Free Republic

An outbreak of deadly bacteria at a Bay Area homeless encampment has sparked urgent calls for action in Los Angeles, with officials warning the disease may already be circulating in the city. The bacterial disease leptospirosis was found in rats at encampments in the hippie college town of Berkeley, leading health officials there to issue an urgent warning to the homeless to clear out. Officials told them to relocate at least a third of a mile from the “red zone” encompassing several square blocks as soon as possible. The warning comes as authorities attempted remove the encampment last year but...

A suspicious fire hit the city of Cannes with a widespread loss of power Saturday morning — just hours ahead of the film festival’s closing ceremony. Several movies were wiped from the schedule, but the majority of the iconic event, including the final bash, will not be affected because organizers swiftly found an alternative power source. ”A power outage is currently affecting the city of Cannes and surrounding areas,” the festival said in a statement shared with The Post.

President Biden said Thursday that the US is “discussing” the possibility of Israel bombing Iranian oil facilities as payback for a volley of nearly 200 rockets fired at the Jewish state on Tuesday — causing a spike in global crude prices. Biden said the oil strike option was under consideration when asked directly by a reporter as he left the White House. “We’re discussing that. I think that would be a little… anyway,” the retiring 81-year-old president said ... Within 45 minutes of Biden’s remark, crude oil futures spiked to about $74 per barrel from its opening price of $70.10,...

An Australian mother of five is facing the death penalty in Taiwan after she was allegedly caught with a stash of cocaine hidden in her suitcase. Debbie Voulgaris, 57, was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport in December after the drugs were allegedly found in black plastic bags inside her luggage. Taiwanese police allege she was carrying 15lbs of the drug, which - they say - she initially 'vehemently denied' having any knowledge of. She later claimed her ex-husband John was behind the scheme, police say. Ms Voulgaris's lawyer Leon Huang said it was 'essential' her ex took the stand as...

HP-Lindows tussle clouds desktop Linux show By Stephen Shankland Special to ZDNet News January 21, 2003, 4:56 AM PT Hewlett-Packard and other participants have withdrawn from a February conference on the use of Linux on desktop computers, casting a shadow on the show's debut. At the root of the spat are objections to the main sponsor's prominence in the Desktop Linux Summit. News site DesktopLinux.com had been a sponsor, and open-source advocate Bruce Perens was scheduled to deliver the show's opening keynote speech. But both pulled out after the conference's sponsor and organizer Lindows decided its chief executive, Michael...