Free Republic

MARBURG - A mysterious viral infection has forced military authorities in Germany to close four bases, ordering nearly 4,000 personnel and their dependents to stay home, authorities said Friday. The bases Schwalmstadt, Schwarzenborn, Stadtallendorf and Neustadt will be closed for three weeks while the premises are disinfected. "This is the worst single such infectious situation we've ever had," a Defence Ministry spokesman said Friday. The viral epidemic began in Schwalmstadt in the central German state of Hesse, when 150 of the 800 personnel stationed there complained of inflamed and itching eyes. The Bundeswehr closed that base last week. Just four...

Historian Richard Neustadt Dies at 84 By BIPASHA RAY Associated Press Writer BOSTON (AP) -- Richard E. Neustadt, the noted presidential adviser, scholar and historian who was a founder of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has died, close friend and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Saturday. He was 84. Neustadt died Friday in England, Reich told The Associated Press, adding he learned the news from Neustadt's wife. The historian had fallen about a week ago and his health rapidly declined, he said. "He was a very vigorous man, intellectually sharp as a tack and obviously one of America's pre-eminent...