Free Republic

The Commerce Department said housing starts fell 12.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, the lowest on records dating back to January 1959, from March's upwardly revised 525,000 units. Compared to the same period last year, housing starts tumbled 54.2 percent.

(IsraelNN.com) The city of Jerusalem responded on Thursday with a biting, detailed statement to what it called the "disinformation campaign" that was conducted during this week's visit to the capital by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton on Wednesday slammed Israel's demolition of buildings in the northern and eastern neighborhoods of the city. "Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the 'Roadmap,'" she said. "It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem," she told...

Soldiers from the 41st Brigade, 10th Division Iraqi Army Division assemble a pyramid displaying an Iraqi flag at their initial training graduation at the Besmaya Range Complex, Dec. 31, 2008. Photo by Pfc. Terence Ewings, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. COB ADDER — Approximately 2,100 Iraqi Army Soldiers graduated their initial training at the Besmaya Range Complex Dec. 31, increasing the might of the Iraqi Security Forces. As he visually reviewed the graduating troops of the 41st Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, Gen Habeeb Talib Abbas, commander of the 10th Iraqi Army Division stood and saluted the newest members.Habeeb displayed...

America has failed to invest in its infrastructure for the past 50 years, and the bill is coming due. The situation is reminiscent of the ancient Roman Empire, which grew strong because of its advanced aqueduct system, but which fell into decline when that feat of engineering tumbled into disrepair. We're in danger of repeating that history, but it's not too late to fix the problem if we take decisive action now. That's why Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and I formed Building America's Future earlier this year. Long before any of us realized we...

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Parliament says that part of the roof of its Strasbourg chamber has collapsed.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 6, 2008 – Wherever U.S. forces are deployed across Afghanistan -- whether conducting combat operations alongside coalition forces in the east and south or security and stability operations in the west and north -- they do so from forward operating bases. U.S. soldiers and Marines, along with Afghan National Army soldiers, detonate explosives near an enemy fighting position during combat operations near the Naghlu Reservoir in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Shawn Graham, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Capt. Richard Roberts’ team of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2008 – The U.S. military is building scores of new medical clinics across Iraq as part of an American-Iraqi partnership to improve health care services for the Iraqi people, U.S. and Iraqi officials said yesterday. During a Baghdad news conference, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey J. Dorko, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division, said myriad initiatives are under way to enhance and promote health care in Iraq. The Gulf Region Division plays a role in renovating and constructing medical facilities across Iraq so its citizens can have safe, functional places to seek care,...

”I feel blessed to be working on this important project,” said Ryan Hartwig, construction representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Basrah Children’s Hospital Office “Each time we go, we see more progress. I can look at the place now and actually visualize patients using this facility,” he continued. “It’s just very satisfying being part of this effort that will no doubt save or change the lives of so many Iraqi children.” Several key partners are involved in the project including Project Hope (a nongovernment organization), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, explained...

BAGHDAD — Within hours of being in country, the Soldiers of the 46th Engineer Combat Battalion picked up their tools and went to work on various projects around the city of Baghdad. The 46th Eng. Bn. is assigned to the 926th Engineer Brigade serving with Multi-National Division - Baghdad. It was just the first week of June when the engineers left their homes at two different posts - Fort Polk, Louisiana and Fort Rucker, Alabama - and boarded planes for Kuwait. At Camp Buehring, Kuwait, the battalion linked up with the 955 Engineer Company, a Missouri-based Army Reserve Company. Together...

Kajima's floor-by-floor slow demolition is one of those rare things in life that leaves you truly speechless, mouth wide-open, and pinching yourself to be sure this is real while you mutter "what the frak." After all, seeing the video of a 20-floor building submerging into the asphalt as if it was liquid is something that belongs to a sci-fi movie. The stunning process—called daruma-otoshi—is not only almost surrealistic but it helps to reduce the environmental impact. Seriously, I can watch this for hours: YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwf9LoS9Xt8 How do they do it? First they replace the support pillars at ground level...

BAGHDAD — Time had little effect on the strands of razor-sharp concertina wire that spanned hundreds of meters and split Ali’s farmland except to dull its original purpose - security. Located on the outer wall of Camp Slayer on the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad, the fence was originally constructed sometime during the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom more than five years ago. But until early June, it served no purpose but to divide. In the small community of Radwaniyah, west of Baghdad International airport, an Iraqi farmer simply wanted to be able to access his fields without the seemingly...

UNITED NATIONS - The woman who died after falling from the U.N.'s Secretariat Building was a 44-year-old employee of the World Health Organization's International Computing Center, a U.N. spokeswoman said Monday. U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe identified the woman who fell from the 19th floor Sunday as Maria Gabriela Di Biase. Police and U.N. security officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning. Okabe said there was no suspicion of foul play. The police...

San Francisco is on track to having the country's most stringent environmentally friendly building standards after Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced a measure Wednesday that would drastically alter the city's building codes. If the Board of Supervisors approves the legislation, new residential and commercial buildings in the city would be required to meet tough environmental guidelines, making San Francisco "the greenest large city in the United States of America," Newsom said. "I will sign it, fast track it," the mayor said Wednesday. "As far as I'm concerned, if you want to do business in San Francisco ... these are going to...

Scouts, left to right, of Troop C, 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, Sgt. Jonathan Toth of Clinton, Miss.; Pfc. Zach Foege who hails from Watertown, Wisc., and Pvt. Joseph Solis of Dallas get to know an Iraqi boy during a foot patrol in the Baghdad Gardens neighborhood near Taji, Oct. 6. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. TAJI — Soldiers from Troop C, 1st Squadron, 7th “Garryowen” Cavalry Regiment, who work out of a nearby Coalition outpost, are continuing to reach out in operations to build relationships and trust with the...

CORONADO, Calif. -- The U.S. Navy will spend as much as $600,000 to modify the appearance of a barracks complex in Coronado that resembles a swastika from the air. Navy officials said the spending for changes to the four L-shaped buildings were approved after satellite images from Google Earth revealed the swastika-like shape.

As the clocks ticks toward the deadline to avert a shutdown of state services, our chief investigative reporter Steve Wilson has been looking into a sweetheart deal that will cost Michigan millions. It’s the story of a new state police headquarters that the state will lease from a friend and supporter of the Governor for nearly three times what it would cost to build…even though many say a new building isn’t even necessary now. But not even the brass or workers at State Police headquarters in Lansing ever asked for a new building, never said it was cramped, or falling...

BAGHDAD — When the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment first started patrolling Qadisiyah a few months ago, they immediately noticed something wasn't right in one neighborhood. Although not uncommon, the Soldiers were not immediately accepted into the Jaysh Al Mahdi-controlled neighborhood of Shi'a residents. Through persistence, the area has begun to flourish thanks to hard work by the artillerymen from the 2nd “Black Jack” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Now that the foundations of trust have been created by the troops, the time to start giving back to the more impoverished people was upon them. In an operation...

20 Rumored Killed in N.Korea Building Collapse Rumor has it that a seven-story apartment building in Hyesan, Yanggang Province in North Korea collapsed last Thursday, killing about 20 and seriously injuring dozens of others. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Monday it is checking the information. According to well-informed source, soldiers and residents arrived to the rescue of victims right after the collapse, collecting about 20 dead bodies and transporting dozens of other seriously injured people to hospitals. But fatalities are reportedly growing due to the lack of rescue equipment. Some 42 families, including those of senior party members and...

Having succeeded in filling homes around the world with affordable Swedish design, furniture giant Ikea has taken the logical next step: making the homes themselves. Ikea has built more than 3,500 apartments and houses across the Nordic region and is now planning its first UK developments. In the late 1990s Ikea teamed up with Swedish construction company Skanska to develop BoKlok (which means Live Smart in Swedish). The concept aims to provide stylish but inexpensive new homes for low and middle income families, and is said to be popular with Ingvar Kamprad, Ikea’s notoriously thrifty billionaire founder. BoKlok’s marketing manager...

MOSCOW - Russia began construction of its first floating nuclear power plant Sunday, and plans to build at least six more despite long-standing environmental concerns that they are vulnerable to accidents at sea, Russian news agencies reported. Russia justifies the program as a way of bringing power to some of the country's most remote areas, also saying some of the plants could be sold to other nations. The head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, said the plants will be safe. "This plant is much safer than atomic energy stations on the ground," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted him...