Free Republic

Russian financial woes may force withdrawal of permanent crew Without a permanent crew, each shuttle crew would have to be trained to use the international space station's robotic arm, seen in the background here. That would add a major training load to each mission. HOUSTON, Nov. 26 — NASA has completed an initial contingency study of how to evacuate the International Space Station and leave it without a permanent astronaut crew for up to a year. The interruption of permanent occupancy of the space outpost may be forced by Russia’s failure to finance the regular visits of manned Soyuz space...

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Iran has reported that its military has drafted plans to repel any U.S. attack. Officials said the military's plans have already undergone simulations and exercises to ensure their feasibility. They said the military has proposed coordinated efforts by the army, navy and air force to form a rapid-response unit. One scenario, officials said, is that the United States would launch an attack along the Iranian-Afghan border to flush out Al Qaida insurgents. Washington has accused Teheran of harboring hundreds of Al Qaida members who fled from Afghanistan. "For America's recent threats, plans have been prepared which are...

The Temple Mount Faithful Movement Will March in a Pilgrimage to the Temple Mount and to the Pool of Siloam in the City of David at Sukkoth They will Carry with them a large model of the Temple and Vessels for the Third Temple and Blow on the Silver Trumpets At 10:00 AM on the 3rd day of Sukkoth, 17 Tishrei 5763, Monday 23 September 2002, the Temple Mount Faithful Movement will march to the Temple Mount on a holy day of prayer and swearing faithfulness to the G–d of Israel and to the holy cause which He gave...

(KCBS) - An eight year old girl who was kidnapped while playing with friends outside her West Sacramento apartment building last night has been found safe, but the suspect is still at large. "A 'gentleman' pulled up in a blue, what we are considering right now to be a mid-90's Honda, and it was a Hispanic male about five foot eight, 220 pounds. He had black short hair but wavy that was combed back," said West Sacramento Police Detective Richard Bentley. Bentley says it is not clear if the girl was assaulted. She has been reunited with her family. A...

<p>LOMITA, Calif. (AP) - A man who allegedly scaled a backyard fence and grabbed a 5-year-old boy was chased down and captured by neighbors alerted by screams from the boy's mother, authorities said.</p> <p>Randall Turner, 51, was arrested and booked for investigation of false imprisonment.</p>

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A group of Saudi intellectuals and writers has condemned the United States and Israel and described them as the axis of evil in the world — borrowing a phrase U.S. President George Bush has used for Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The 113 Saudis, some of them prominent writers for respected Saudi papers, said the American role in the Israeli military operation against the Palestinians was "shameful" and said the "Israeli massacres do not differ in shape or form from what the Nazis did." The writers called in a statement released Saturday on all Arab governments...

Title: Impulse Gravity Generator Based on Charged YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-y} Superconductor with Composite Crystal Structure Abstract: The detection of apparent anomalous forces in the vicinity of high-Tc superconductors under non equilibrium conditions has stimulated an experimental research in which the operating parameters of the experiment have been pushed to values higher than those employed in previous attempts. The results confirm the existence of an unexpected physical interaction. An apparatus has been constructed and tested in which the superconductor is subjected to peak currents in excess of 10^4 A, surface potentials in excess of 1 MV, trapped magnetic field up to 1 T, ...

ISLAMABAD, October 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Afghan Taliban on Saturday confirmed that the U.S. ground troops landed in southern Afghan province of Kandahar late Friday night after severe bombing by the U.S. warplanes, according to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). Taliban spokesman Amir Khan Muttaqi told AIP that the U.S. commandos were dropped by helicopter on Baba Sahib district near Kandahar city, but withdrew after confronting the Taliban soldiers. He said the Taliban fighters opened fire on the U.S. troops but no information of casualties available so far. "Such ground action will face the same fate of failure as their noneffective ...

ISLAMABAD, October 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Taliban said Saturday that its forces had foiled U.S. commando raids west of Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to reports reaching here. The reports also quoted an official of the Taliban regime as saying that its forces suffered no casualties during the U.S. raids. The ruling Taliban militia said U.S. helicopters were used in the raids in the southern city of Kandahar. The Taliban official said the U.S. commandos, who landed by helicopter late Friday night, were forced to withdraw. Earlier in Washington, a Pentagon official said U.S. Special Forces had completed an overnight ground ...

Los Angeles International airport was evacuated tonight because of an unknown powder found on the premises. Watch this space for updates.

Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington Oct. 12, 2001 (Phone: 202/358-1726) RELEASE: 01-196 SPACE RESEARCH PROVIDES NEW EVIDENCE ON THE ROLE OF GRAVITY IN FERTILIZATION NASA researchers have uncovered evidence that gravity, or the lack thereof, may play an important role in the development and evolution of life. The study suggests fertilization is gravity-sensitive and works differently in the near-weightless environment of space than it does here on Earth. Using sperm from tiny sea urchins, the research team conducted both ground- and space-based experiments to examine the impact gravity has on the reproduction process. According to a paper authored by Dr. Joseph ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Monday that he hoped for a short military campaign against Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his ruling Taliban allies. He also warned Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s opposition should not try to take advantage of the U.S. and British attacks to try to seize power. ``I certainly think the operation is not over,'' he told a press conference in Islamabad. ``It will carry on. I only hope it will be short.'' Musharraf said the military campaign needs to target bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, which the United States ...

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Chanting ``Death to America,'' angry anti-U.S. demonstrators marched through the streets of several Pakistani cities Monday to protest against the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan (news - web sites) with bombs and missiles. Security forces throughout the country were on high alert, with key installations heavily guarded and police and paramilitary forces stationed around diplomatic compounds and other sensitive areas, witnesses said. In the western city of Quetta, several hundred Angry youths marched through the streets chanting ``Death to America.'' They set tires on fire and hurled stones at police, witnesses said. In the volatile port city ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - In a desperate 11th-hour appeal to halt U.S. attacks, Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ruling Taliban offered Sunday to detain terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and try him under Islamic law if the United States makes a formal request. The Bush administration, which has insisted that Afghanistan hand over bin Laden and his lieutenants, quickly rejected the Taliban proposal. ``The president's demands are clear and nonnegotiable,'' said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Meanwhile, the Taliban said they have sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan, whose president has allowed U.S. ...

ISLAMABAD, Oct 7 (AFP) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan in response to a US buildup ahead of possible military strikes, a report said Sunday. "We have deployed our forces in all important areas because this is a question of our honour and prestige. We will never bow down to American forces and will fight till the last breath," a defence ministry spokesman was quoted as telling the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press. He said some 8,000 Taliban soldiers had been positioned along the northern border with Uzbekistan, including fresh reinforcements, following ...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Taliban gunners in Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s capital unleashed a thunderous barrage at a plane cruising high over Kabul on Saturday as President Bush (news - web sites) delivered a stern warning that ``time is running out'' for the regime to hand over Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). The Taliban, meanwhile, defiantly repeated their vow to wage holy war against America and even threatened to invade neighboring Uzbekistan if that country participated in any U.S.-led attack. However, the shrill rhetoric appeared to mask a sense of desperation as the Taliban searched for a ...

According to Major Ed Dames, of the Technical Remote Viewing Center, Diablo Canyon nuclear power planet is the probable next target of terrorists. The attack would target the plant's cooling system.

The destructive forces unleashed A US physics professor has calculated the amount of energy released in the hijack attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Frank Moscatelli, from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, said a rough estimate of the figures involved showed why the twin towers never stood a chance. Their splendour was their undoing Prof Frank Moscatelli His workings suggest the gravitational potential energy unlocked when all the buildings in the WTC complex came down was about 6.8x10^11 (hundred billion) joules. The amount of energy untapped by an atomic bomb like the one that fell on Hiroshima is only ...

KABUL, Sept 23 (AFP) - Opposition forces in northern Afghanistan claimed Sunday to have captured a strategic district from the Taliban militia, as the threat of US military strikes on the country loomed ever larger. Abdul Rashid Dostam, one of the most powerful warlords in the anti-Taliban opposition, said his forces had ousted the Taliban from Zaare district, 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province. "Zaare is very important because it's on the main highway linking the provinces of Balkh, Jozjan and Samangan," said Dostam, who was speaking to AFP from the frontline in Balkh, near ...

DUSHANBE, Sept 22 (AFP) - The new top military commander of the Afghan opposition, General Fahim, arrived in Tajikistan on Saturday for meetings with government and military officials in this former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan. The military attache of the Afghan embassy in exile in Russia, Mukhamedsalekh Reghistani, described the trip as "a working visit, rather than an official visit." As well as meeting Tajik military and government representatives, he said it was "also possible" that General Fahim would meet Russian army officers, he said. Fahim was confirmed as the Afghan opposition's senior military commander on September 13, military successor ...