Free Republic

Illegal immigrants are leaving the country in search of warmer weather and better health care (file picture) Failed asylum seekers are sneaking out of Britain - because they are fed up with the poor healthcare and bad weather. Scores have been caught trying to break past border controls in recent weeks, according to immigration staff. The majority of those who have been found are from Afghanistan and Iraq, said Les Williams, a chief immigration officer for the UK Border Agency.

TEHRAN, Iran - President Bush isn't the only leader facing serious economic woes. Icy weather is causing big political trouble for Iran's hard-line president, who is under attack for mismanaging the economy as the country runs perilously low on gas for heat. More than 60 people have died in the cold, some because of gas shortages in remote and mountainous villages, and even Iran's supreme leader has implicitly rebuked his one-time protege. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was openly humiliated when state radio read a decree by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday ordering him to implement a law approved by...

ATLANTA – It may be two weeks into spring, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Cold temperatures in much of the country have those celebrating Easter this weekend swapping out frills, bonnets and sandals for coats, scarves and socks. Baseball fans are huddled in blankets, and instead of spring planting, backyard gardeners are bundling their crops. The National Weather Service was predicting record lows Sunday for parts of the Southeast and Midwest, and an unseasonably cold weekend for much of the Northeast. Snow was forecast in parts of Ohio, Michigan and New England. “Our musicians are worried...

VITALY has tried being drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, even assaulting a friend — anything to get inside a Moscow police cell. Any other week, the 42-year-old vagrant would do anything to avoid the city’s notorious police. But with a cold front from Siberia pushing temperatures towards -40C – their lowest in more than half a century — getting arrested has become a matter of life or death. “At least it’s warm in a cell,” he said. “In this weather, if you can’t find a warm place to sleep, you die.”

LONDON, January 17th, 2005 (newratings.com) – Crude oil prices increased to their six-week high levels in London on Monday, with traders remaining focused on the weather conditions in the US. London’s Brent crude futures contract price closed at $45.03 per barrel, with a gain of $0.07 per barrel on Monday at the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE). The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) was closed due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday in the US. Light crude had risen by $0.34 per barrel to close at $48.38 per barrel at the NYMEX on Friday last week. Light crude increased...

As most Maryland residents put away their winter clothes and start their annual spring cleaning, 232 members of the Maryland Army National Guard packed their warmest winter gear and equipment and traveled halfway across the globe to participate in some extreme cold-weather training with Japan's northern army. Members of the 1st Battalion, 115th and 175th Brigades, 29th Infantry Division (Light) traveled to Hokkaido, Japan, on Feb. 12 to participate in a three-week bilateral training exercise with soldiers from the 11th Division, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Army Maj. Gen. Elbert N. Perkins, commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said the exercise,...

Global Chilling By PAUL R. EPSTEIN Published: January 28, 2004 OSTON — It seemed incongruous when former Vice President Al Gore gave a speech on global warming on a bitterly cold day in New York City this month. But in fact it was an appropriate topic: New Yorkers may be able to blame the city's current cold spell — the most severe in nearly a decade — on global warming. Global warming doesn't mean that every place on the globe gets warmer. The weather history that can be read in polar ice-core samples indicates that previous periods of warming affected...

Woman Dies In Cold On Her Porch Bitter Temperatures Blamed For Death POSTED: 4:00 PM CST January 6, 2004 UPDATED: 5:21 PM CST January 6, 2004 OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha woman died of hypothermia overnight Tuesday in the bitter cold weather gripping the city. Francis Moore, 72, was found lying on the porch of her home at 2447 Pinkney St. A woman was dropping her child off Tuesday morning for daycare when she found Moore on the enclosed porch of her home. She told 911 operators that Moore wasn't wearing shoes. Police believe she may have stepped outside...