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After Miami handyman Glenn Rudge was accused of shoplifting an $8 set of drill bits at Home Depot, he thought he'd settled the matter when he showed his receipt to prosecutors and they dropped the charge.But a few weeks later, a law firm hired by Home Depot began sending him letters demanding first $3,000, then a total of $6,000, implying he'd be sued if he didn't pay it. In an escalating battle against theft, retailers are going after anyone suspected of shoplifting, turning over their names to lawyers and collection firms, who pursue the suspects for stiff penalties and split...

PATROL BASE INCHON — The rural areas south of Baghdad have long been a trouble spot for Coalition Forces. The fertile land was given by Saddam Hussein to Baath Party members and close friends, and the ties made it a hotbed of terrorism. Increasingly, however, residents are combating terror in their areas. On July 23, a local Iraqi man came to Patrol Base Inchon, near the Euphrates River, staffed by Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., and elements of the 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (May 12, 2006) -- Depot Marines judged Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students who displayed their military precision and bearing at the sixth annual “Golden Bear’s National Drill Meet” April 29 in Pomona, Calif. Marines from the depot and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., as well as airmen, seamen and soldiers came together during the competition to observe and judge proper execution over the event’s 16 drill areas. The stations included armed and unarmed drill, regulation, exhibition, color guard, four-person armed drill, four-person sabers and novice categories. The drill competition hosted 52 schools...

Hummer, the new mascot for Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, is undergoing his obedience training. The puppy will follow recruits through several trainings events before earning the title of depot mascot. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Kester U.S. Marine Corps ‘Hummer’ 'Devil Dog' Steps in as New Depot Mascot By Cpl. Brian Kester Parris Island PARRIS ISLAND, S.C., April 7, 2006 — He is only 12 inches long, covered with white and brown hair and barks at the wall. Yet, the Marine Corps wants him to be one of the few, the proud. His name temporarily...

The massive illegal logging of Papuan merbau timber is being fueled by five giant international flooring companies, which are neglecting to check whether they have bought legal timber, a new report says. The investigative study by the Bogor-based Telapak and London-based Environment Investigation Agency reveals that five companies, which dominate global sales of wood floor products, are heavy consumers of illegally sourced timber, mostly from Papua. Behind The Veneer: How Indonesia's Last Rainforests are being Felled for Flooring, which was published Tuesday, identifies the five as U.S.-based Armstrong/Bruce, Danish company Junckers, Germany's Tarkett, the Swedish Kahrs and Canada's Goodfellow. These...

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., March 17, 2006 – Tucked away on a sliver of land at this Army facility in Maryland is a cluster of ordinary-looking, tan-colored buildings encircled by a chain link fence. What goes on inside these buildings, however, is anything but ordinary. A soldier at the Joint Personal Effects Depot cleans a wounded soldier's footlocker, March 16. Photo by Steven Donald Smith  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The buildings are home to the Joint Personal Effects Depot, where all the personal belongings of servicemembers killed and wounded during the war on terrorism are meticulously processed...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (March 3, 2006) -- The sounds of their cadence roll through the halls and across the grounds of the depot. Up to 65 Marines go to Drill Instructor School each cycle. During this training period, students learn methods of training recruits to become United States Marines. The overall goal of this institution is to give these students as much knowledge from their instructors’ own experiences, as best they can, said Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Hambaugh, Drill Instructor School instructor. Every instructor served time in the trenches before he became an instructor at the school....

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (Jan. 13, 2006) -- The Department of Defense authorized the retirement of Jaco, a military working dog for 10 years, and his adoption by former handler Sgt. Jerrod M. Glass, Jan. 8. Jaco was a member of one of seven military working dog teams stationed here as a first line of defense in the protection of depot personnel and resources through explosive and narcotic detection in support of the depot's anti-terrorism efforts. In correlation with the recent retirement of the explosives detecting canine, Jaco, and Hertha, a narcotics detecting military working dog, the K-9...

Looters have struck at homes abandoned after the Buncefield oil depot explosion. Burglars have descended on at least three houses and stripped them of contents, such as televisions. Ironically, police ordered householders out of the homes after Sunday's explosion. They told them their homes would be safe in a police cordon. But shocked residents returned home to find their houses ruined - and their possessions gone. Household Aaron Muir told Sky News he was looted three times in three days. "We have been continually looted for the last three evenings," he said. "We have not been allowed to get access...

An Iraqi maintenance worker checks under the hood of a truck to make sure it's operational before being shipped out. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Lorie Jewell Taji Depot Ramps Up Training, Supply Efforts The depot supplies the logistic needs of 10 divisions of the Iraqi Armed Forces, with items ranging from weapons and body armor to ambulances and pickup trucks. By U.S. Army Sgt. Lorie Jewell Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq TAJI, Iraq, Oct. 5, 2005 -- Since operations began in May, the Taji National Depot has completed roughly 500 missions by ground and by air to move equipment...

400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in Mazandaran TEHRAN, June 8 (MNA) -- Recent discoveries by a team of archaeologists indicate that the coast of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province was home to the earliest hominid habitation in that region. Archaeologist Ali Mahforuzi said on Wednesday that 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in the valleys of Shuresh near the Rostam Kola, Huto, and Kamarband caves are the oldest ever found in the area. The previous studies had dated human settlement in the region to have begun about 50,000 years ago. “The recent studies conducted by a joint team of archaeologists from the...

Senator John Kerry is once again making claims that he cannot substantiate. He charges that President Bush’s “misjudgments” led to the disappearance of 380 tons of explosives from the Iraqi al-Qaqaa facility, and that these explosives have been used against U.S. troops -- even though there is no proof for such accusations. While the Kerry campaign has already released a television ad making such allegations, they simultaneously have backed off from the same charges. Senator Kerry’s TV ad states: The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on TaipeiTimes http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/02/25/2003100128 Big trouble in NY's Chinatown over bus company deaths The ethnic-Chinese owners of discount bus companies are involved in a turf war that has led to concerns about a return of gang-related violence AFP , New York Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004,Page 16 New York's Chinatown, once the scene of brutal feuds between gangs like the Flying Dragons and Ghost Shadows, is witnessing a new turf war that police are blaming for up to three unsolved murders. The unlikely protagonists are the owners and operators of rival bus services that offer discount tickets to cities like...

Press Release Source: Office Depot ADVISORY/Senator Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Kicks off Sold-out Office Depot Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference on Sunday, February 22 Wednesday February 18, 3:59 pm ET (BUSINESS WIRE)-- Katie Couric, Mary Matalin, Dawn Hudson, Iyanla Vanzant and Other Notables Will Address More Than 700 Professional Women From Across the Country WHO: The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton will open Office Depot's Fourth Annual Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference on Sunday, February 22, delivering a keynote address from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Dawn Hudson, President of Pepsi-Cola North America, will provide a keynote address on Monday, February 23 from 8:15-9:15 a.m....

Ordinary Americans who see America’s place in the world as being a blessing and who see America’s warriors as our standard-bearers that deserve all we can give. Americans who do the right thing because it is the right thing to do and not because it will get their picture in the paper or a spot on a morning talk show are the true Americans.

No sign of terrorist activity found at US chemical weapons depot Officials at a US Army chemical depot have found no trace of a reported intruder after a terrorist alert was sounded. The commander of the Deseret Chemical Depot says the security of the depot was never at risk. Colonel Peter Cooper says the person didn't get close to the area where nerve gas and other chemical weapons are stored. The person fled after being spotted within the heavily guarded perimeter by four soldiers during two separate patrols. In Washington, a senior administration official said there is no evidence that...