Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney passed on Chris Christie (R) as his vice presidential running mate in 2012 partly because the New Jersey governor failed to provide all background information requested by his vetters, according to a new book. According to "Double Down," which was obtained by The New York Times on Thursday, Christie’s dossier was “littered with potential land mines.” The fundraising limitations imposed on Christie as governor of New Jersey also played a part. But Christie left a number of questions asked of him blank, more than other potential candidates, according to the book, written by Mark Halperin...

WASHINGTON DC – Singer Bonjean Strategies today announced the addition of veteran Republican strategist Brian Walsh as partner in their bipartisan public affairs and strategic communications firm. Founded by top Democratic and Republican strategists Phil Singer and Ron Bonjean in 2008, the firm has successfully helped dozens of clients achieve their communications and government relations objectives. “There are few strategists in either party that can compare to Brian Walsh,” Singer said. “Brian’s work ethic and creativity pack a potent one-two punch and we are very lucky that he is our new partner.” “Brian Walsh is one of the best communication...

A man claiming to be Egypt's official executioner has spoken of how much he loves his job in a sinister interview. Hajj Abd Al-Nabi, who claims he has hanged some 800 people convicted of crimes ranging from adultery to murder, said: 'In all honesty, I love my work. I just love it! 'I never say "no" when they need me at work. This is my work and my livelihood.' But Mr Al-Nabi's exuberant commentary on his macabre profession takes an even more chilling turn as he explains how strangulation had been his 'hobby' since he was a teenage boy. 'When...

Left-handed people have a ‘strikingly higher’ chance of suffering from schizophrenia, research suggests. A study revealed left-handers accounted for 40 per cent of those with the mental illness. However, only around 10 per cent of the general population is left-handed. It is thought that the changes in the brain that make people left-handed may also contribute to schizophrenia. Famous left-handers include Prince William, Barack Obama, David Cameron, Sir Paul McCartney, Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie.

Germany has hit back at US criticism of its export-led growth model, describing the attack as "incomprehensible". The rebuff came after a US Treasury report said Germany's dependence on exports for growth was hurting the eurozone and the wider global economy. It also said that domestic demand growth in Germany had been "anaemic". But Germany's finance ministry said there were "no imbalances" in its economy and that its current account surplus was not a cause for concern. A surplus happens when a country's income from exports is greater than its import bill. In its report, the US Treasury said that...

EU leaders are calling for the suspension of a trade pact with the US worth billions of dollars over NSA spying. The 28-nation bloc suspects the so-called ‘Safe Harbor’ deal is being undermined by US espionage and has demanded safeguards for EU citizens. The EU’s top politicians have slammed Washington for a “breakdown of trust” and seek guarantees for the safety of EU customer data. “For ambitious and complex negotiations to succeed there needs to be trust among the negotiating partners,” EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Wednesday in a speech at Yale University. The Safe Harbor agreement has been...

It is weird to entrust the same policy-makers who were caught lying publicly on the record to Congress in an internal review of NSA programs. As laughable as Wall Street banks regulating themselves, geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser told RT. RT: Let’s listen to what General Alexander said defending the NSA policies. “It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked.” He’s got a good point, hasn’t he? Eric Draitser: Well, to some degree that’s true, but...

Not long ago, I was approached by a man and woman from the UK who wanted some training and the chance to shoot guns. They were in the United States on vacation and one of the items on their vacation list was to find a certified instructor and have the once in a lifetime chance to “experience what it’s like to be American for a few hours with the legal right to shoot rifles and guns.” They told me that in the UK, they could not own guns and they really did not understand this “passion” Americans had for firearms...

Jiji Press WASHINGTON (Jiji Press)—The U.S. Treasury Department said it will “continue to closely monitor” Japan’s economic policies and the extent to which they support growth in domestic demand there. “It is important that Japan calibrate the pace of fiscal consolidation to the recovery in domestic demand and take ambitious and effective steps to increase domestic demand,” the department said in a semiannual report on economic and currency policies Wednesday. “Monetary policy cannot offset excessive fiscal consolidation or be a substitute for structural reform that raises trend growth and domestic demand,” it said.

Leaders of the massive candle-carrying protests against U.S. beef imports in 2008 do not have to compensate the government for the damage incurred during the demonstrations, a Seoul court ruled yesterday. The government in July 2005 requested some 517 million won ($487,726) in compensation for medical fees for injured police, lost police equipment and damage to buses and cars from civic groups and their leaders after they organized candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports between May and June 2008. The protesters believed U.S. beef posed a risk of infecting people with mad cow disease. The Seoul Central District Court ruled...

Heavy smog blanketed Korea this week blown in by northwesterly winds from China. The concentration of ultrafine particles is often at its worst between December and March, with most of the smog comes from Beijing and surrounding Hebei Province. The smog crosses the West Sea and reaches the Korean peninsula anywhere between six hours and a day later. Meteorologists say the smog is diluted as it crosses the West Sea, but 40 to 50 percent still reaches Korea. On Thursday, the concentration of ultrafine particles in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province north of Seoul, reached 255㎍/㎥, five times the normal level in...

Shinzo Abe raise eyebrows on Thursday by breaking away from a 20-year tradition of Japanese prime ministers expressing remorse over their country's wartime aggression and pledging not to let it happen again when they mark the end of World War II. Speaking on the 68th anniversary of the Japan's surrender in World War II, Abe instead highlighted the "sacrifices" of Japanese soldiers. Since Morihiro Hosokawa in 1993, all Japanese prime ministers have included acknowledgement of the damage and pain Japan inflicted on countries in Asia and their peoples, and promised that Japan would never engage in a war, in their...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering worth about 50,000 Japanese yen to the militarist Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, a move seen as avoiding a personal visit to the shrine. Visits to Yasukuni by previous Japanese prime ministers invariably chilled relations with Korea and China to freezing point since it honors convicted World War II criminals among the country’s war dead. Abe made the offering to mark the shrine's autumn festival, which runs from Thursday until Sunday. He also sent an offering to the shrine during the spring festival in April. Abe had said he felt...

The best warfare strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, next is to attack alliances. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War A growing chorus of nations is decrying Washington's unrestrained cyber espionage. However, there is only one country with both the means and motivation for using mounting international resentment to challenge American hegemony. The NSA surveillance of America's allies has opened up two vital fronts in which China can erode American global dominance. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying has claimed the rhetorical high ground, calling cyber security "a matter of sovereignty". She said Beijing is eager to address...

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Indonesia is looking to build a new 300,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) state-owned refinery to reduce its dependence on imported fuels, a government official said on Thursday. Indonesia now has about 1 million bpd of refining capacity that meets about two-thirds of its demand, meaning it has to import more than 500,000 bpd of fuel products to fill the gap. The country is conducting a feasibility study it hopes to complete by next year on the new refinery, said Yusef Kartiwa Caryana, deputy director of the oil and gas storage and business development division at Indonesia's energy and mineral...

(Reuters) - For someone with $55 million to spare on an egg-sized diamond, the world's most expensive necklace is on sale this month at a jewelery show in Singapore, reflecting Asia's growing appetite for precious gems and expensive baubles. Known as L'Incomparable, the necklace created by luxury jeweler Mouawad features a yellow, internally flawless diamond of more than 407 carats suspended from a rose gold setting that is studded with 90 white diamonds weighing nearly 230 carats. "Serious interest" has been expressed by a couple of potential buyers from Asia, said Jean Nasr, managing director of Mouawad in Singapore, declining...

The Kwee brothers, Singapore’s fifth richest with a net worth of $5.2 billion, want a piece of the New York sky. Announcing their first venture overseas, the four brothers who collectively run Pontiac Land, yesterday unveiled plans for a 1050 ft towering skyscraper, to come up between the 53rd and 54th streets in New York city. Located in an area now being nicknamed the ‘billionaire’s row’, because of luxury penthouses contracted to come up at $90-$95 million or upwards of $11,000 a square foot on nearby 57th street, Pontiac Land’s skyscraper will house galleries of the Museum of Modern Art...

Once again, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has chosen to open up on a touchy subject in Malaysia while travelling abroad, defending the court ruling which effectively banned Christians here from using the word Allah. He said that the curb against the Catholic weekly, Herald, using the word Allah was necessary to protect public security and national harmony, going as far to describe the Herald as a publication with wide circulation. The Herald publishes 14,000 copies every week and all are sold within the confines of churches. In an interview with Reuters in London, Najib said: "People must understand...

BEIJING: A 10-year-old Chinese boy jumped 30 floors to his death after failing to write a self-criticism letter demanded by his teacher, state media reported on Thursday. The fifth-grade primary school student had been ordered to write a 1,000-character apology by his teacher for talking in class, China National Radio (CNR) reported on its website, citing a neighbour. The educator allegedly told him to jump out of a building after he failed to complete the task, the report quoted relatives and the neighbour as saying. "Teacher, I can't do it," was found written in one of his textbooks, CNR said....

BEIJING: Four domestic Chinese flights were diverted on Thursday after bomb threats were received, state media reported, days after an attack rocked Tiananmen Square in the capital. The official Xinhua news agency reported that an unidentified suspect had been arrested in connection with the false threats, which affected four flights to and from Changsha in the central province of Hunan. Searches of the aircraft found no explosive devices. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was the same person responsible for a multiple bomb threat made two days earlier, also at Changsha airport. According to central broadcaster CCTV, Tuesday's...