Free Republic

LONDON — After a whirlwind two months packed with drama and crisis, Britain finds itself right back where it was before with some of the same faces competing to become the third prime minister in just eight weeks. Supporters for the three presumed front-runners — Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and, yes, Boris Johnson — were out of the blocks early on Friday, setting out their pitches for why their person should get the keys to 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence. Could Boris Johnson stage an extraordinary political comeback? What about Rishi Sunak, the bookies’ favorite who fell to...

Oh, the horror! Conservative Party members in the United Kingdom will be choosing their next party leader who will become Prime Minister. Washington Post reporters William Booth and Karla Adam made their disapproval clear, starting with the fact that they don't think these voters are representative of the general population of Britain despite the fact that the vote is supposed to be composed entirely of Conservative Party members. Their disdain for those voters can be seen in the title of of their July 17 article, "Meet the 0.25 percent of Brits who will pick the next prime minister."

JERUSALEM — Work has begun to save the holiest shrine in Christendom. It won’t be a simple patch-and-paint job. This is the alpha and omega of restoration projects. They are going to repair Jesus’ tomb — with titanium bolts. Over the next nine months, a team of Greek conservationists will restore the collapsing chapel built above and around the burial cave where the faithful believe that Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after the Crucifixion. To fix the chapel, which is buckling under its own weight, the crew will have to enter a few square meters of the...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — A dozen Palestinian Muslim men gathered after midnight at an isolated farm house this week to indulge in a new delight. They were going to watch a soap opera about Jews. “Hush, hush. It’s starting!” someone said. The group settled down, sipped fresh lemonade, nibbled sweets, sucked on water pipes and then cranked up the volume for the opening credits of “Haret al-Yahud,” or “The Jewish Quarter.” The steamy Egyptian soap tells a Romeo and Juliet tale of a beautiful daughter of a well-to-do Jewish merchant and a dashing Muslim army commander falling in and out...

JERUSALEM — Professor Mohammed S. Dajani took 27 Palestinian college students to visit the former Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in Poland a few weeks ago as part of a project designed to teach empathy and tolerance. Upon his return, his university disowned the trip, his fellow Palestinians branded him a traitor and friends advised a quick vacation abroad. Dajani said he expected criticism. “I believe a trip like this, for an organized group of Palestinian youth going to visit Auschwitz, is not only rare, but a first,” he said. “I thought there would be some complaints, then it would be...

(snip)Arnold Schwarzenegger formed a politically diverse transition team Thursday, appointed a finance specialist to lead an immediate audit of the state's beleaguered budget and vowed to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet. (snip) His 65-member transition team includes prominent figures from across the political spectrum -- ranging from Republican George P. Shultz, secretary of state in the Reagan administration, to San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., a liberal Democrat. (snip)