Free Republic

Removable flood walls would be set up for much of lower Manhattan, a 15-to-20-foot levee would guard part of Staten Island and gates and levees would shield Brooklyn as part of a nearly $20 billion plan Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed Tuesday to protect New York City from storms and the effects of global warming.Bloomberg’s proposals also include building dunes in Staten Island and the Rockaways, firming up the shoreline with bulkheads in various neighborhoods and considering building a levee and a new “Seaport City” development at the South Street Seaport that would echo nearby Battery Park City. The mayor also...

MADONNA feels responsible for the children of the world and has found herself a "big, big project" to help orphans in Malawi. Gwyneth Paltrow declares "I am African" in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa. The continent has long been a favourite destination for celebrity campaigners, going back to 1954 when Danny Kaye became UNICEF's goodwill ambassador. U2's Bono and fellow Irish rocker Bob Geldof are Africa veterans, and more recently Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have brought Hollywood gloss to the continent. But the latest flood of stars searching for a good cause has prompted a...

More troubles are emerging at The Source, the one-time bible of the hip-hop music industry. Paychecks were bouncing two weeks ago, and the 50 or so staffers did not get the new paychecks that were slated to turn up before Christmas. The office was closed Dec. 23 through Dec. 26 — so staffers went without pay for the holidays. Company president and sometime-rapper Ray "Benzino" Scott is still said to be in sunny Miami, where he has spent the past few weeks. The firm's founder and chairman, David Mays, who recently returned to New York from Miami, hung up on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eighteen of the poorest nations will have their debts to the International Monetary Fund wiped out after rich countries bridged differences on Saturday that threatened a pact first signed this summer. Leaders of the Group of Eight nations pledged at a July meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to cancel all debt owed to the international institutions by the world's poorest states, an agreement roughed out by their finance ministers the month before. But some smaller European countries like the Netherlands were worried the G8 would not stump up the extra cash needed and that the commitment would undermine...