Fed by drought, wildfires continue to move across parts of the the Western United States, devouring acreage in New Mexico, Colorado, California and Arizona.In central Arizona just south of Flagstaff, firefighters worked late Wednesday in an effort to contain the Brins Fire by Thursday, according to incident commander Paul Broyles.The fire has consumed 2,456 acres in Oak Creek Canyon, two miles northeast of Sedona. Firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from crossing State Highway 89A, but the containment line on the north side of the canyon was breached, causing "serious concern," Broyles said.Earlier in the day, 5 percent of the fire was contained. A view from a helicopter 11,000 feet up showed the canyon filled with smoke. In places, a gray haze was pierced by glowing rivulets of fire nestled deep within crevices -- unreachable by tanker planes.... http://www.cnn.com censor News |
Editor - 01:30:00 06-22-06 |
Bush's Baghdad Palace |
Among the many secrets the American government cannot keep, one of its biggest 104 acres & most expensive $592 million is the American Embassy being built in Baghdad. Surrounded by 15-foot-thick walls, almost as large as the Vatican on a scale comparable to the Mall of America, to which it seems to have a certain spiritual affinity, this is no simple object to hide. So you think the Bush Administration is planning on leaving Iraq? Read on. The Chicago Tribune reports, "Trucks shuttle building materials to & fro. Cranes, at least a dozen of them, punch toward the sky. Concrete structures are beginning to take form. At a time when most Iraqis are enduring blackouts of up to 22 hours a day, the site is floodlighted by night so work can continue around the clock." It will come as less than a surprise to learn that this project is another Halliburton deal subbed out to an outfit in Kuwait. The Tribune says that "for security reasons, the new embassy is being built entirely by imported labor... http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/howl
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Editor - 01:23:00 06-22-06 |
European monitors warn Palestinians on smuggling |
European monitors who have overseen the first Palestinian-controlled border terminal for the past seven months warn of unspecified "consequences" if Hamas officials don't stop smuggling millions of dollars into the territory. Yesterday, the Gaza Strip's main international gateway was closed after the European monitors said an Israeli security alert prevented them from manning the crossing, officials said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it suspected the Rafah crossing with Egypt was closed to send a message to its government to stop carrying cash by hand into Gaza to sidestep a Western aid embargo. The monitors brushed aside the accusation. The Palestinian Authority has resorted to carrying millions of dollars in cash across the border from Egypt because Middle Eastern banks, fearing U.S. sanctions, have refused to transfer funds to the Hamas-led government. Most of the money represents donations from Arab and Muslim countries. ... http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060622-122215-5944r.htm
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Editor - 01:07:00 06-22-06 |
2nd Botched Israeli Airstrike Kills 2 in House After Palestinians Bury Dead Children |
In the second botched Israeli airstrike in Gaza in two days, two people were killed and 13 were wounded when a missile hit a house Wednesday, just hours after grieving and angry Palestinians buried three children killed in a previous attack. Militants vowed revenge, and Israelis debated the effectiveness of airstrikes that target militants but are taking a mounting toll on innocent Palestinians. Israel's air force commander said Thursday the army stands firm behind its policies, but must "make a great effort to try everything possible to avoid hitting civilians." "We have to fight terrorism and we are doing it," Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shakedi told Israel's Army Radio. "This is more or less the central alternative, the most accurate and the best possible alternative without entering a broad and very significant (ground) operation." ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2105374
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Editor - 01:04:00 06-22-06 |
Republicans to Use Votes to Cast Democrats as Weak on Terrorism |
Republicans, defending an unpopular war in Iraq, will use two Senate votes today to exploit Democrats' divisions on the conflict in an effort to cast them as weak on terrorism and national security. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to defeat two competing Democratic measures to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq that Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee described as a strategy of ``cut and run.'' The proposals -- one calling for full withdrawal of U.S. troops by July 1, 2007, and an alternative that has no timetable -- have split Democrats and imperil the party's ability to transform growing public discontent with the war into a winning issue in the November elections, analysts said. ``It has hurt Democrats to be divided on this issue,'' said Michael Dimock, associate director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in Washington. ``The image of the party is one that is lacking a clear idea about how to handle Iraq.'' ... http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a0axf_Aygp50&refer=home
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Editor - 00:59:00 06-22-06 |
Video shows al-Qaeda No. 2 calling on Afghans to rise up |
Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader has issued a new videotape calling on Afghans to rise up against U.S. led forces in Afghanistan in the wake of rioting last month in Kabul. The video by Ayman al-Zawahri which would be his sixth this year was reported Wed by IntelCenter, an Alexandria, Va. based contractor that provides counterterrorism intelligence services to the U.S. government. "I am calling upon the Muslims in Kabul in particular and in all Afghanistan in general and for the sake of God to stand up in an honest stand in the face of the infidel forces that are invading Muslim lands," al-Zawahri said in Arabic, according to a translation by IntelCenter. The 3 1/2-minute tape appears to have been made the day after a May 29 accident in which a U.S. military truck crashed into traffic in Kabul, killing up to five people. The incident sparked anti-foreigner riots in Kabul that left about 20 people dead the deadliest unrest in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-22-zawahri-video_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 00:56:00 06-22-06 |
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