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THEY WERE THE Navy’s last chance. It was 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 4, 1942. Forty-seven U. S. Navy dive bombers had found what they were looking for. Far below, four Japanese aircraft carriers were launching the first planes of a massive strike that could decide the Battle of Midway. So far, two days of American air and submarine attacks had failed to damage a single ship of the peerless Japanese Aircraft Carrier Striking Force. The priceless intelligence advantage the U.S. had gained through years of backbreaking effort by Navy codebreakers was about to be squandered. The heroic sacrifice...

A record-setting dive into the world's deepest and most mysterious underwater trench proves that even the most remote places on Earth aren't immune to plastic waste.

A scuba diver missing from the Florida Keys since Tuesday has been identified as a well-known Canadian underwater filmmaker and conservationist. Rob Stewart, 37, was diving with a small group on the wreck of the Queen of Nassau near Alligator Reef off Lower Matecumbe Key in about 225 feet of water, his sister Alexandra Stewart said by phone from Toronto on Wednesday morning. He was filming an installment of his Sharkwater documentary series, she said. Stewart and another diver were using closed-circulation rebreathing dive equipment instead of conventional scuba tanks, which are open-air circulation, according to an email from the...

His personal favorability, once a strong point for Obama, has vanished and is now being replaced by a personal dislike that is dragging him down. These data, buried deep in the latest NY Times/CBS poll (of registered voters, not likely voters) are both stark and important. In April, Obama had a 42-45 favorable/unfavorable rating, itself a shock given his vastly higher favorable ratings only a few months before. Now, he has a favorable rating of only 36% and an unfavorable rating of 48%. The NY Times poll showed Romney getting 47% of the vote compared to 46% for Obama (again,...

Hollywood icon James Cameron has made it to Earth's deepest point. The director of "Titanic," ''Avatar" and other films used a specially designed submarine to dive nearly seven miles, completing his journey a little before 8 a.m. Monday local time, according to Stephanie Montgomery of the National Geographic Society. He plans to spend about six hours exploring and filming the Mariana Trench, about 200 miles southwest of the Pacific island of Guam. "All systems OK," were Cameron's first words upon reaching the bottom, according to a statement. His arrival at a depth of 35,756 feet came early Sunday evening on...

The Washington Post has reported a 50% plunge in profits for the second quarter of 2011, as advertising revenue at its print and online businesses suffered double-digit declines. The Washington Post Company, which is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, also reported that its education unit, Kaplan, had a tough quarter, with operating income plunging 82% to $20.5m and revenues falling 15% to $628.7m. Overall profits at the Washington Post Company for the three months to the end of June were $45.6m, a 50% decline on the $91.9m the company reported in the same period last year.

The U.S. dollar slid to 15-month lows on Monday, boosting world stocks and commodity prices, even after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank was monitoring the value of the greenback "closely." U.S. crude oil futures jumped more than 3 percent as the weaker dollar prompted investors to buy higher-yielding assets such as commodities and stocks. The greenback weakened on better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data, which stoked risk appetite, and after Asian and U.S. leaders failed to agree on exchange rates at a summit in Singapore. The dollar briefly pared its losses after Bernanke said the Fed...

Putin dives to bottom of world's deepest lake Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Saturday dived to the bottom of the world's deepest lake aboard a mini-submarine, in a highly mediatized stunt unusual even by the standards of the Russian hardman. Putin, wearing special thermal blue overalls, was able to examine the unique flora and fauna of Lake Baikal in Siberia during his four-hour journey underwater aboard the Mir-1 submarine. "I've never experienced anything like it in my life," the prime minister, who served eight years as Russian president, told state television aboard the support ship after resurfacing. "It's a special feeling....

Police say a man was severely injured when he threw himself into a wood chipper Thursday in Roseville. Crews were clearing trees in a public area this afternoon when the man appeared and jumped head first into the wood chipper. Workers turned off the machine and called 911, and the man was rushed to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with injuries to his head and torso. Police are calling it a suicide attempt and say the man is between 19- to 21-years-old.

Dive team to scour Danube for Queen Mary's lost belongings By: All Hungary News 2008-05-08 09:25:00 The legend goes something like this: after the disastrous Battle of Mohács in 1526, the twenty-one-year-old Queen Mary of Hungary fled the encroaching Ottoman army on a caravan of ships headed to Vienna. But, on her way up the Danube a few ships sank along with their valuable cargo. It is said that to this day they remain hidden in the murky depths of the river. Soon, any truth to this story may soon be discovered, or disproved. According to inforadio.hu, a team of...

2 Major Homebuilders See Drop in Fourth-Quarter Orders, Profits PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In a sign of a deepening housing slump, two major homebuilders on Tuesday reported steep declines in new orders and weaker fourth-quarter results. Luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. of Horsham, Pa., said home-building revenue fell by 10 percent and signed contracts were down by 55 percent compared with a year ago. The company, which released its quarterly outlook ahead of earnings, also said it will incur a hefty charge against profits as it pares down the number of lots it controls. Beazer Homes USA Inc. of Atlanta...

SEATTLE - Five hundred miles north of Alaska, a group of shipmates from the Coast Guard cutter Healy tossed a football on the blue-and-white, diamond-hard Arctic ice. Others snapped panoramic photos and took walks during the two-hour break, stretching their legs after a month aboard the 420-foot icebreaker. Lt. Jessica Hill and Boatswain's Mate Steven Duque seized the chance for a training dive and slipped into a patch of open water near the Healy's bow. A team held ropes attached to the divers, lest they become disoriented under the ice. Several research scientists watched from the deck. But no one...

TWO COAST GUARD MEMBERS PERISH IN DIVE OPERATION COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. - Two Coast Guard divers assigned to the Seattle-based Coast Guard Cutter Healy died Thursday afternoon during a routine dive operation in the Arctic Ocean approximately 500 miles north of Barrow, Alaska. Deceased are Lt. Jessica Hill, 30, of St. Augustine, Fla., and Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque, 26, of Miami. The victim's next of kin have been notified and additional support services are being provided to each family, as well as Healy crewmembers. "I felt a deep sense of loss when I received the initial...

ABOARD USS SALVOR, Gulf of Thailand (NNS) -- The rescue and salvage ship USS Salvor (ARS 52) and divers of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 arrived June 11 at the site in the Gulf of Thailand presumed to be the resting place of the WWII–era USS Lagarto (SS 371) and its crew. In May 2005, British diver Jamie MacLeod reported finding Lagarto, which was last seen May 3, 1945. On May 8, 2006, MacLeod joined U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Force Commander Rear Adm. Jeffrey Cassias and families of crew members who served aboard Lagarto at a memorial service...

3/16/2006 - TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- This was the final test. An underwater compass and a buddy harnessed three feet from their bodies provide direction. A 25-pound breathing device strapped to their chests provides vital oxygen while underwater without making surface bubbles. A 50-pound rucksack and weapon weighted on their backs are the tools they’ll need to infiltrate the beach when they get there. These teams of two kick underwater in murky water more than 2,000 yards to reach the shore. They have to hit a precise, targeted objective there without being spotted by anyone on boat...

Scientists Interrupt Search for the “Mayan Atlantis" in the Caribbean. Cuban Newpaper: GRANMA Mexico City, November 6, 2004 Forwarded by David Drewelow This story updates this prior story . - A group of scientists searching for a hypothetical “Mayan Atlantis" found a pyramid of 35 meters under the waters of the Caribbean, but it had to interrupt the mission due to technical problems, as reported by the Mexican newspaper Millenium, today. After 25 days of work in the sea, near the southwestern end of Cuba, the investigations deeper than 500 meters had to be abandoned due to problems with the...

A frightening sequence of events and clues gleaned by U.S. intelligence has some in law enforcement believing that a maritime terrorist attack against San Francisco could be imminent. Local ferry operators became alarmed last week when someone described as Middle Eastern man boarded a ferry to Alcatraz but did not leave the boat when it reached the island. Instead, the man videotaped boat traffic and used a stopwatch to time the route. "He got on the boat to go to the island, but never got off when the other tourists did. Instead, he asked unusual questions about the timing and...

A local dive shop owner says FBI agents are wasting their time scouring Keys dive shops for information about suspicious people who took scuba classes. On May 23, the FBI released a warning that some terrorists had been seeking "an offensive scuba diver capability." Concerned that future terrorist attacks might come by sea, the bureau apparently is compiling a database of all the country's certified scuba divers. "Why spin your wheels interviewing the dive shops when they should be going right to PADI?" asked Capt. Bill Grosscup, owner of Captain's Corner on Greene Street. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors,...