A stubborn wildfire burned near hundreds of homes Tuesday, but a moist ocean breeze slowed its advance through the Los Padres National Forest north of Los Angeles, fire officials said.The edge of the fire was about 7 miles southeast of the populated Lockwood Valley, where authorities recommended but did not order an evacuation, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Joe Pasinato said.The fire, in a mostly rugged area of the forest, has burned since Labor Day and was just 15% contained. Nearly 2,000 firefighters, 24 helicopters and 10 air tankers were involved in battling the blaze.On Monday, it forced the evacuation of about 100 animals from a wildlife refuge in the valley. "We couldn't even hardly breathe," Debbie McNeeley, an office manager at the facility, said Tuesday.... http://www.usatoday.com censor News |
Editor - 20:46:00 09-19-06 |
General says U.S. may increase troops in Iraq Abizaid: Military likely to maintain force of 147,000 through spring 2007 |
The U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring, the top American commander in the region said Tuesday in one of the gloomiest assessments yet of when troops may come home.Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed. Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war."If it's necessary to do that because the military situation on the ground requires that, we'll do it," Abizaid said of longer deployments. "If we have to call in more forces because it's our military judgment that we need more forces, we'll do it."... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14912976/
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Editor - 20:44:00 09-19-06 |
NASA Delays Shuttle Landing and Examines Atlantis for Damage After Finding Mysterious Object |
NASA postponed the return of Atlantis for at least a day and examined the shuttle for damage that could prevent it from making the journey home after a mysterious object apparently fell off the ship in orbit Tuesday. Space agency officials wanted extra time to establish whether the object was a vital piece of the shuttle such as the tiles that protect it from the blowtorch heat of re-entry and whether it harmed the spacecraft when it fell away. Officials were not optimistic they would be able to identify the object, since the possibilities were almost endless, ranging from harmless ice to crucial thermal protection tiles. But the leading candidate was a plastic space-filler placed between the thermal tiles. If that is the case, the missing filler would not prevent a normal landing. "The question is: What is it? Is it something benign? … Or is it something more critical we should pay attention to?"... http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2466102
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Editor - 20:39:00 09-19-06 |
Autopsy: Woman was strangled, dragged by vehicle |
Neighbors are struggling to come to grips with the gruesome discovery of a woman's mangled body that had been dragged along a paved road through a pastoral subdivision, leaving a long trail of blood and questions. Douglas County sheriff's deputies on Tuesday were still trying to learn the identity of the woman, whose body was found before dawn Monday in the Surrey Ridge subdivision, a neighborhood of scattered homes near Castle Rock, about 20 miles south of Denver. Investigators said they found a trail of blood more than a mile long behind the body. The victim's face was unrecognizable and an orange tow rope was found around her neck, said Nancy Foley, who lives near the house where the body was found. "I was trying to sleep last night thinking about how this poor lady was dragged, treated worse than an animal," Foley said. "She was really mangled." Preliminary results of an autopsy Tuesday indicated the woman died of asphyxiation and head injuries from being strangled by ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-19-dragging-death_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 20:37:00 09-19-06 |
Iranian president takes on U.S., Israel at U.N. |
With the U.N. Security Council meeting this week to consider whether to impose sanctions on Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took aim at the body Tuesday, saying the United States' permanent inclusion on the council undermines its effectiveness and credibility. "As long as the council is unable to act on behalf of the entire international community in a transparent, just and democratic manner, it will neither be legitimate nor effective," the president said. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, Ahmadinejad had particularly harsh words for what he called the council's inaction in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. "It does not matter if people are murdered in Palestine," he said of the conflicts in which Israel has been engaged in Gaza and the West Bank. "That apparently does not violate human rights."... http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/19/iran.un/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 20:29:00 09-19-06 |
At least 17 killed in Iraq as lawmakers ask key ministers to explain rising violence |
Lawmakers angered by relentless violence in Iraq demanded Tuesday that the defense and interior ministers explain what they are doing to put an end to the death squads that have killed hundreds of Iraqis. Violence around Iraq killed at least 16 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 10 people killed in a rocket attack on a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. An American soldier died in a suicide car bombing in northern Iraq. Nearly 200 bodies of Iraqis who had been tortured and shot have turned up around Baghdad in the past week, including three found Tuesday in an eastern section of the capital. Most are found bound and blindfolded, apparent victims of sectarian violence. Both Sunni and Shiite lawmakers called Tuesday for the defense and interior ministers to explain how they plan to stop the killings. "I demand the defense and interior ministers be summoned to let us know their plans to stop these criminal acts: kidnappings, killings and assassinations against ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-09-19-iraq-rockets_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 19:45:00 09-19-06 |
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