Free Republic

Almost 2,000 pubs in Ireland have closed since 2005, according to a new report undertaken by Drinks Industry Group of Ireland. The research shows that 108 bars shut in 2022, while there has been a 22.5% closure rate since 2005. The group said rural businesses are most at risk of shutting their doors, while the counties that saw the biggest declines were Limerick (32%), Cork (29.9%), and Laois (29.9%). Dublin saw the lowest rate of decline, at 3.4%. The group is calling on the Government to give more support to regional, small, and family run operations, and is also calling...

(Reuters) - The incongruous sight of tourists enjoying Maui's tropical beaches while search-and-rescue teams trawl building ruins and waters for victims of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century has outraged some residents They have vented on social media, posting video of tourists enjoying holiday activities like snorkeling while the death toll in the historic resort town of Lahaina passes 100 and is rising every day. "Our community needs time to heal, grieve, and restore," Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa said on Instagram, urging tourists to cancel their trips. Authorities and businesses have welcomed the trickle of travelers, saying...

As rescuers continue to search for the missing submersible carrying five passengers who intended to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, naval experts have emphasized the challenges of a successful rescue operation. Recovering underwater craft is always a tricky business, and the submersible that traveled to the Titanic went to such extreme depths that any rescue attempt would be extraordinarily difficult. Fifty years ago, the two-man crew of a small submersible was rescued off the coast of Ireland, but was in far shallower waters than the vessel that’s currently stuck somewhere in the vicinity of the Titanic. When asked if...

Five people are currently missing in a submersible that went to visit the Titanic shipwreckWelsh presenter and adventurer Lowri Morgan has recalled how she felt “emotional” upon venturing down to see the Titanic shipwreck in a Mir Russian submersible in 2003. The 48-year-old, who hails from Gowerton, was speaking to WalesOnline following news that a tourist submersible, Titan, went missing during a similar expedition on Sunday, June 18. “When the opportunity came I accepted the challenge and was committed to doing the research,” said Lowri, who was a deep-sea diver at the time. She described how at the time the...

Search and rescue teams are racing against the clock as they attempt to find a missing submersible and its five-person crew that was slated to explore the wreck of the Titanic nearly 13,000 feet under the North Atlantic on June 18. The U.S. Coast Guard said that the 22-foot-long deep-sea vessel, dubbed the Titan, only has a few days worth of oxygen. The craft is owned and operated by OceanGate, a private submersible company that offers chartered trips to the wreckage of the Titanic to customers for $250,000 a seat. It set out on its voyage on Sunday morning, but...

A multimillionaire thrill-seeker who was supposed to be on the missing Titanic sub said he pulled out over fears it was “cutting too many corners” — and was run with a $40 videogame controller. Digital marketing tycoon Chris Brown, 61, told the Sun that he paid a $10,000 deposit for the trip along with his friend Hamish Harding, the 58-year-old British billionaire who is among the five still missing.

As time runs out for the passengers on the Titan submersible that went looking deep into the sea for wreckage of the Titanic, a last-ditch effort involving heavy machinery and submarines arrived in Newfoundland on Tuesday night. Three C-17 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force reportedly landed at a cargo terminal in St. John’s, Newfoundland, carrying unmanned vehicles capable of going 19,000 feet underwater as well as two heavy-duty Hyundai winches emblazoned “6000 kg line pull,” a huge roll of cable, and two large machines that said “high voltage” on their sides, The Daily Mail reported. A forklift truck loaded...

The search for the missing OceanGate Titan submarine, which disappeared Sunday during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean, is now in its fourth day. The Coast Guard estimated Tuesday afternoon that there were about 40 to 41 hours of oxygen remaining on the vessel, which is carrying five people. BOSTON – Three new vessels arrived "on-scene" in the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday morning to join search and rescue efforts for the missing OceanGate Titan sub as the estimated oxygen supply on board continues to dwindle. The U.S. Coast Guard said the new vessels bring additional...

The saga of the Titan submersible, missing since Monday shortly after it launched to take tourists to see the wreck of the Titanic, is a story that may prove to be as tragic — and maddening — as the tale of the doomed ocean liner itself.In 2018, experts inside and outside the company sounded alarms about the Titan submersible — most notably, that the craft wasn’t properly certified to dive to the depths necessary to reach the Titanic. OceanGate’s director of marine operations, David Lochridge, wrote a report saying the craft needed more testing, stressing “the potential dangers to passengers...

The director of marine operations at OceanGate, the company whose submersible went missing Sunday on an expedition to the Titanic in the North Atlantic, was fired after raising concerns about its first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems before its maiden voyage, according to a filing in a 2018 lawsuit first reported by Insider and New Republic.David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate's senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel.According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble to his...

he director of marine operations at OceanGate, the company whose submersible went missing Sunday on an expedition to the Titanic in the North Atlantic, was fired after raising concerns about its first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems before its maiden voyage, according to a filing in a 2018 lawsuit first reported by Insider and New Republic. David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate’s senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel. According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble...

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who went missing aboard his Titan submersible vessel along with four other passengers on Sunday, told an interviewer he didn't want to hire a bunch of "50-year-old white guys" like other submarine companies because he wanted his team to be "inspirational." WATCH: SHOCKING VIDEO AT LINK............. [Embed starts at 5:01] "When I started the business, one of the things you'll find, there are other sub-operators out there but they typically have gentleman who are ex-military submariners and you'll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys," Rush told a representative with Teledyne Marine. "I wanted our...

A battery of heavy machinery and submarines dubbed the 'last chance' for the crew of the Titan tourist submarine arrived in Canada tonight - but it now faces a race against time to help rescuers in the desperate search. The array of winches, cables and unmanned vehicles capable of going 19,000 feet underwater were delivered to St John's airport in Newfoundland by three US Air Force cargo planes. It was taken with a police escort to the port where a waiting ship, the Horizon Arctic, was due to set sail at midnight.

A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as a massive search continued early Wednesday in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost abroad the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day's worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning. Meanwhile, questions remain about how teams could reach the lost...

Last month San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the city would begin to crack down on the open-air drug markets that plague downtown. As I pointed out here, Breed’s planned announcement of the new approach was turned into a circus thanks to Democratic Socialist City Supervisor Dean Preston. Before the meeting was cut off by protesters shouting (and one throwing a brick) Breed said it was time for a change.“We have tried over and over again,” Breed said at U.N. Plaza. “And what we are doing is not working. And in fact, our local resources have increased. But it has...

With only hours of oxygen left in the submersible that was touring the Titanic, it has gone missing over the wreckage. By 12 pm on Thursday, the oxygen will be depleted. The sub, carrying five people, has been missing since Sunday when it lost all contact while exploring the wreckage of the famous ship 13,000 ft under the sea. GB News said the US is holding up a possible rescue. Rescuers say it’s not a rational decision. Even if it is located, it would not be easy to rescue those on board, given the depths. It’s down about two miles....

World-renowned explorer Hamish Harding is among the five people who went missing aboard a tourist submarine visiting the shipwreck of the Titanic Monday morning, his family has confirmed. Harding’s family said the 58-year-old British millionaire was aboard the missing OceanGate Expeditions submarine on Monday, a day after he shared his excitement about the trip on Instagram. “We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do,” Harding wrote alongside picture of himself signing a banner celebrating the expedition....

It seems that hardly a day goes by without reports of another tourist offending local customs on Bali. There are bikini-clad yoginis doing ‘downward dog’ poses in temple gateways and half-naked hooligans arguing with traffic police over their lack of a crash-helmet. While the world asks what’s caused this sudden rush of inappropriate behaviour, travellers who know the island well are wondering why it’s taken so long for Balinese to stand up and say, “enough is enough!” In 1972 the iconic surf-movie Morning of the Earth showed a naked hippy teaching elderly Balinese fishermen how to smoke cannabis. Four centuries...

Business leaders warn that New York City’s summer tourism season could become a hot mess if asylum seekers take over too many hotel rooms. “I’m worried about summer tourism. We’re 30 to 45 days out from summer tourism internationally,” said Queens Chamber of Commerce president Tom Grech. “My concern is that asylum seekers will take up space normally reserved for tourists. I’m concerned we’re going to lose tourists this summer. This is ridiculous.” Even hotels in Queens near Kennedy and LaGuardia airports that typically serve tourists are sheltering migrants — at least temporarily. Earlier Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams reported that...

Southern California law enforcement agencies are focusing on the trend of burglary tourism, where thieves travel internationally to the U.S. to burglarize homes, then return to their home country. The Orange County Register reported these South American theft groups are often comprised of Chilean or Colombian nationals who operate as “‘Lanzas Internacionales,’ or international thieves in the Spanish-speaking world.” Authorities say the thieves are professionals who surveil homes before breaking in when residents are away. They often bring heavy-duty tools to steal or break into safes that are bolted down or mounted. “Some of these residential burglars have been recorded...