Free Republic

Border Patrol agents discovered 91 illegal entrants who had been smuggled into the country in the back of a panel truck Thursday night southwest of Sonoita, an official said Friday. The Border Patrol received a call around 10 p.m. from someone concerned about possible illegal activity, said Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the agency's Tucson Sector. The caller suspected the truck was picking up illegal entrants. When Border Patrol agents from Nogales and Sonoita pulled the truck over on Arizona 82 around Milepost 26, about 35 miles south of Tucson. the driver got out and ran into the brush, Rodriguez...

The US Senate is looking into allegations that a former US senator urged Baghdad to give a US company lucrative contracts under the much-criticised United Nations oil-for-food programme. This is the first time that a leading US lawmaker has been linked to the controversial UN programme, whose shortcomings have been an important element of the Bush administration's critique of the UN. The investigation involves one of the most vivid figures in US east coast politics, former senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was forced to pull out of the 2002 election after being "severely admonished" by the Senate...

From Naval Sea Systems Command Public Affairs PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The ex-Oriskany, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, became the largest ship intentionally sunk as an artificial reef May 17 when it was sunk approximately 24 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Fla. After 25 years of service to the Navy in operations in Korea, Vietnam and the Mediterranean, ex-Oriskany will now benefit marine life, sport fishing and recreation diving off the coast of the Florida panhandle. The 888-foot ship took about 37 minutes to sink below the surface after strategically placed explosives were detonated at 10:25 a.m. CDT. The Navy...

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2006 – A group of wounded and active-duty servicemembers, retirees and family members launched the second leg of their cross-country bike trek from the Pentagon parking lot today. Steve Nardizzi, executive director of Soldier Ride, explains the brakes on the handcycle to Elmer Dinglasan, a Navy corpsman participating in the second leg of Soldier Ride 2006, from Washington, D.C., to Camp Lejeune N.C. This leg of the ride took off from the Pentagon parking lot May 14. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The group is part of Soldier Ride...

5/9/2006 - MOUNT HOOD, Ore. (AFPN) -- Exactly two weeks after participating in a joint search-and-rescue training exercise with other local rescue organizations, reservists from the 304th Rescue Squadron were back on top of Mount Hood, Ore., on May 6 for the longest-hauling, glacier-rescue mission ever accomplished on Mount Hood. Five pararescuemen from the 304th helped rescue an injured skier. The man was skiing with three others who were traversing the 11,200-foot mountain summit when he fell more than 300 feet through a boulder field and landed on Reid Glacier, said Sgt. Sean Collinson, incident commander for the Clackamas County...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 7, 2006 – Military Appreciation Month is under way, as millions of people have jammed the beach here this week for "Fleet Week USA - A National Salute to America's Heroes," sponsored by McDonald's. The company kicked off the salute on May 1. Today's McDonald's Air and Sea Show, featuring the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels demonstration team and the Army's Golden Knights parachute team, will conclude the week's festivities. The Canadian Forces Snow Birds precision aerobatics team is adding an international flavor to the weekend. The salute has been a fixture here for 12 years running,...

DENVER (NNS) -- Flanked by Sailors of Navy Recruiting District (NRD) Denver, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens kicked off Denver's second annual Navy Week May 2, with a signed proclamation declaring May 5-13 as Colorado’s Navy Week. A strong supporter of the Navy, Owens took time out of his busy schedule to thank the Sailors in attendance for their sacrifice and dedication to their country. “I have always been a great admirer of our men and women in the Navy and the job they do in keeping our nation and the world's sea lanes secure for all of us,” Owens said....

Self-medicating sheep shake off the 'stupid' label 10:00 01 May 2006 From New Scientist CAN sick sheep write their own prescriptions? Almost, since it seems that sheep can select the correct medicine to treat a specific ailment. In anecdotal reports, primates have been observed engaging in self-medication by selecting a specific plant when something has made them ill. Now biologists at Utah State University, Logan, have run experiments that show sheep choosing the right drug to cure an illness. Juan Villalba and colleagues gave lambs food and mild poisons - either grains, tannins or oxalic acid - that made them...

Iraqi oil gangs syphon off billions By Jim Muir in Baghdad (Filed: 28/04/2006) A new class of grand mafiosi sucking billions of pounds out of Iraq's vital oil sector is crippling efforts to rebuild the nation, according to an official report published in Baghdad. The findings of the Oil Ministry's independent inspector-general painted a sordid picture of massive abuses pervading every corner of the industry, from the well-head to the petrol pump. It said that since Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003, the spread of smuggling had turned Iraq from a major exporter of petrol products into an importer. Smuggling and...

Dementia off the Menu: Mediterranean diet tied to low Alzheimer's risk Ben Harder People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet are less likely than their peers to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to new research on elderly Manhattan residents. The study is the first to link brain benefits to a comprehensive dietary pattern rather than to individual foods or nutrients, say the scientists who performed the research. BRAIN FOODS. A diet rich in vegetables, their oils, and certain other menu choices appears to guard against Alzheimer's. Traditional Mediterranean menus are rich in fruits and vegetables, fish, and unsaturated fat. They contain little...

The latest quip accusation that the United States "rushed to war" with Saddam's Iraq conveniently ignores 12 years of combat, terror and crime. Perhaps The Slow War -- Saddam's war against the U.N.-mandated sanctions and inspections regimen that halted Operation Desert Storm -- has slipped from public historical memory. It shouldn't, for The Slow War is the long, violent bridge connecting Desert Storm to Operation Iraqi Freedom. From March 1991 to March 2003, Saddam fought The Slow War savvily and savagely, utilizing an array of political, military and economic ploys. Moreover, by early 2003, Saddam believed he was winning. The...

Sheep don't mix well with grizzly bears and wolves. Now they won't mix at all on more than 70,000 acres in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. A 74,000-acre sheep grazing allotment south of Big Timber in the Gallatin National Forest has been permanently closed and the ranchers who used it for generations have been paid to move their sheep elsewhere... The agreement is the eighth -- and second-largest -- in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem in recent years that has led to the retirement of about 300,000 acres from grazing. The latest involves the Ash Mountain and Iron Mountain allotments used for generations...

FORT PIERCE, Fla. - Paul Kuschel would have been better off naked _ like many of the folks at Sunnier Palms Nudist Park. Instead, he was wearing a pair of nylon shorts Sunday when a generator he was working on backfired and sprayed him with starter fluid, setting him ablaze. "I would have been better off wearing nothing on at all," Kuschel told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. The fire seared his shorts to his backside. "It's a good thing I wasn't wearing a shirt," he said. Kuschel, 43, suffered second-degree and third-degree burns. He was taken to a hospital with...

Iraqi Troops Ride Recon Off the Beaten Path Iraqi soldiers at Al Kasik learn motorcycle riding techniques for use in base reconnaissance and forward convoy scouting. By U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Mark Woodbury Multinational Security Transition Command — Iraq AL KASIK MILITARY TRAINING BASE, Iraq, March 8, 2006 — Iraqi soldiers at Al Kasik are embracing a new mode of transportation for use in base reconnaissance and forward convoy scouting. The soldiers here are learning proper on and off-road motorcycle techniques from coalition forces that will allow them to access areas they could never reach using conventional vehicles.Before...

TULSA, Okla. - A family sitting down to dinner had to call police and an ambulance after a man allegedly bit off the nose of his girlfriend, authorities said. Jody Bennett came out of a back room of a north Tulsa residence on Thursday with a napkin over her face and said her boyfriend, identified as Greg Hill, had bitten her nose. Medics responding to the house saw that Bennett's nose had been severed and called police. "We looked around and tried to find a nose but couldn't find it," Cpl. Larry Edwards, a police spokesman, said. "I think he...

Blair brushes off Iran's call for troop withdrawal By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 18/02/2006) Tony Blair dismissed Iran's call for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq yesterday as a tactic designed to divert attention from the international campaign to curb Teheran's nuclear programme. The Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, demanded the pull-out of British forces around Basra, saying their presence was causing turmoil both in Iraq and southern Iran. The Prime Minister meets Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin "Iran demands the immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra," Mr Mottaki said during a visit to Lebanon. "We...

ABOARD USS NASSAU, At Sea (NNS) -- USS Nassau (LHA 4) and embarked units provided assistance to a distressed vessel off the coast of Kenya Jan. 31 while conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the area. Motor vessel Al Manara reported a need for provisions, engineering assistance and medical attention. The crew aboard Nassau responded as part of their MSO mission to provide supplies, medicine and assistance to the vessel’s crew. “We received a report from Coalition Task Force (CTF) 150 stating that the motor vessel Al Manara had suffered an engineering casualty approximately 680 miles off the coast of...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 24, 2006) -- “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror; I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do,” Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote. For one Marine, past experiences have developed him into a capable team leader. Drawing on what Marines he served under taught him, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey M. Roberts, a 21-year-old Destin, Fla., native, has become a team leader for...

Covers come off UK spy plane By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter The Corax, built by BAE Systems, is the UK's first pilotless stealth aircraft Images of the UK's first prototype stealth surveillance aircraft have been unveiled. The unmanned vehicle, which has been built by BAE Systems, is known as the Corax, or as the Raven. The Corax bears some resemblance to a cancelled US military spy plane called DarkStar, analysts have said. Jane's International Defence Review said the unmanned aircraft "indicated a new direction in combat vehicles for the UK's armed forces". Bill Sweetman, the magazine's aerospace and...

Iran nuclear stand-off escalates Iran has broken the international seals at the Natanz plant Iran's dispute with the UN and Western countries has deepened after Tehran resumed nuclear research. As Iran removed UN seals from equipment at Natanz facility, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Tehran would start small-scale nuclear enrichment. The move was condemned by the US and European countries, which fear Iran is seeking to produce atomic bombs. Tehran denies the accusation, saying it wants to produce nuclear energy only. In a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Mr ElBaradei said that as...