Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS - The woman who died after falling from the U.N.'s Secretariat Building was a 44-year-old employee of the World Health Organization's International Computing Center, a U.N. spokeswoman said Monday. U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe identified the woman who fell from the 19th floor Sunday as Maria Gabriela Di Biase. Police and U.N. security officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning. Okabe said there was no suspicion of foul play. The police...

An institute of higher education should be a pillar in our community. A university should not be average, but it should shine bright. It should be looked upon with reverence, integrity and above all else, it should be held to a higher standard. I believe many of our colleges and universities not only meet these high standards, but exceed them. Unfortunately, when one university or one school system, does something inappropriate, and then tries to cover it up, then all universities are impacted by the one who dropped below public expectations. Of course, I am talking about the Office of...

Through her aggressive fund raising for San Francisco politicians, Julie Lee transformed herself from grassroots activist to City Hall insider and political power broker. But that same largesse and the power it brought her have written the most bitter chapter of Lee's career, leading to the resignation from office of one of her biggest benefactors, Kevin Shelley, as California secretary of state -- and now felony charges said to have been filed against her by the state attorney general Thursday. Lee coveted insider access, say those who worked closely with her, and she quickly learned that campaign contributions opened the...

Tax Receipts Fell $6 Billion After Sept. 11, Report Says By IAN URBINA Published: April 5, 2005 The Sept. 11 attacks cost New York almost $6 billion in city and state tax revenue through the fiscal year 2003, according to a federal report being released today that gives the most authoritative accounting yet of their impact on public coffers. New York City faces an additional loss of $550 million in taxes annually for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, according to the report, which is based on estimates from the New York City Office of Management and Budget. The numbers are...

Thousands Marooned by Blizzard at Airports 15 minutes ago By THEO EMERY, Associated Press Writer Residents dig out as a blizzard dumps some two feet of snow in the area, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005, in Boston. Whiteout conditions grounded airplanes and sent fleets of plow and salt trucks trundling through snow-clogged roadways before the storm began to ebb at midday.(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) BOSTON - A howling blizzard slammed the Northeast on Sunday with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane-strength wind gusts, halting air travel for thousands of people, keeping others off slippery highways and burying parked cars under...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnographers work hand in hand with historians. Their job is to present information that protects and preserves political history. As a unified group these folks soundly condemn the work of Dr. Fell. They do so without basis in fact and a vengence undeserved. (See Dr. Norman Totten's response here.) His revelation that the Celtic, Arabic and other People visited, emigrated and traded with Native Americans is simple truth. History hides these facts from the general population. They would rather keep the idea that the Native Americans were illiterate savages, incapable of civilized behavior. Nothing could be farther...

Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Maritime Spice Route Between India, Egypt Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Delaware have unearthed the most extensive remains to date from sea trade between India and Egypt during the Roman Empire, adding to mounting evidence that spices and other exotic cargo traveled into Europe over sea as well as land. "These findings go a long way toward improving our understanding of the way in which a whole range of exotic cargo moved into Europe during antiquity," said Willeke Wendrich, an assistant professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and co-director of the project....

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...

Sky 'fell in' on Everest By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent (Filed: 27/05/2004) The eight climbers killed on the single deadliest day on Everest may have been victims of the "sky falling in", according to a study. An analysis of weather patterns in May 1996 suggests the mountaineers died when the stratosphere sank to the level of the summit, 29,000ft above sea level. The freak weather caused pressure and oxygen levels to plunge within the "death zone" - the area above 26,000ft where the oxygen is extremely thin. Normally Everest's summit lies just below the atmospheric layer. But on May 10,...