Free Republic

The westbound lanes of the San Mateo-Hayward bridge were closed for several hours Saturday night due to a deadly fire involving a limosine. The California Highway Patrol said the fire was first reported around 10 p.m. in the third lane of westbound state Highway 92 at the bridge's decline. As many as ten people were inside the limo and as many as five of them died, according to multiple reports Witnesses at the scene reported people were trapped inside the burning limo. The CHP told NBC Bay Area there were multiple fatalities, but could not confirm a number. Witnesses told...

An IAF aircraft on Gaza Tuesday morning assassinated a senior Salafist terror activist who was reportedly behind an April 17 rocket attack on Eilat from the Sinai. The IDF and Shin Bet security service confirmed that they had targeted Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, 24, from the Shati refugee camp. The attack marked the first “targeted strike” on a Gaza terror figure by Israel since November’s Operation Pillar of Defense, and came amid a renewal of sporadic rocket fire into Israel that seemed to show the deterrent effect of November’s operation was eroding.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government has authorized the killing of American citizens as part of its controversial drone campaign against al Qaeda even without intelligence that such Americans are actively plotting to attack a U.S. target, according to a Justice Department memo. The unclassified memo, first obtained by NBC News, argues that drone strikes are justified under American law if a targeted U.S. citizen had "recently" been involved in "activities" posing a possible threat and provided that there is no evidence suggesting the individual "renounced or abandoned" such activities. The document was disclosed as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators...

VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) — A California man once sentenced to death for killing two people in the 1960s was under arrest Thursday after police said he led officers to the body of his 89-year-old mother. -- SNIP -- The California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence in 1969 after finding 12 prospective jurors were dismissed because they said they opposed the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a year earlier that such jurors shouldn't be automatically excluded from a death penalty case unless they make clear they can't impose capital punishment under any circumstance. Stanworth was sentenced to death...

In a tragic accident fueled by alcohol and Sunday night football, one man was fatally shot by his friend in the eye in an attempt to scare away the hiccups.

A senator for Mae Hong Son has told police he accidentally shot and killed his personal secretary with a submachine gun in a restaurant in Phrae province, a duty officer at Wang Chin police station said on Monday. Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat The shooting occurred at a restaurant in Wang Chin district of the northern province on Sunday night, Pol Lt Choosak Poonsawat said. Boonsong Kowawisarat, 55, and his personal assistant Chanakarn Detkard, 46, were travelling to Bangkok in the senator's car and stopped for dinner at a restaurant on a local road in moo 2 in tambon Mae Keng, Phrae....

The disgusting ad making the rounds today has already blown up in the faces of Team Obama. The pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action lobbed a heavy-duty attack at Mitt Romney this morning, airing an ad that links the closure of a GST Steel plant in Kansas City to the loss of a family’s health insurance — and the death of a woman some time later. The man speaking in the ad, Joe Soptic, says, “Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care and my family lost their health care. And a short time after that...

NEW YORK CITY -- A 12-year-old boy harassed by school bullies about his intelligence, his height and his deceased father killed himself in the New York City apartment he shared with his mother, according to relatives and those who knew him, NBCNewYork.com reported. "I want to remember him as a happy kid," his anguished sister told NBC 4 New York on Thursday. Joel Morales, of East Harlem, moved to a different school after enduring incessant taunting for months, but the bullying persisted, the fifth-grader’s family said. Advertise | AdChoices Kids chased Morales, threw sticks and pipes at him and teased...

The federal goverment is eliminating the $100 commission program aimed at brokers who assist consumers enrolling in the federal Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP).pcip broker GEHA, the insurer administering PCIP for the federal government notified brokers about the change last week via email: "We are writing to thank you for the extraordinary efforts you have made in helping to increase awareness of and enrollment in the PCIP program. We have determined that our outreach efforts have succeeded in significantly raising awareness of PCIP and enrollment in this program. As such, CMS will end the PCIP Broker Referral Payment Program in...

Yesterday the Obama administration announced a delaying tactic which will put off the possibility of new offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic coast for at least five years: The announcement by the Interior Department sets into motion what will be at least a five year environmental survey to determine whether and where oil production might occur. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell notes that a planned lease sale, which the administration cancelled last year, will now be put off until at least 2018. As you might expect, Republicans were not impressed with the decision: "The president's actions have closed an entire new...

A woman who got wind of her husband's intentions to have sex with their daugher took matters into her own hands--literally She cut up her husband in pieces and cooked him. That's according to an ARY News report from Pakistan. 32-year-old Mrs. Zainab Bibi has reportedly confessed to the crime and is being held by Karachi police. Mrs. Bibi's 22-year-old nephew Zaher Ahmen has been accused of being an accomplice to cutting up and cooking her husband Ahmad Abbas. Although the reported plan was to cook his body parts so no one could find the body, something along the way...

A tourist on a bodyboard was killed in a horrific attack by what was believed to have been a great white shark near Bunker Bay, south of Perth in Western Australia.A tourist on a bodyboard was killed in a horrific attack by what was believed to have been a great white shark near a beach on Australia's west coast. The 21-year-old was dead before fellow surfers could drag him ashore at a popular surfing spot called Boneyards, near Bunker Bay, about 3.5 hours south of Perth, the West Australian reports. The shark had pulled the man below the surface and...

Barry Rubin reports on Arab - especially Egyptian - reactions to Thursday's terror attacks and their aftermath. At one point, either confused or after the terrorists hid among a group of Egyptian soldiers dressed the same way, Israeli soldiers fired and reportedly killed three real Egyptian soldiers. Israel has apologized in line with international norms. Amr Moussa, the man most likely to be Egypt’s next president and known for his hatred of Israel and strong dislike of the United States (a radical nationalist who opposes Islamism but might make a deal with the Brotherhood to get into power and to...

Stage rigging collapsed after a storm gust Saturday night, trapping and injuring at least a dozen people at a concert at the Indiana State Fair, NBC station WTHR reported. The outdoor stage was set up for the Sugarland concert at the state fairgrounds. Medics and rescue crews throughout Indianapolis were converging on the State Fairgrounds after Hoosier Lottery Grandstand stage rigging fell. Dave Lindquist, music journalist for The Indianapolis Star, reported on Twitter, "Tragedy at fair concert. Entire stage collapses on track." He also wrote that "perhaps a dozen injured people have been removed from track on stretcher-type boards."

ScienceDaily (June 1, 2011) — Gay young men in serious relationships are six times more likely to have unprotected sex than those who hook up with casual partners, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. The findings provide a new direction for prevention efforts in this population who account for nearly 70 percent of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in adolescents and young adults in the United States and who also have the highest increase in new infections. "Being in a serious relationship provides a number of mental and physical health benefits, but it also increases behaviors that put you at risk...

The Israeli military said on Saturday a top militant killed in a predawn raid was “directly and physically involved” in the 2006 capture of Gilad Shalit, a soldier Israel believes is still being held in the Gaza Strip. Tayser Abu Snima, who Palestinian medics said was killed in an air strike on a vehicle along the Gaza-Egyptian border, was a key figure in the Hamas Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. The Israeli statement called Abu Snima a senior Hamas operative in Gaza and said he was “directly and physically involved in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,”...

In my previous column for JWR, I predicted that our military was on the verge of enduring its worst scandal since Abu Ghraib. I stick by the scandal assessment, but it is not the one regarding the existence of a "kill team" of American soldiers deliberately murdering Afghan civilians in the Kandahar province. It is about the collective existence of a mainstream media kill team which has seen fit to murder this story into obscurity, despite a guilty plea by one of the twelves soldiers involved in the atrocity.

An American official in the Pakistani city of Lahore has shot and killed a Pakistani motorcycle rider and his pillion passenger, police say. They say that the consular employee fired his pistol in self-defence. US embassy officials confirmed that an American was involved. The men were pursuing the American in his car when the incident happened. A pedestrian was also killed by a speeding car from the US consulate which came to help, police say. Bullet holes They are investigating whether the two men on the motorcycle were robbers. Onlookers surrounding the motor bike of a commuter who was killed...

A Clayton County mother of six said the family dog did what he always did when he saw someone. He barked. But when "Boomer" started barking and running toward a police officer Saturday morning, the officer shot the dog and killed it, Lawrene King told the AJC Sunday night. “He’s a golden retriever," King said. "He barks, but he’s never bitten anyone.” A Clayton County police officer was on foot patrol on North Shore Drive when the dog jumped off a porch and started barking and running toward the officer, Capt. Tina Daniel said. The officer ordered the dog to...

As more neo-Soviet horrors are revealed to the public, it's time to call U.S. policy towards Russia its proper name: appeasement. The Russian tinderbox known as Chechnya is smoldering once again, indicating a complete policy breakdown on the part of the Kremlin that has wide and deep repercussions for the outside world — including a greatly increased risk of terrorism at the 2014 Olympic Games. If the Obama administration does not act soon, it may have blood on its hands. Current events coming out of the region look like a public relations nightmare for the Kremlin. First came the renewed...

On Aug. 1, Reza Baruni, the father of Iran's military UAV program, died in a mighty explosion that destroyed his closely secured villa, debkafile's military and intelligence sources reveal. He lived in the high-scale neighborhood secluded for high Iranian officials in the southern town of Ahwaz in oil-rich Khuzestan. Very few people in the country outside the top leaders and air force knew about his job and so his death was not generally appreciated as fatally stalling Iran's military drone program for many years. The official version produced the old standby of an exploding gas canister as the cause of...

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has confirmed a Sea World employee died Wednesday after being attacked by a killer whale. Emergency officials arrived just before 2:00 pm Wednesday (02/24/2010) and found the person unresponsive. Witnesses are reporting that the victim was a trainer who was dragged into the tank and drowned by the whale.

A Muslim immigrant opened fire and killed five people in Finland today before turning the gun on himself.
CNN reported: A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping center near the Finnish capital of Helsinki Thursday, leaving five people dead, police said. Four of the victims — three men and one woman — were killed at the Sello shopping center in Espoo, just west of Helsinki, police said. Some were employees of a grocery store at the mall, police said. A fifth victim, also an employee of the grocery store, was found later at an apartment in Espoo, police said, without...

At 12:30 Donna Jackson woke up to her dog barking like someone was in her backyard. She went to to her backdoor and sure enough she was face to face with a man trying to break in. “Oh he’s getting ready to break the window,” said Jackson to the dispatcher. Jackson immediately went and got her shotgun, hoping an officer would get there so she didn’t have to use it. But the man trying to break in had other plans, he then grabbed some patio furniture and broke the back door. “Dear god hurry. I haven’t shot yet. Hurry,” said...

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say. Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar. The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear's den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah. News of the attack emerged when their...

Swine Flu Kills 19 Kids In A Week 114 children have died in U.S.; widespread in all but 2 states By ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA (AP) | Swine flu has caused at least 19 more children's deaths - the largest one-week increase since the pandemic started in April, health officials said Friday. At least 114 children have died from swine flu complications since the spring, up from 95 reported a week earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, the government has decided to release the last of its stockpile of liquid Tamiflu for children because of reported...

As the H1N1 flu outbreak strikes the U.S. early and hard, health officials are pointing to a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple of weeks. Delays in producing the vaccine mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus doses that states had been expecting. The new count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the U.S. may have to...

Computerworld - A proposed amendment that would have given Congress more oversight over the White House cybersecurity czar and at least 17 other czars appointed by President Obama was shut down in the U.S. Senate today. The amendment, proposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), sought to restrict federal funds for the expenses of White House-appointed czars unless two conditions are met. One of them was to require the president to agree that every czar would respond to "reasonable requests" to testify before Congress on matters related to the office. The other required White House-appointed czars to issue a report to...

EATONTON, Ga. -- Authorities say an Augusta businessman killed himself after being chased by police in Putnam County. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says a deputy tried to pull Jay Weinberger over early Saturday morning because he was towing a trailer with an expired tag. Sills says Weinberger eventually pulled over but took off when the deputy approached his car. The car left the road after a short distance, where the deputy found Weinberger dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sills says the trailer was stolen and police later found several other stolen trailers in Weinberger's possession. Excerpt - more...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Nearly a third of all cocaine seized in the United States is laced with a dangerous veterinary medicine - a livestock de-worming drug that might enhance cocaine's effects but has been blamed in at least three deaths and scores of serious illnesses. The medication called levamisole has killed at least three people in the U.S. and Canada and sickened more than 100 others. It can be used in humans to treat colorectal cancer, but it severely weakens the body's immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to fatal infections. Scientific studies suggest levamisole might give cocaine a more...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – A US missile strike from a drone aircraft Thursday killed at least eight Taliban militants in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. The strike was followed hours later by a suicide attack in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber that officials said killed 21 policemen. The US strike "targeted a Taliban compound in Kaniguram village of South Waziristan, killing eight militants and wounding six others," a senior security official told AFP. Another official confirmed the casualties and said that the US drone fired two missiles, but added it was not immediately...

ISLAMABAD – A suspected missile attack early Friday destroyed a militant hideout in northwest Pakistan, killing at least seven people, two intelligence officials said. The officials said some people also were wounded when the two missiles hit a compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel, near Miran Shah in troubled tribal region of North Waziristan. ... The area is also believed to be frequented by associates of an Afghan Taliban leader, Siraj Haqqani, whose network is powerful in eastern Afghanistan.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban fighters on Wednesday killing at least 64 of them, the military said, after the United States called on the government to show its commitment to fighting militancy. Expanding Taliban influence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has spread alarm at home and abroad and will be a core issue when U.S. President Barack Obama meets his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in Washington later on Wednesday. A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in Swat has collapsed and thousands of people fled from Mingora, the region's main town, on Tuesday after a government...

Coalition challenges Humane Society ‘outdated’ policy (Killing Puppies) Dear readers, we know that this story is difficult. Best Friends feels as you do that animal welfare organizations are more effective when we get along and work together. In this case we felt it was important to draw public attention to HSUS?s policy on dogs from fighting busts because its clout and its relationships with law enforcement informs and justifies state and local animal control policies. The court-ordered destruction of 145 dogs, including about 75 puppies, which were seized from a fighting dog breeding operation in December, was based on the...

NEW ORLEANS – A man who initially told police gunmen kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son was arrested Saturday, accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said. Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference. "He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.

(10-13) 17:42 PDT SAN MATEO -- An intoxicated teenage driver ran a red light in San Mateo this morning and broadsided a taxicab, killing the driver, then fled as flames engulfed his car where two other teenagers were trapped, police said. Police were able to pull the badly injured youths from the burning Volkswagen Jetta on El Camino Real near Hillsdale Shopping Center, but there was nothing they could do for the cabdriver, 48-year-old Michael Earl Prescott of Redwood City. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2008 – A U.S. Hellfire missile killed an insurgent near the site of a roadside-bomb attack in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district today, U.S. military officials said. A vehicle was destroyed while another insurgent fled the scene. “Our soldiers, along with the Iraqi security forces, continue to meet with the local populace to identify these criminal elements and eliminate the threat they pose,” said Army Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a Multinational Division Baghdad and 4th Infantry Division spokesman. “We will continue to use precision fire to defend the Iraqi people and ourselves against these criminal elements.” In yesterday’s operations:...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s Air Force launched an air strike Thursday morning killing a Hamas terrorist involved in the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The air strike, which was based on information from the Shabak (General Security Service) was carried out in Rafiah, along Gaza’s southern border with Sinai, as the terrorist, Nafez Mantzour, was driving with two other Hamas terrorists. The first missile missed the vehicle, according to Hamas reports, and one of Matzour’s accomplices escaped before the second struck. Mantzour was killed and one of his accomplices was wounded. The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit happened in July, 2006 at...

Mounting Evidence Shows Red Wine Antioxidant Kills CancerA natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells. (Credit: iStockphoto) ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function. The new study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Israeli troops opened fire on a car in the West Bank on Wednesday, killing four Palestinian militants, Palestinian medical officials said. The violence threw doubt on prospects for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Associated Press Television News video showed medical officials loading the bodies of the men into an ambulance. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Palestinian security officials said one of the dead was the commander of Islamic Jihad in the Bethlehem area, Mohammed Shehadeh, and two others were also members of Islamic Jihad. The fourth belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,...

JERUSALEM, Israel – Jewish men and women from all walks of life confronted on Thursday the national pain resulting from an unprecedented terrorist attack on one of Judaism's most famous yeshivas. That night, an Israeli-Arab walked into the Mercaz Harav seminary in the Kiryat Moshe section of Jerusalem with a concealed automatic rifle. He opened fire on a group of teenage boys and young men immersed in their studies, firing an estimated 500-600 bullets in the span of 10 minutes and killing eight. An off-duty soldier later felled the gunman. Families laid the slain to rest on Friday. It was...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2008 – Coalition forces killed 13 terrorists and detained three suspects yesterday and today during operations targeting al Qaeda networks in central and northern Iraq, military officials reported. Southwest of Hawijah this morning, coalition forces targeted an alleged senior leader involved in the al Qaeda in Iraq network in Kirkuk. The suspect allegedly is responsible for facilitating finances for terrorist operations in the region and is involved in improvised-explosive-device attacks. Reports also indicate he was a close associate of Abu Harith, the senior leader of the Kirkuk terrorist network, before Harith was killed during a coalition operation...

(IsraelNN.com) IDF Special Forces killed the head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Judea and Samaria Wednesday morning. The top terrorist, Walid Abeidi, was hiding out in the village of Kabatiya, south of Jenin. The IDF unit came to arrest Abeidi, but a shootout ensued as he and his men attempted to prevent the force from entering the hideout. The 44-year-old terror chief ran out of the building at a certain point, opening fire on the soldiers, who returned fire. He was hit and eliminated. Four accomplices were arrested as well. Two were wounded in gunfighting with the IDF...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a top Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the militant group said. An Israeli attack on a car in Gaza killed at least three Palestinian militants and wounded two bystanders, medical workers and witnesses said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel had carried out an attack in Gaza but gave no other details.

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Dec. 3, 2007 – Several militants were killed during a coalition operation yesterday targeting Taliban command-and-control networks in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Coalition forces conducted a precision-guided munitions strike targeting a senior Taliban commander believed to be involved in the March kidnapping of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his interpreter and his driver. Reports indicate the individual also is responsible for a number of mortar attacks on coalition bases, as well as several improvised-explosive-device attacks. During the course of operations, coalition forces targeted a vehicle in the Musa Qaleh district containing five men, one of whom intelligence reports...

AUGUSTA, Ga. - A 22-year-old woman fatally stabbed her two young children in a convenience store bathroom Thursday, police said. A worker at Food Mart told police she saw Jeanette Michelle Hawes enter the restroom Thursday afternoon with the two children, a boy and girl, and then heard a scream, Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength said. The worker called 911, and when deputies arrived they forced the door open and found Hawes on the floor, holding a steak knife and covered in the children's blood, Strength said.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2007 – A coalition airstrike killed more than 20 militants, and Iraqi security forces accompanied by coalition advisors captured 34 suspected terrorists during operations across Iraq Sept. 29, officials reported. -- A coalition aircraft fired on and killed more than 20 al Qaeda-affiliated insurgents during a battle northwest of Baghdad. The aircraft’s crew defended themselves after insurgents launched rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at the aircraft. Four enemy vehicles were destroyed during the firefight. -- Iraqi special operations troops detained a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq leader and two alleged cell members in Yusafiyah. -- Two...

9/28/2007 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped precision munitions near Al Nussayyib, Iraq, Sept. 25 killing Abu Nasr al-Tunisi and two other al-Qaida Iraq operatives, according to Air Force officials. They were killed when the aircraft, assigned to U.S. Central Command Air Forces, dropped two laser-guided 500-lb joint direct attack munition guided bomb unit-12 bombs, destroying the terrorist safe house where the three were meeting. "Airpower is crucial to setting the conditions for stability in Iraq," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Air Forces component commander. "Airpower overhead provides capability to the...

CINCINNATI, Aug. 24 A 10-year-old boy who said he hated snakes killed a 10-foot python at petting zoo by stomping on the reptile's head. Scott Braunstein, a reptile handler who brought the snake to the St. Bernadette Festival in Amelia, Ohio, last weekend, said he was shocked by the boy's violence, The Cincinnati Enquirer said Thursday. The snake, named Popcorn, was a non-poisonous albino Burmese python. Braunstein, who operates House of Reptiles in Dry Ridge, Ky., said the boy approached him and told him that he hated snakes. The child then raised his leg and stomped down on the snake's...