The Pentagon is preparing to set off a record-breaking bang, detonating 635 tonnes of high explosives and sending a mushroom cloud into the sky over the Nevada desert. The blast, on June 2, codenamed Divine Strake, is likely to be the biggest controlled conventional explosion in military history, experts said, and is designed to test the impact of bunker-busting bombs aimed at underground targets.The blast comes at a time of rising tension with Iran over its nuclear programme. The US has refused to rule out military action and is considering the feasibility of destroying underground warhead development sites Iran is alleged to have built. "We have several very large penetrators we're developing," James Tegnelia, head of the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) told US defence reporters. "We also have - are you ready for this? - an explosively formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada ... and that represents to us the largest single explosive that ... http://www.guardian.co.uk censor News |
Editor - 22:21:00 03-31-06 |
Homosexual marriage battles loom across US |
Citing polling that suggests opposition to same-sex marriages is receding, gay rights advocates expressed confidence on Friday that such weddings would spread, despite a ruling by Massachusetts' highest court that bars homosexuals from other states from marrying there. Activists on both sides of the issue were awaiting a court ruling on whether Washington will follow Massachusetts and become the second U.S. state to legalize gay marriage, at least among residents."Washington state's Supreme Court right now, any day, is going to deliver their ruling on marriage, so it's something that we've been waiting for a while now to happen," said Brad Luna of gay rights group Human Rights Campaign.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060401/ts_nm/rights_gays_dc
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Editor - 19:51:00 03-31-06 |
Auschwitz may be renamed to reinforce link with Nazi era |
Poland has asked the United Nations to change the title of the Auschwitz concentration camp to remind visitors that it was built and run by Nazi Germany.In a sign of acute historic sensitivities over the camp, where 1 million Jews died, Warsaw wants to change its official name to Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Polish government made the request to Unesco, which listed Auschwitz as a world heritage site in 1979, after newspapers referred to the camp as Polish during the coverage of the 60th anniversary of its liberation. In a leading article marking Holocaust Memorial Day in January last year the Guardian mistakenly referred to "Polish gas chambers and crematoria". ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,1744514,00.html?gusrc=rss
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Editor - 19:34:00 03-31-06 |
FEMA shifts $3.6 billion in hurricane contracts Bidding process gives housing work to smaller, regional businesses |
The Bush administration on Friday awarded up to $3.6 billion in temporary hurricane-victim housing contracts to small and minority-owned firms, saying it was shifting the money from four large companies that had not competed for the work. All but eight of the 36 contracts — worth up to $100 million each — were rebid to firms in the Gulf Coast region hit by last year’s hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. FEMA acting director R. David Paulison said the contracting shift demonstrates “our commitment to a full and open competition procurement strategy for temporary housing work in the Gulf Coast.” ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12101476/from/RSS/
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Editor - 19:28:00 03-31-06 |
Peterson family offers $250,000 for ‘real killer’ Man on death row for murder of wife Laci and fetus maintains innocence |
Scott Peterson's family offered a $250,000 reward Friday for information leading to an arrest in the murder of his pregnant wife. The family also offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Laci Peterson’s watch.Peterson was convicted in November 2004 of killing Laci Peterson and her 8-month-old fetus. Now living on death row at San Quentin State Prison, he has always maintained his innocence.The family is offering the reward for "specific information leading to an arrest and conviction for the abduction and murder of Laci and Conner Peterson, or for specific information leading to the exoneration and release of Scott Peterson," according to a press release.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12101924/from/RSS/
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Editor - 19:26:00 03-31-06 |
Senior NASA Manager's Office Searched for Child Porn |
The headquarters office of a senior NASA manager was searched and computer equipment was seized in a child pornography investigation, according to court documents and an online report. The NASA inspector general's office served a search warrant on the agency headquarters office of James R. Robinson, in-space propulsion technology program executive, on Wednesday.A copy of the search warrant on The Smoking Gun Web site said a filter on NASA's computer system that searches for flesh-colored tones alerted technicians who found 189 images of underage child sexual activity on Robinson's work computer.The search warrant also said Robinson's computer had been used to send movies of child pornography to an undercover postal inspector and used a private account to correspond about pictures.... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190134,00.html
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Editor - 19:24:00 03-31-06 |
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