The Pentagon is sending an additional Army brigade of 2,600 troops to Iraq, raising the number of soldiers approved for President George W. Bush's security plan to nearly 30,000, a senior defense official said on Friday.Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the early deployment of the Army's Third Infantry Division combat aviation brigade to support 21,500 combat troops being sent to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad and Iraq's Anbar province, the official said.The brigade, which provides ground forces with a full complement of helicopters, had been scheduled to deploy to Iraq in early summer as part of a regular Army troop rotation, said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity....
http://www.aina.org
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Editor - 18:42:00 03-16-07
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 The wasteland - inside Mugabe's crumbling state |
Among the many signs of a country sliding into chaos, one has gone largely unnoticed: Zimbabwe's morgues are filling up. It's not only that more people are dying, but also that the families of those who are cannot afford to pay their medical bills any longer. To escape them, relatives are registering the sick under false names. When they die, the bodies cannot be claimed. The practice is just one of the increasingly desperate measures Zimbabweans are taking to survive in a collapsing economy where inflation runs at 1,700% a year and the value of local currency can plummet in a few hours. Most of those who can have left the country in search of a means of survival, or at least made plans to do so. Typical of the estimated 3m Zimbabweans who have left - two-thirds of the country's working-age population from doctors and teachers to farm labourers and soldiers - are Mbongani Ntzombane's sons....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,,2036161,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 18:33:00 03-16-07
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| 'Fascism is in fashion' |
The day of the elections to the Duma, the [same] day Putin began his campaign for re-election as president. In the morning he manifested himself at a polling station. He was cheerful, elated even, and a little nervous. This was unusual: as a rule he is sullen. With a broad smile, he informed those assembled that his beloved labrador, Connie, had had puppies during the night. "Vladimir Vladimirovich was so very worried,' Mme Putina intoned behind her husband. "We are in a hurry to get home," she added, anxious to return to the bitch whose impeccable timing had presented this gift to the United Russia party. That morning in Yessentuki, a small resort in the North Caucasus, the first 13 victims of a terrorist train attack were being buried. It had been the morning train, known as the student train, and young people were on their way to college. When, after voting, Putin went over to the journalists, it seemed he would express his condolences. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2036221,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 18:31:00 03-16-07
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| Authorites Continue Search for Boy Missing in Clinton, Ill. Boat Accident That Killed 2 |
A second day of searching for an 8-year-old boy missing since his grandfather's fishing boat plunged over a dam was unsuccessful Friday, and authorities conceded the outcome "does not look very good." Authorities planned to scale back their search for Kalin L. Hunter on Friday night and pick back up again at full strength Saturday morning, Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud said. The boat went over the spillway at Clinton Lake and into the turbulent waters below Wednesday night, killing Kalin's grandfather and uncle. "Certainly, as the hours pass, it does not look very good," McCloud said. The bodies of the grandfather, Richard L. Hunter, 59, of Normal, and the boy's uncle, Jason C. Hunter, 29, were found Thursday at the base of spillway, about 25 feet below the lake, state officials said. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2959006
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Editor - 18:26:00 03-16-07
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| Iraqi refugees in Europe expected to double 40,000 possible this year, U.N. agency says; U.S. quota is 7,000 |
The number of Iraqi refugees arriving in Europe is expected to double to 40,000 in 2007 based on trends from the first two months of the year, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. As the security situation has deteriorated in Iraq, European governments have come under increasing pressure to open their doors to asylum-seekers. Many are worried that an escalation of violence in 2007 could generate waves of refugees. "We're asking the European Union to take a consistent and generous approach to the needs of the refugees," said Judith Kumin, head of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Brussels. About 2 million Iraqis have fled the bloodshed in their country since 2003, mainly to Syria and Jordan. An additional 1.7 million are believed to have been displaced within Iraq. Within Europe, most Iraqis have headed for Sweden, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Britain and Belgium. UNHCR statistics show that 20,000 Iraqis applied for asylum in the EU last year....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17647764/
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Editor - 18:24:00 03-16-07
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| Jurors Begin Deliberations in Court-Martial of Soldier Accused in Iraqi Detainees Deaths |
A jury began deliberations Friday in the court-martial of an Army staff sergeant accused of ordering his squad to kill three Iraqi detainees during a raid on a suspected insurgent camp in Iraq. Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, 24, is accused of telling his soldiers to release the detainees they captured during the May 9 raid near Samarra, Iraq, and then shoot them as they fled. He is charged with premeditated murder. Girouard is the last and most senior soldier from the 101st Airborne Division to face trial in the killings. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life without parole. Girouard has testified that he lied to investigators about the slayings to protect his soldiers, and that he never told Spc. William Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey Clagett to kill the detainees. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2959001
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Editor - 18:21:00 03-16-07
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