Bombs and mortars struck Shiite and Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area Friday, the latest in a week of tit-for-tat sectarian attacks that have killed more than 250 people.The deadliest explosion came as worshippers left services at a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, killing 14 people and wounding five, police said.The bomb, planted near the door of the mosque, exploded during a four-hour driving ban starting at 11 a.m. Fridays in the capital, aimed at preventing car bombs that have frequently targeted weekly prayers. Earlier Friday, five mortar rounds fell near the Shiite Imam al-Hussein mosque in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six, provincial police said.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com censor News |
Editor - 13:05:00 07-14-06 |
Firefighters report huge Calif. wildfires will |
A 53,000-acre wildfire crept through tinder-dry Mojave Desert brush and Joshua trees Friday to within a half-mile of another blaze in the San Bernardino National Forest, threatening to merge into an unpredictable wave of flame that could burn its way toward a mountain full of dead trees. The Sawtooth fire that destroyed more than 150 homes and buildings earlier this week was 20% contained but it was burning through dense, dead brush in a desert canyonland that has not burned in recent decades, authorities said at a morning briefing for firefighters.A half-mile away, the 8,300-acre Millard fire (which is the result of four smaller fires) is burning in the San Gorgonio wilderness, a forest area southwest of the Sawtooth blaze. It posed a threat to about 75 scattered homes and was just 5% surrounded. "The fires are very close together ... it's likely that will occur today," fire spokesman Rick Vogt said."If they come together, ... http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-07-14-calif-fires_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 13:01:00 07-14-06 |
Nebraska Homosexual Marriage Ban Reinstated Federal Appeals Court Reverses Ruling That Struck Down Law |
A federal appeals court Friday reversed a ruling that struck down Nebraska's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Supreme Court cleared the way for a vote on banning same-sex marriage in that state. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon had ruled last year that the Nebraska measure was too broad and deprived gays and lesbians of participation in the political process, among other things. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, saying in its ruling Friday that the amendment "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate the Constitution of the United States." Seventy percent of Nebraska voters approved the ban in 2000... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/14/national/main1805853.shtml?source=RSS&attr=U.S._1805853
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Editor - 12:53:00 07-14-06 |
DR Congo backs 'guns for bikes' |
A scheme under which gunmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo are given bicycles in exchange for their weapons is being extended due to its success. Ngoy Mulunda, a pastor in the south-eastern Katanga region, says he has been given some 6,500 weapons in the past year, which he has destroyed. The programme is now being extended to the neighbouring South Kivu province. A BBC correspondent says it has proved more successful than the UN disarmament exercise, following a five-year war. The BBC's Jonathan Kacelewa in Bukavu says a bicycle, worth about $50, makes a big difference to the lives of local people. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5180144.stm
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Editor - 11:49:00 07-14-06 |
Israel bombs Hizbollah leader's home in Beirut |
Israel bombed the home of Hizbollah's leader in Beirut on Friday as part of a widening assault in Lebanon since Shi'ite fighters captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight. Hizbollah said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was safe.Israeli air strikes destroyed Nasrallah's apartment building and a main Hizbollah office in southern Beirut, Hizbollah said.It said Nasrallah and his family were not hurt in the raids, without saying if they had been at home at the time.The Israeli army said warplanes attacked Hizbollah's headquarters in Beirut, but a spokeswoman would not say if it was an attempt to kill Nasrallah."We targeted by air the headquarters of Hizbollah in southern Beirut. We attacked two structures that are used by the leadership of Hizbollah," she said, adding that civilians had been warned in advance to leave the area.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060714/ts_nm/mideast_dc
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Editor - 11:45:00 07-14-06 |
First half of year was USA's warmest on record |
The first half of the year was the warmest on record for the USA.The government reported Friday that the average temperature for the 48 contiguous United States from January through June was 51.8°F, or 3.4°F above average for the 20th century.That made it the warmest such period since recordkeeping began in 1895, the National Climatic Data Center reported.No state was cooler than average and five states — Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri — experienced record warmth for the period.While much of the Northeast experienced extreme rainfall and flooding at the end of June, many other areas continued below normal precipitation.As of June, 45% of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate-to-extreme drought, an increase of 6% from May.Dry conditions spawned more than 50,000 wildfires, burning more than 3 million acres in the continental USA, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.... http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2006-07-14-2006-warmth_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 11:42:00 07-14-06 |
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