Free Republic

The French weekly financial newspaper La Tribune reported on Friday that a deal between Cairo and France over the sale of 12 Rafale jet fighters to Egypt has been blocked because the US is refusing to export a component of a cruise missile that is part of the plane. French sources quoted in the report asserted that the delay in the deal is due to the shortage of the American component of the scalp missiles and not a funding issue as in the past. La Tribune noted that Dassault Aviation and MBDA declined to confirm reports about the Scalp cruise...

A federal judge has ordered the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel registration of the Washington Redskins' trademark, ruling that the team name may be disparaging to Native Americans. The ruling Wednesday by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee affirms an earlier finding by an administrative appeal board.

Texas doctors say they have done the world's first partial skull and scalp transplant to help a man with a large head wound from cancer treatment. MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital doctors announced Thursday that they did the operation on May 22 at Houston Methodist. The recipient - Jim Boysen, a 55-year-old software developer from Austin, Texas - expects to leave the hospital Thursday with a new kidney and pancreas along with the scalp and skull grafts. He said he was stunned at how well doctors matched him to a donor with similar skin and coloring. "It's...

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. - A Fergus Falls man who called himself a "soul collector" has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacking his neighbor. Forty-three-year-old Timothy Eugene Peterson was accused of trying to cut off his neighbor's toes and scalp him last January, in order to "collect his soul." The attack left Ivan "Skip" Mallas with multiple stab wounds. Peterson pleaded guilty to assault in July. Other counts were dismissed. KSAX-TV reports Peterson was given credit for 297 days for time served. He was also ordered to pay $731 in restitution and court fees.

France announces success in first naval cruise missile launch English.news.cn 2010-06-16 05:54:25 PARIS, June 15 (Xinhua) -- France's defense procurement agency (DGA) announced on Tuesday the success of its first in-flight test of the naval cruise missile (MdCN), saying it illustrated the technical maturity after three years of development of the project. The DGA Missiles Testing center located in Biscarrosse by the Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France, conducted the launch on May 28, from a vertical launcher representative of a real surface ship system, the military agency said in a statement. The missile will "provide a deep strike...

For the last several years I’ve been despairing over what to do about my hair. I used to wear it long, but it grew too thin, so I briefly tried wearing it short with a rat tail (remember those?). I quickly decided that this looked ridiculous and clipped it off. Grew it out long again, whacked it off short, back and forth. By the time I hit fifty the top of my head was pretty much a clear landing strip for insects and small birds. I have several friends who shave their heads and all of them are happy with...

Could a graze on the head help cure baldness? Biologists had thought that once mammals lose their hair follicles, they are gone forever. Now George Cotsarelis at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and his colleagues have shown that adult mice can regenerate follicles when their skin is wounded.

Rafale Strike Version Enters Operation With French Air Force By Michael A. Taverna 07/02/2006 11:22:38 PM SHOWTIME The Dassault Rafale F2 strike aircraft is poised to enter the French air force inventory, augmenting Europe's force-projection capability and opening a new chapter in the battle with rival U.S. and European manufacturers for lucrative foreign military sales contracts. The first F2 squadron stood up at the St. Dizier air base in eastern France last week, in the presence of a host of dignitaries led by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. The high-profile event underscored not only the operational and industrial importance of...

How far ahead of the pack is the F-22? Especially when compared to European fighters like the Rafael, Eurofighter, and Gripen? This is something that matters a lot to the Air Force, which thinks the F-22 is vital to maintaining air superiority – replacing the F-15C as soon as possible, even at the expense of reducing the buy of the F-35. How valid is the Air Force’s claim? First, one needs to look at how visible the aircraft in question are on radar. The F-15C is probably the most visible, entering service just as Lockheed began work on the F-117...

KSL News) -- A woman accused of scalping a 16-year-old girl turned herself in to Idaho police Wednesday. 26-year-old Marriane Dahle was arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery. She allegedly tied her friend Sheila up and cut away a six to eight inch section of her scalp. Sheila, Scalping Victim: "I just thought my head hurt... ... Didn't realize until I got to hospital I’d been scalped" Doctors were able to recover the scalp, but could not reattach it. Sheila underwent skin grafts and anticipates another surgery. Police think Dahle wanted revenge because she thought the teen was being disrespectful...

BOISE, Idaho Feb 8, 2005 — A 16-year-old girl was allegedly tied up and scalped with a 4-inch knife in what police say may have been an act of revenge by another woman. The girl, who had a punk-style mohawk haircut before the attack, is recovering at home. Doctors could not reattach her scalp, which was found near a hot spring. Police searched for Marianne Dahle, 26, who disappeared after the Jan. 18 attack at Kirkham Hot Springs, about 70 miles from Boise. "When I say this gal was scalped, she was truly scalped," said Chief Deputy Bill Braddock. "The...

A MALAYSIAN truck driver has admitted scalping his wife because she dyed her hair and refused to wear the tudung. Mohamad Azhar Ngah, 34, told a court on Friday he attacked her with a knife at their home in Kuala Lumpur last week because of her appearance. 'I cut her scalp because she did not wear a tudung and she had dyed her hair. I did not like it,' he said. He faces a jail term of up to three years, a fine and whipping with a cane when a sentence for the offence of voluntarily injuring his wife is...