Free Republic

The trial of hedge-fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam has riveted the financial world and shined a light on the phenomenal success and insularity of the Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, and Sri Lankans flooding the American financial sector, writes Gary Weiss. Following every financial collapse, a cast of Wall Street bad guys invariably parades through the dock, from Depression-era thief Richard Whitney to junk-bond king Michael Milken to Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff—media-saturated jaunts down the Via Dolorosa calculated to reassure the public that the financial markets are being policed, even though they’re not. This week, it’s the somber, bespectacled, self-made billionaire Raj Rajaratnam...

In what must have come as a shock to its readers, the New York Times reported that the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in London brought “home to Britain fears of homegrown terrorist attacks among its disenfranchised South Asian population.” Imagine the surprise of many to learn that Britain is now under attack from “disenfranchised South Asian” people, not those who murder in the name of their Islamic faith. Cruelly ironic is that in the course of attempting to avoid offending Muslims, the Times managed to defame two larger groups of people—all in a single sentence. And that’s setting aside...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police arrested 12 passengers on a U.S. Northwest Airlines plane bound for India which was forced to turn back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, news agency ANP reported. ANP quoted a police spokesman as saying 12 were arrested, but declined to give further details due to the ongoing investigation. Police officials were not immediately available to comment. The Dutch Defense Ministry said earlier the pilot decided to turn back after the crew said several of the 149 passengers on flight 42 to Mumbai were behaving suspiciously. Security has been increased at airports worldwide in the...