Free Republic

he World Jewish Congress is in turmoil, two decades after the billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. rescued it from crushing debts and propelled it to remarkable successes. With just a few dozen employees and an $8 million annual operating budget, the congress, a nonprofit organization, brought to light the Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations chief, and forced Swiss banks to pay more than $1 billion to settle Holocaust-related claims. Now the organization that criticized those banks for their lack of transparency and accountability finds itself under attack on similar accusations - and from within the Jewish...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to his Austrian hometown Sunday for the first time since severing official ties with the city two years ago after a flap over the death penalty. The actor-turned-governor was welcomed at the airport in the southern city of Graz by friends and current and former local politicians, including Alfred Gerstl, a former leader of the upper house of parliament often described as his mentor, the Austria Press Agency reported. APA reported that Schwarzenegger would attend Gerstl's 84th birthday celebration Sunday evening. He will also visit Britain and France as part of his short European tour....

So the old rogue is dead. That is all I could say when I heard yesterday that Kurt Waldheim had reached the end of his days at 88. I spent months, years, investigating his dark past in what we now call Bosnia, when he - let us not be coy about this - was part of the Bosnien-Kampfgruppen of Wehrmacht Army Group E of General Löhr, fighting "terroristen" (yes, indeed, the Nazis called them terrorists, just as they talked about the "RAF Terroristenfliegen") in the Balkans. Waldheim had been secretary general of the UN, had lectured UN officers in Lebanon...

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian-born film star-turned- politician Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) joined a big gathering of heads of state Saturday at the funeral of Austrian president Thomas Klestil, who died this week two days before completing his term. The California governor attended a requiem mass for Klestil in Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral along with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and other foreign dignitaries. Klestil, son of a Vienna tram driver who became a career diplomat, helped restore the presidency's image after a controversy dating back to...