Free Republic

Massive volcanic eruption, burning coal and accelerated greenhouse gas choked out lifeAbout 250 million years about 95 per cent of life was wiped out in the sea and 70 per cent on land. Researchers at the University of Calgary believe they have discovered evidence to support massive volcanic eruptions burnt significant volumes of coal, producing ash clouds that had broad impact on global oceans. "This could literally be the smoking gun that explains the latest Permian extinction," says Dr. Steve Grasby, adjunct professor in the University of Calgary's Department of Geoscience and research scientist at Natural Resources Canada. Grasby and...

Japan was checking Friday if two elderly Japanese men found on a Philippine island plagued by an Islamic insurgency were soldiers left behind from World War II who were unaware of Tokyo's surrender. "What a surprise it would be if it's true," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said. The Japanese embassy in Manila sent three officials early Friday to General Santos city, 1,300 kilometres (806 miles) south of Manila, to meet the two men found on the lawless island of Mindanao. "The Japanese embassy in the Philippines received information yesterday that two men believed to be former Japanese soldiers are alive,"...

Barentsburg, Norway - Hammer and sickle banners hang from the wall of a rundown hangar and a statue of Lenin stands proud: the USSR no longer exists but you would not know it from visiting the small Russian mining town of Barentsburg in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic. Cut off from the rest of the world on the island of Spitsbergen, Barentsburg is surrounded by water in summer and ice in winter, accessible only by helicopter, snowmobile or boat depending on the weather. The thousand or so hardened residents here have learned to be self-sufficient, but they live in...