Free Republic

OK, he was 24...  and it happened in Switzerland. But it seems that this Mustang GT 5.0 owner -like many others- had a little bit of trouble getting used to the car's 6-speed stick and it's  troublesome reverse-gear 'safety' lockout feature: add to that a few hundred horsepower and no parking garage can contain her.A miracle nobody got hurt, with a car falling out of the sky in a Swiss town center like that- just a bruised young ego, totalled 'stang, and a whole bunch of mooshed-up bikes down dere.Chalk-up another one for hyperlegislative government and blood-sucking trail attorneys...

US Nuclear Expert Raises Concerns Over Safety of N. Korea's LWRs The safety of North Korea's light water reactor under construction has been questioned by a renowned US nuclear expert, who first revealed the North's uranium enrichment facility to the world last year. In Seoul to talk about his visit to North Korea last year, Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker, indicated how important it is for a country to choose the right materials and construction methodology when building such reactors. He added that lessons should be learned from past nuclear-related accidents, like the recent nuclear meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant.

NEWARK — An out-of-control SUV was launched several feet into the air last night and plunged into the second floor of a Newark home, leaving structural damage but no injuries, officials said.

TEHRAN: A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran killed 27 elite Revolutionary Guards on Saturday and wounded 16 others, state broadcaster IRIB said. Officials said it was an accident which happened as troops were moving ammunition at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Tehran. While there was no indication of any attack, the explosion shook homes and rattled windows for miles around at a time of mounting tensions with Israel over Iran's nuclear programme. "So far, 27 personnel of Revolutionary Guards have been martyred...

The family of a Texas man killed when a racing aircraft crashed into spectators in the National Championship Air Races in Reno filed a $25 million lawsuit Tuesday against the pilot's family, a mechanic on the World War II-era aircraft and the Nevada organization that hosted the event.

A Chinese toddler was run over twice and ignored by nearly 20 passers-by in Guangdong Province in a case that has caused outrage around the world. It is a story that has deeply unsettled millions in China, posing troubling questions about whether three decades of headlong economic development has left nothing but a moral vacuum in its wake. It begins last Thursday when a two-year-old girl totters into a narrow lane in a wholesale market in the thriving industrial city of Foshan in Guangdong Province and is hit by a small, white van. The driver pauses, and then pulls away,...

LAS VEGAS (CBS Sports.com) – IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon has been seriously injured in a massive 15-car wreck has sent cars flying through the air early in Sunday’s Las Vegas Indy 300. Paul Tracy, who was involved in the wreck, said a team of doctors were working on Wheldon, but there was no word of his injuries. A helicopter lifted off from the speedway, but there was no indication if Wheldon was onboard. Pippa Mann also appeared to be shaky as she was helped to an ambulance. The wreck coming out of Turn 2 on the 12th lap left Townsend...

NESCOPECK – A truck driver survived a crash down a steep embankment Tuesday, only to be struck and killed by another vehicle after climbing back to the roadway. The crash occurred Tuesday morning in the eastbound lane of Interstate 80 near exit 256, Conyngham/Nescopeck. It shut down the highway’s eastbound lane for several hours as investigators pieced together the scene and recovered the truck. State police at Hazleton said the driver lost control of the tractor-trailer and traveled off the shoulder of the highway and down an embankment, coming to a rest on its side at the bottom of the...

David Lavau, age 67, missing for six days, was found alive and well by his grown children who formed their own search party to find their father. They reported him missing to the authorities after he'd been missing for five days and on the sixth day formed their own search party. The children drove the desolate stretch of road they suspected their father had driven, stopping at the dropoffs calling their father's name, and at one place they heard a faint, "Help, help," and amazingly, it was their father! The state of his car after plunging so many feet was...

Reese Witherspoon is recovering after being struck by a car while jogging in Santa Monica on Wednesday morning. The 35-year-old Oscar-winning actress was running across an unmarked crosswalk around 11 a.m. when an 84-year-old woman failed to slow down and struck her. According to NBC L.A., Santa Monica Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis said Witherspoon, "suffered minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for medical treatment." The "Water for Elephants" star was discharged a short time later and spent the night at home recovering from the incident. Lewis said the unidentified driver of the vehicle, who...

A New York television reporter returned home to a horrible scene Thursday night when he found his 5-week-old infant son and babysitter both dead. Authorities said 39-year-old Teresa Coffey likely suffered a fatal medical condition while she was holding the baby and collapsed on top of him.

China `unaware` of reported radioactive leak from nuke sub AUGUST 05, 2011 08:21 China is known to have told Korea that it does not know about a reported leak of radioactive materials to the Yellow Sea from a Chinese nuclear submarine moored in the Chinese port of Dalian in Liaoning Province. The Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry told a regular news briefing Thursday that it has asked Beijing to confirm reports about the rumored leak. “We`re waiting for China’s answer,” said a ministry official. Another ministry official said, however, that the ministry asked China through a diplomatic channel Tuesday...

TAMPICO, Ill.—A summer rite of passage for tens of thousands of Midwestern teenagers turned to a time of mourning for two 14-year-old girls—neighbors and best friends—who were electrocuted in a muddy field as they removed tassels from corn. The teenagers, Hannah Kendall and Jade Garza, were killed Monday after they came in contact with irrigation equipment or a nearby puddle conducting high voltage. Authorities said the incident was under investigation, but local farmers blamed irrigation system damage caused by a weekend lightning strike. "It's one of those one-in-a-billion things," said Doug Mitchell, a farmer whose property abuts the field where...

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- Police say man well known for his collection of exotic animals has died after choking on a sex toy. Sam Mazzola, 49, was found dead in his Columbia Station home on Sunday. Last year, Mazzola came under scrutiny when a black bear, named Cherokee, killed an employee of the sanctuary. According to Lorain County Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Frank Miller, Mazzola was found face down on his water bed, restrained with handcuffs, chains and padlocks. An autopsy determined the preliminary cause of death was asphyxia due to airway obstruction by foreign body. Mazzola had a sex toy...

An Illinois man is being held at the Christian County Jail after a tractor-trailer he was driving hit a horse-drawn buggy, killing a young Amish girl and injuring three members of her family Friday night on Fort Campbell Boulevard, police said Mark Bohms, 52, is being held for murder, operating a vehicle under the influence, criminal mischief and three counts of assault, according to the Christian County Jail’ s website. A Kentucky State Police drug recognition expert evaluated Bohms, who drives for Schneider National Carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., at Jennie Stuart Medical Center and suspected Bohms of being...

The number of fatal firearms accidents for the last six years of record are: 2002 - 762; 2003 - 730; 2004 - 649; 2005 - 630; 2006 - 680. 2007 - 613 I had to hunt a bit for this information, which I think many are interested in. The accidental firearm death rate is down over 94% since 1905. You have to do a bit of work at the link to find the figures in the source.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tips are now coming in for a story we first brought you last week involving a woman who lost her hand in a road rage crash. It's not a crash that 52-year-old Pamela Price will ever forget. "I have nightmares every time I go to sleep," says Pamela Price. On Friday, Pamela was released from University Hospital after a more than two week stay. It all stemmed from a Memorial Day crash. The New Albany woman says she passed a car as she was heading westbound on Indiana 265, that then sped up and she says...

A U.S. nuclear submarine came within feet of running aground as it left Plymouth naval base, a report has found. The drama unfolded as the USS Minneapolis-St Paul entered rough seas and tried to take evasive action resulting in five crewmen being swept overboard, two of whom died. Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz were attached to the submarine with safety lines and had been helping the habour pilot to disembark when the submarine changed direction. They died as they were repeatedly pounded 'like rag dolls' The 2007 Royal Navy report into the incident, released this...

The hit-and-run conviction of Ryan LeVin, a wealthy Florida man, is generating controversy due to what some say is an unusually lenient sentence. On Friday, LeVin pleaded guilty to killing two businessmen in 2009 with his Porsche 911 but received a sentence of house arrest after agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount to the widows of the victims, the Chicago Tribune reports. The son of a family that ran a direct-sales jewelry company, LeVin is on probation for a 2006 crash in which he drove into a police officer; court records show that he has more than 50 traffic violations...

SMICKSBURG (KDKA) — An Amish woman from Indiana County died this week after an accident while she was doing laundry. Ella Miller, 32, was doing laundry in a pot over an open flame early Monday morning. State police say she threw some kerosene on the fire in an attempt to intensify the heat, but that caused an explosion which caught her clothing on fire. Miller suffered first, second and third degree burns. At her request, she was treated with home remedies by family and neighbors.