Free Republic

Four years ago there was nothing here but unbroken sea. Now there's Andrew Dukes and his luxury mansion - sitting on a palm-shaped, man-made island - the first of about 100 houses to open here. "I got exactly what I paid for and I'm very happy with it," said Dukes, 43, a tanned Englishman who just moved into his colossal home on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's greatest-yet construction project. When finished, Palm Jumeirah will number about 120,000 residents and workers spending their days on an island made of rock blasted from nearby mountains and sand dredged from the bottom of the...

One unforeseen blessing of the collapse of the Soviet Union has been the easing of security restrictions in former Iron Curtain nations. Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Western journalists have been able to access to classified documents that would have gotten them shot a few years before. That's a scary thought - but not nearly as chilling as some of the secrets they've uncovered. In "Red Star Rogue," author Kenneth Sewell takes us inside the once top-secret Soviet nuclear navy to reveal the explosive facts about one of best-kept secrets of the Cold War, the sinking of Soviet...

Controversial NOAA report says Louisiana's shores plunging fast — are Texas' next? By century's end, much of southern Louisiana may sink into the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas coastline, including Galveston, could soon follow.That's the sobering — and controversial — conclusion of a new report published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that finds the northern Gulf of Mexico is sinking much faster than geologists thought.The report centers on the humble benchmark, a small metal disk bolted to the ground, that provides a standard elevation above sea level for land surveying and mapping as well as determining flood-prone areas.But...

Complaint reports catalogue a litany of major problems. Vessels plagued by faulty equipment, lack of spare parts. Hatches that wouldn't close. Rusting battery cables. Wiring schematics that couldn't be found. No spare parts. Torpedo tubes that clamped shut in warm water. Faulty computers. Exhaust valves cracking. A mystery dent. Trouble with the escape tower. Even floors coming apart at the seams. These are just some of the problems Canada's four used submarines encountered before the electrical fire Oct. 5 that killed Lieut. Chris Saunders, crippled HMCS Chicoutimi and caused the sub program to be docked indefinitely. Submarine complaint reports —...

Lake vanishes almost overnightSinkhole drains man-made body of water near St. Louis09:05 PM CDT on Friday, June 11, 2004Associated Press WILDWOOD, Mo. – To people around Wildwood, it is nothing but freaky: an entire 23-acre lake vanished in a matter of days, as if someone pulled the plug on a bathtub. Lake Chesterfield went down a sinkhole this week, leaving homeowners in this affluent St. Louis suburb wondering whether their property values disappeared along with their lakeside views. "It's real creepy," said Donna Ripp, who lives near what had been Lake Chesterfield. "That lake was 23 acres – no small...

Skydiver Hits Bridge in Colorado, Dies Mon Oct 6, 1:03 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! CANON CITY, Colo. - A skydiver attempting a stunt was killed Sunday when he hit a 1,000-foot-high bridge and fell onto the rocks below, police said. Dwain Weston, 30, died following the inaugural Go Fast Games, in which he and other parachutists had jumped off the 1,053-foot-high Royal Gorge Bridge, said Heather Hill, a vice president of event sponsor Go Fast Sports & Beverage Co. Weston, of Australia, had jumped from an airplane with another parachutist. They were supposed to...

A skydiver died after falling 13,000ft because his parachute had been tampered with, a senior detective said last night. Police have launched a major inquiry into who handled Stephen Hilder's equipment immediately prior to his jump. The 20-year-old, an officer cadet at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, near Swindon, Wiltshire, was taking part in an annual national parachuting competition. University students from across the UK had travelled to an airfield at Hibaldstow near Brigg, Humberside, to take part. The head of the inquiry, Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews of Humberside Police, described Mr Hilder's death as "horrendous". "The parachute equipment had...