honest about the past." He criticized supporters of the...

DANBURY — In a decision Superior Court trial referee Robert Callahan "agonized long and hard over," he ruled in favor of two accused drug dealers who claimed they were stopped outside the Sheraton in Danbury in 2004 only because they were black. In a written decision dated May 17 and received Friday by defense lawyers, Callahan said he came to his decision, which essentially guts the state's case against the men, "reluctantly" and after "soul-searching." Lawyer James Diamond of Danbury said his client Demetere Taft, 30, of Beaver Street, is "obviously very pleased that the judge has agreed with the...

Keller Says 'N.Y. Times' Must Look Beyond Its Urban, Liberal Base By E&P Staff Published: June 26, 2005 3:00 PM ET NEW YORK In a lengthy memo published the newspaper's Web site, Bil Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, announced several new policies in response to a recent report by the paper's Credibility Committee. Among them is a fresh attempt to diversify the Times' staff and viewpoints, and not in the usual racial or gender ways, but in political, religious and cultural areas as well. The aim, he wrote, is "to stretch beyond our predominantly urban, culturally liberal...

<p>I can't believe you post comments like the ones I read today. You do nothing to help Saddam! Allowing such igggnorant kommentary makes you look shabbby and without kredibility. By the way one of your readers mentioned that Jeannie Garafolo has an IQ of 80. I'm sure they didn't actually verify that so I did. In fact Jeannie Garafolo has an IQ of 8000!!! President Clinton has an IQ of 11082!! George Bush 0! You do the math. I would tell you to go to to 2 hell, but for that you need an IQ of...never mind! Maybe if you get all your editors and readers together you might get to 2000000000000000!</p>