Free Republic

One of Beijing's enduring hobbies is accusing Washington of violating or abusing international law. This selective outrage is justifiably ignored, given China’s unwillingness to abide by international law and disregard for U.N. arbitration concerning demarcation in the South China Sea. “International law with Chinese characteristics” was easily mocked and ignored when American deterrence and international safeguards stymied Beijing’s ambitions. Unfortunately, that security architecture is unraveling. In 2009, China began to make expansive claims vis-à-vis the South China Sea when it unveiled its infamous nine-dash line, which claimed vast swathes of maritime territory. In 2016, the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration...

Scientists have detected a 'great swarm' of earthquakes off the coast of Washington clocking as many as 200 in a single hour during one day. Geologists at the University of Washington said the quakes could lead to the Juan de Ruca Ridge erupting within a few weeks or years - but the effects are believed to be mild and not likely impact anyone on land. The underwater volcano sits more than 16,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean and about 150 miles off the coast of Washington. With more than a thousand tiny quakes detected in one day, this is the...

A South Carolina man believes he may have discovered the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Tony Romeo turned his fascination with the legendary pilot into an adventure when he embarked on an ambitious search for Earhart's lost plane. Romeo, who sold his commercial property investments to fund his search, managed to take a sonar image of an aircraft-shaped object on the ocean floor in December. Earhart and her Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra vanished at the height of her fame, a mystery that has spawned decades...

An airplane crashed into the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean after 'flying erratically' near an airport south of San Francisco Sunday evening, authorities said. Sgt. Philip Hallworth of San Mateo County Sheriff´s Office said crews were searching for the plane that went down in Half Moon Bay around 7:15 p.m.. Officials have recovered some wreckage, reports ABC San Francisco, but there is still no word on possible survivors. It's not clear how many people were on board at the time of the crash. The crash occurred a few miles from the Half Moon Bay Airport on the Cabrillo Highway,...

Nod to deep-sea mining sparks global concerns. Image: Shutterstock/Hermann Viria IN a historic move, Norway has become the first country to approve commercial-scale deep-sea mining, passing a bill in its Parliament on January 9. The legislation aims to accelerate the search for minerals crucial for green technologies, including electric vehicle batteries. This decision permits exploration in approximately 280,000 square metres of the country’s national waters, equivalent to the size of Italy, situated in the Arctic between Svalbard, Greenland, and Iceland. What Lies Beneath: Minerals and Green Technology While the Norwegian government asserts caution, Energy Minister Terje Aasland emphasised the need...

The infamous Otter 841, who gained international fame by harassing surfers and climbing on surfboards in the surf lineups in Santa Cruz, appears to have given birth. A photo of the possible mother and child was taken Tuesday by Mark Woodward, a local photographer whose been keeping tabs on Otter 841 since her rise to fame began. You can see the pup in the photo riding on top of 841's chest. Wildlife experts have yet to confirm the birth. Otter experts say the best way to help sea otters is to avoid getting too close to them and don't distract...

LAHAINA, Hawaii (FOX26) — Update: Herman Andaya has resigned from his position as Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator as of Thursday evening. Original Story: Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator, Herman Andaya, spoke during a news conference Wednesday following the devastating fire in Maui, Hawaii. During the conference, a reporter asked if he regretted not sounding an alarm as a means of alerting those within the impacted area. His response: “I do not.”According to Andaya, the siren is mostly used for tsunamis, and sounding the alarm during the fire would have put more people in danger.“Had we sounded the siren that...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A cargo ship packed with nearly 3,000 cars was still ablaze Thursday close to a world-renowned bird habitat off the Dutch coast as firefighters and salvage crews waited for the flames to subside before attempting to board the vessel. The Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore when it caught fire shortly before midnight Tuesday about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, sparking fears of an environmental disaster. German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said that she couldn’t rule out the possibility of the burning ship...

SUMMARY * Some crew members had to jump overboard * Vessel was en route from Germany to Egypt * Still ablaze; salvage experts examine next steps * 25 electric vehicles onboard AMSTERDAM, July 26 (Reuters) - A fire blazed on a ship off the Dutch coast with nearly 3,000 vehicles on board on Wednesday, killing one member of the crew and injuring several others, the coastguard said. Dutch broadcaster NOS said all the crew were Indian.

On Monday, as much of the country stewed in bubbling heat, a boiling milestone was hit — a buoy in Florida registered a jaw-dropping 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit water temperature. This was on the heels of the same buoy in Manatee Bay registering 100.2 degrees on Sunday. For perspective, the average hot tub temperature is 100-102 degrees F...

Michel de Nôtre -Dame, better known by the Latinised name of Nostradamus, was a French physician, seer, astrologer, philosopher, alchemist, and mathematician, born in 1503. Although he wrote 22 books throughout his life, he is best known for Les Prophéties, which was published in 1555. This famous work is a collection of 942 poems, quatrains, united in ten sets of verses (‘Centuries’) of 100 quatrains each, allegedly predicting future events and disasters. His writings have long been the subject of study and analysis by those determined to interpret the meanings hidden in his cryptic prophecies. According to Sky History, among...

Bizarre blue blobs have washed up en masse on beaches across South California—but they aren't jellyfish or Portuguese Man O' War as one might expect. Photographs of the strange gathering were uploaded to social media by Point Reyes National Seashore, which stated that these creatures are actually Velella velella, also known as By-the-Wind Sailors. This was also backed up by Rita F. T. Pires, a research assistant at the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere. "The species usually forms large agglomerations when beached, as pictured, so it seems it could be the case," she told Newsweek. Velella velella are hydroid...

A very rare whale was spotted in the Monterey Bay Sunday morning. According to Monterey Bay Whale Watch, the critically endangered North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) was spotted during a whale-watching trip this morning. Captain Pualani Dalton on the Point Sur Clipper was the one who spotted it and Evan Brodsky with Monterey Bay Whale Watch said it is "One of the rarest whales in the world, estimated only 32 individuals along the Pacific coast." He said those on the boat could tell it was a North Pacific Right Whale due to the raised patches of rough skin called...

(KXAN) - A new study has found that surface waters in the Gulf of Mexico have warmed approximately twice as fast as the global ocean over the last 50 years. The study, published last month in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate and conducted by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI), found “significant warming” of the Gulf’s sea surface temperature - a 1.8°F jump between 1970-2020. This works out to 0.34°F of warming per decade, equating to roughly twice the rate of warming observed in the global ocean as a...

Millions of metric tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. While half of this plastic waste is recycled, incinerated, or discarded into landfills, a significant portion of what remains eventually ends up in our oceans.In fact, many pieces of ocean plastic waste have come together to create a vortex of plastic waste thrice the size of France in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.Where does all of this plastic come from? In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Freny Fernandes and Louis Lugas Wicaksono used data from a research paper by Lourens J.J. Meijer and team to highlight the top...

Veteran Brazilian surfer Marcio Freire died on Thursday while practicing tow-in surfing on the giant waves in Nazaré on the central coast of Portugal, the local maritime authority said. Support staff on jet skis managed to get the 47-year-old to the beach, but all attempts to revive him failed. Freire was one of the three Brazilian surfers who became known as the “Mad Dogs” after conquering the giant wave “Jaws” in Hawaii. They were featured in the 2016 documentary Mad Dogs.

Imagine the last thing you see before you die being a sentient plastic bag. Image credit: uwkwaj via iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0 Nudibranchs quite literally come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but most recently we’ve been losing it over the perplexing body plan of Melibe viridis, also known as the green melibe. Its elongated body is lined with sticky lobes that act a little like legs but also as decoys when under attack, and it’s easy to see how a predator could become confused when grappling with such a bizarre creature. The leading characteristic of green melibes is their...

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- The ongoing fight against the effects of climate change took centerstage at the Honolulu City Council on Thursday. In the past, the council’s Zoning and Planning Committee has drafted bills surrounding coastal erosion and climate change. But lawmakers are now looking at creating comprehensive legislation focused on shoreline development. In an informational briefing, climate experts offered a presentation showcasing the long-term impact of global warming on coastlines throughout Oahu. In Ewa Beach, for example, models show wave inundation of 4 feet in the next 70 years. Dr. Chip Fletcher, interim dean of the University of Hawaii-Manoa School...

Coalinga city officials estimate their small town will run out of water by Dec. 1. The city, which is typically allocated 10,000 acre-feet of water, has only been allocated about 2,000 acre-feet this year, according to Pro-Tem Mayor Ray Singleton. And that supply is almost gone. “It was beautifully green just eight years ago. If you look at Google Maps, my yard was green, but like maybe five or six years ago now you look at it now, it’s like the Sahara Desert,” said Singleton. He’s been a resident since 2000 and is raising his family there. The California valley...

Earth's oceans are feeling the wrath of human-induced climate change. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and reefs are dying – and now, according to a new study published in Science Advances, the sea is losing its memory altogether.