Free Republic

Excavator Nicholas Stampolidis said his team discovered more than 3,000 pieces of gold foil in the 7th-century B.C. twin grave near the ancient town of Eleutherna... The tiny gold ornaments, from 1 to 4 centimetres (0.4 to 1.5 inches) long, had been sewn onto a lavish robe or shroud that initially wrapped the body of a woman and has almost completely rotted away but for a few off-white threads... The woman, who presumably had a high social or religious status, was buried with a second skeleton in a large jar sealed with a stone slab weighing more than half a...

Selling any used cribs or playpens at your upcoming garage sale? Children’s clothes with drawstrings or zippers? Pre-1985 books? Rubber duckies or pool floaties? Better check them twice. Just like megasize toy manufacturers and stores that sell products from China, the notoriously broad and confusing federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act applies to you and your front yard

(IsraelNN.com) Details of the tragic aftermath of the terrorist massacre in Mumbai's Chabad House have become available. WARNING: some readers may find the descriptions disturbing. The bodies of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and kashrus inspector Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, were found in the Mumbai Chabad House library, with holy books in front of them. According to ZAKA emergency service, the body of the Rabbi's wife Rivka was found covered with a tallit, which her husband had managed to cover her with. The bodies of the two other women who were killed along with Rivka Holtzberg were found tied with telephone...

Beijing is covered by desert sandstorm By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 18/04/2006) Beijing's 14 million residents woke to find their houses, cars and bicycles covered in thick, yellow dust yesterday after the worst spring sandstorms for five years. Workers start to clear the some of the 300,000 tons of sand dumped on the Chinese capital, Beijing Officials said 300,000 tons of sand whipped up by fierce winds in the Gobi desert more than 1,000 miles away were dumped on the city in a storm that began on Sunday evening. It was the second such storm in a week, the...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The federal emergency agency paid for hundreds of funerals last year of Floridians whose deaths had nothing to do with the four hurricanes that hit the state, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday. One person died before the storm even struck his town, while another died a month later in another state. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved 319 hurricane funeral claims in Florida for $1.3 million, though an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday it actually turned down more applications than it approved. Several of the families told the newspaper they gave FEMA letters from doctors...

Four detectives allegedly stole $100,000 worth of marijuana during a drug raid at St Kilda Marina then conspired to sell it, a jury was told yesterday. The County Court heard that the four men, from St Kilda police station, intercepted the drugs after a tip-off. Crown prosecutor Colin Hillman, SC, told the court that a drug dealer, Daniel May, had allegedly arranged to deliver the cannabis, from South Australia, to an associate at the marina in May 1999. Mr Hillman said the cannabis was wrapped in vacuum packs and moved from Mr May's Patterson Lakes home to the marina using...

BURLINGTON, Iowa -- A psychiatrist who police say smeared excrement on dollar bills used to pay a parking ticket has been charged with harassment of a public official. Ronald Preston McPike, 52, was arrested Sept. 30 at his office in Burlington. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, a misdemeanor, and was released on $125 bond pending a Dec. 8 court appearance. Officers received an envelope in July labeled "Foreign brown substance on bills." The envelope contained several dollar bills and a parking ticket made out to a vehicle registered to McPike, police said. Tests indicated the brown substance was...

EU 'covered up' attacks on Jews by young Muslims By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 01/04/2004) Jewish leaders accused the European Union yesterday of covering up the true scale of anti-Semitic violence carried out by Muslim youths, reigniting a controversy over Europe's failure to confront Islamic extremism at home. A study released by the EU's racism and xenophobia monitoring centre astounded experts by concluding that the wave of anti-Jewish persecution over the last two years stemmed from neo-Nazi or other racist groups. "The largest group of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic activities appears to be young, disaffected white Europeans," said a...

'Bridges of Madison County' bridge set on fire WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) — A third historic covered bridge was set on fire near the setting of The Bridges of Madison County, but passers-by doused the flames before the fire caused much damage, sheriff's officials said. A 134-year old covered bridge burned near Delta, Iowa last week. By Brad Whitney, The Ottumwa Courier via AP The 97-foot-long Hogback Bridge, which was built in 1884 and was featured in the Robert Waller novel, was set on fire Saturday afternoon, said Madison County Sheriff's Deputy Craig Busch. Two days earlier, a fire destroyed a...

Sand-covered Huns city unearthed 10/08/2002 XI'AN: Chinese archaeologists recently discovered a unique, ancient city which has lain covered by desert sands for more than 1,000 years. It is the first ruined city of the Xiongnu (Huns) ever found, said Dai Yingxin, a well-known Chinese archaeologist. The Xiongnu was a nomadic ethnic group, who for 10 centuries were tremendously influential in northern China. The unearthed city occupies 1 square kilometre in Jingbian County, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, adjacent to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north of the country. It is believed that the city was built by more...