Free Republic

Croatia's opposition conservatives have declared victory in parliamentary elections, but face a challenge to form a government. Partial results show the HDZ is to win about 60 seats, with more than 50 for the ruling alliance led by the Social Democrats. The conservatives are now expected to enter talks to form a coalition. The migration crisis was one of the main issues. More than 320,000 migrants have passed through Croatia this year. "The victory brought us responsibility to lead our country, which is in a difficult situation," HDZ leader Tomislav Karamarko told supporters. "Whoever wants to fight with us for...

A major disappointment announced today in the investigation into the El Faro sinking with the NTSB now saying that the wreck of the ship was discovered with the navigation bridge missing and no sign of the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR).

New documents raise questions about the integrity of the steel rods that hold together the Bay Bridge eastern span and point to potentially widespread problems that experts warn could lead to premature failure.

Canadian authorities announced Monday they have broken up an Al Qaeda-linked terror plot to attack a passenger train as it crossed over a bridge in the Toronto area. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that two suspects have been arrested on terrorism charges. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who live in greater Montreal and Toronto -- were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against Via Rail, but posed no immediate threat to the public. "It was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent," RCMP chief superintendent Jennifer Strachan told reporters at a news conference. Read more:...

An alleged prostitute who jumped off the Bay Bridge to avoid arrest in August was “hella drunk” from splitting a fifth of Hennessy, according arrest affidavits reported by the Contra Costa Times. According to the report, 25-year-old Erlynn Kay Sanchez-Edwards was arrested in Oakland after police searched for the woman for nearly a month after they say she crashed a car she had stolen, then jumped off the Bay Bridge to icy water nearly 70 feet below, swam and hitched a ride with a truck driver. Sanchez-Edwards was charged with three misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run driving, evading a police officer...

Construction on the new Interstate 74 Bridge is supposed to be done by 2020, but money – and time – is running out. On Saturday, July 11th, 2015, Representative Cheri Bustos visited the Quad Cities to meet with local leaders about federal funding. Right now, Congress is trying to pass a highway bill to fix and fund our area’s infrastructure. However, if they don’t find a solution by July 31st, 2015, federal funding for those projects – like the I-74 Bridge – will end. Monday, July 13th, 2015, a spokesman for Bustos said that if federal funding for the project...

Heavy rains and flooding washed out parts of Interstate 10 in Southern California, shutting down traffic in both directions. (snip) The incident took place near Desert Center, about 170 miles east of Los Angeles and about 50 miles from the Arizona border.

Omar Sharif, star of Dr Zhivago and one of the world's greatest bridge players, has died aged 83. His agent Steve Kenis said on Friday: "He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo." Egyptian-born Sharif, who had Alzheimer’s disease, won international acclaim for his role in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia – his first English-language film. He won two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for his turn as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s iconic film.

(CNN)Connecticut police have recovered the body of a 7-month-old baby, who died after his father allegedly jumped off a bridge with him. Aaden Moreno was found Tuesday evening in the Connecticut River near the town of East Haddam, miles downstream from where Tony Moreno leaped from the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown, police said. Moreno was listed in critical condition at Hartford Hospital. Authorities said he was alert and stable. No charges have been filed against him, but Middletown Mayor Daniel Drew told CNN that the state's attorneys office is investigating and charges are expected.

Police Chief Tim Styka identified the dead as 33-year-old Jonathan Stoffel, of Neenah, his 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Adam Bentdahl, 31, of Appleton. Stoffel's wife, Erin, was shot three times but survived and is hospitalized in critical condition. The chief said the 27-year-old gunman, Sergio Valencia del Toro, fatally shot himself after randomly shooting the others near a pavilion on the bridge Sunday. Styka said del Toro and his fiancee had recently called off their wedding and had argued before the shooting.

Full title: Young married couple and their baby son killed after a chunk of CONCRETE falls off Washington state bridge and crushes their pickup truck...A mother, father and their eight-month old baby boy were killed on Monday when a concrete barrier fell onto their truck as they were driving under an overpass in Washington State. The tragic accident claimed the lives of Josh and Vanessa Ellis and baby Hudson, who were crushed when the 50-foot-long concrete slab slammed down on top of them, according to Bonney Lake Police. The barrier weighed 'tons' according to investigators and the damage to the...

A grieving father was arrested as he attempted to build a barricade on the bridge where his teenage daughter died. White County Sheriff's deputies arrested Shannon Hamilton on Gene Nix Road Sunday. On March 15, Hamilton's 16-year-old daughter, Cecily Hamilton, and 18-year-old Taylor Swing died when their car went off the road and into the water below. Their car went undiscovered for hours; both teens drowned. Family members said Shannon Hamilton was trying to build a barricade on the bridge to prevent future tragedies. "The reason I was out there yesterday is because it's been 30 days and there hasn't...

n the not-too-distant future, drivers in Washington state could cross the Sinclair Inlet on a bridge made of two or three decommissioned aircraft carriers. ... No aircraft carrier is available for the project—not yet, at least. Currently, the backers of the project have their eyes on the USS Independence, which was commissioned in the 1960s and could go to the salvage yard later this year, and the USS Kitty Hawk, a carrier that sailed in the Vietnam War after its 1958 commission.

An oversized tractor-trailer hit a beam of an overpass under construction on Interstate 35 in Salado, causing several beams to fall onto the roadway, according to Texas Department of Transportation officials. One person was killed and three others were taken to Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple with injuries that were not life threatening, Bell County authorities said.

Kevin Hines was battling mental illness when he tried to commit suicide, but believed the sea creature kept him afloat and saved his lifeA man who was suffering from mental illness and depression has revealed how a sea lion saved his life after he tried to kill himself. Kevin Hines jumped off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 2000, but against all the odds he managed to survive. Hines told how his depression had led him to see life through a "bit of tunnel vision," leading him to think he had to die. SNIP He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:...

A driver narrowly missed being injured when a chunk of concrete fell from a Beltway bridge onto a passing car Tuesday afternoon. The driver, Katherine Dean, said she was driving on Suitland Road in Morningside, Maryland, when pieces of the overpass fell onto her car. The concrete smashed in Dean's windshield and hood, but she wasn't seriously hurt.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Just 12 hours before police say a man threw his 5-year-old daughter to her death off a Tampa Bay bridge last month, his own attorney called Florida's child abuse hotline, warning that his client was suffering from mental delusions. But the hotline operator didn't refer the call to investigators because she didn't think the child was in danger, according to documents released by Florida child welfare officials Monday. One week earlier, another worried caller told the Department of Children and Families that Jonchuck's daughter Phoebe had been physically abused in the past. But that call also...

It is one of the most common mistakes made by tourists visiting the capital - referring to beautiful Tower Bridge as London Bridge. But a father-of-one has found the mislabelling of the iconic landmark so frustrating, he has launched a one-man campaign to correct tourists from around the world. Charles Lawley, from London, trawls Instagram looking for users who have who have made the mistake as he gets a kick out of correcting them. His typical reply is 'That's Tower Bridge not London Bridge.'

A group of people describing themselves as Stanford students blocked westbound traffic on the San Mateo Bridge minutes before 5 p.m. on Monday. Television footage showed officers making arrests soon after the students, carrying banners and a Palestinian flag, took to the bridge. Protesters said they hoped to shut down traffic for 28 minutes.

The FBI has warned local authorities of a threat that Islamic State militants would blow up the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge spanning the Mississippi River, an agency spokesman said on Tuesday. The bridge is a major route connecting Tennessee and Arkansas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation passed the threat on to local police in a bulletin out of an "abundance of caution," spokesman Chris Allen said. "This is an unsubstantiated, anonymous threat," he said, adding that there was no useful intelligence arising from it.