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Saturday July 8, 8:01 AM Haneda halts operations for 2 hours after worker crossed runway (Kyodo) _ Tokyo's Haneda airport suspended flight arrivals and departures for about two hours on Saturday morning after its infrared ray sensor system detected a person crossing a runway without permission, who turned out to be a worker, airport officials said. The incident has caused delays of up to nearly two hours in 14 flights departing and arriving at the airport as of 7:30 a.m. they said. The system sensed an object at around 4 a.m. around the most seaward runway. A security camera showed...

The Clarion Ledger/Gannett Rules. URL Link: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060703/NEWS/607030352

Today: June 19, 2006 at 8:16:34 PDT Top Court: Victims' Statements Admissible By TONI LOCY ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Prosecutors can use statements made by victims to 911 operators or police during emergencies if the victims do not testify at trial, the Supreme Court ruled in a pair of cases Monday. In a case out of Washington state, justices voted 9-0 that a defendant's right to confront his accuser was not violated because he could not cross-examine a woman who claimed in a 911 call that he had assaulted her. By an 8-1 vote in a second case, the...

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2006 – About three-quarters of the $94 billion emergency funding bill President Bush signed yesterday is allocated for fighting the war on global terrorism, including more than $40 billion for ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Total military allocations for combating terror contained in H.R. 4939 amount to $70.4 billion. This includes $43.5 billion for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Another $15.6 billion is set aside for replacing worn or destroyed equipment, military reorganization, and upgrading combat capabilities such as improved night-vision equipment, countermortar and rocket systems, and new vehicle armor. Another $2 billion is...

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they're sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws. Health care workers will be free to run experimental tests on blood and other samples taken from people who have fallen sick as a result of a bioterrorist attack, bird flu outbreak, detonation of a dirty bomb or any other life-threatening public health emergency, according to the rule issued...

AL ASAD, Iraq (June 6, 2006) -- Sipping on bottled water, rifle in hand and wearing a good 60 pounds of body armor on this sprawling U.S. military airbase, Lance Cpl. Emanuel Cantu says he doesn’t mind training for combat in Iraq’s blistering 110-plus degree temperature. In fact, he says he loves it. After all, four months of serving in Iraq as part of a quick reaction force has helped the 31-year-old Marine lose more than 20 pounds, but more importantly, he says he’s found his niche in the Marine Corps – training to save lives. “I feel like I’m...

Fear is a good thing -- when it comes to hurricanes. "People need to be more afraid than they have been in the past," said Jay Baker, a behavioral geography professor at Florida State University, noting that more frequent, intense storms could become an annual event over the next two decades. Yet with hurricane season starting today, emergency managers worry that residents will instead become overconfident after weathering Hurricane Wilma last October or resigned after dealing with two years of tropical turmoil. "A few years ago, we were talking about hurricane amnesia. Now we're talking about hurricane fatigue," said Max...

PHOENIX (AP) - The Legislature approved a bill Thursday that would criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants in Arizona and provide $160 million to help authorities in the nation's busiest illicit entry point with their immigration crackdown. The legislation also would set fines for businesses that continue to employ illegal immigrants after receiving warnings, require local police agencies to train officers in enforcing immigration law and deny education benefits to immigrants. The bill, which was approved 33-22 by the House and 16-9 by the Senate, now goes to Gov. Janet Napolitano. Spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer declined to say whether the governor...

SAN DIEGO – The vast majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the Border Patrol agents making the arrests, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. “It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted,” the report says. The report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city. Federal officials say it reflects a reality...

Political commentators -- both right and left -- who think the outrage over the immigration crisis is a conservative fringe phenomenon are sorely out of touch. That may have been true some time ago, but the sleeping giant of American goodwill and apathy has finally been jolted out of her sleep. It's hard to deny that the catalyzing events were the audacious protests of illegals throughout the country, waving Mexican flags, disrespecting the American flag and demanding, sometimes in Spanish, their "civil rights." Perhaps Sen. Ted Kennedy's pathetic pandering to this burgeoning new constituency contributed to the national wake-up call...

If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States. Much attention has been given to the fact that the bill grants amnesty to some 10 million illegal immigrants. Little or no attention has been given to the fact that the bill would quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around...

A Contintal Express jet with 48 people on board landed safely at Bush Intercontinetal Airport, after the pilot was was forced to make an emergency return because of two blown tires. "It was a photo landing," one Houston fire fighter said to his colleagues, as the plane touched down at 6:20 p.m. ...The flight circled the airport, northeast of Houston, for about an hour to burn off fuel. The jet appeared to be missing both tires on the left-side, rear landing gear. The jet's landing gear was in the "down" position for airport tower personnel and fire fighters to see...

I've been thinking of procuring some MREs as the hurricane/severe weather season approaches - and thought my fellow FReepers would be the best possible source of information. It appears that there are two general options - the MRE pack from SOPAKCO - an example of which is here The other supply seems to be assembled from contract overruns, for example the item at this link It appears that MREs are more cost-effective than freeze dried items. I prefer to have an assembled meal instead of purchasing individual items. Also, I recognize that the Sopakco meals don't have heaters - but,...

I received some money recently. I have decided to put a portion of it aside to spend on retrofitting the house and packing in some supplies for 6 for a year. I want to be able to rotate the supplies through our regular pantry. I also will be retrofitting our well to pump into a holding tank...and I am looking for a good wood cookstove, I have a big jotol in the living room. Candles, oil lamps whatever. Your input and links would be appreciated.

Anybody know what is going on in NW DC on Calvert St. past the Omni Shoreham? I work near there and have been hearing sirens since 11:30 a.m. I walked up there a few minutes ago and saw a lot of fire trucks (but there is no fire or smoke that I could see), police cars, an ambulance and other first responder vehicles. I stopped when I saw a guy dressed in a white space suit with a mask and an oxygen tank strapped to his back standing next to one of the fire trucks. Also, even though the situation...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Rain was falling again Tuesday in northern and central California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven counties that have been battered by storms and flooding. In his emergency declaration Monday, Schwarzenegger warned that levees in the region had been seriously weakened by the storms and were in danger of breaking. The National Weather Service forecast rain through the weekend. "There's great vulnerability in the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley," Schwarzenegger said after touring the state's flood operations center. "We want to do everything we can to make sure that we...

WASHINGTON - The federal government is on pace to have 11 top-priority reforms in emergency response completed by the June 1 start of hurricane season, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday. But much of the success or failure in responding to disasters will depend on how well state and local officials work with Washington and have their own emergency plans in place, Chertoff said. "This is a case where we ... all hang together or we hang separately," Chertoff told The Associated Press. "We've got to be operating jointly, we've got to be in partnership." The 11 must-do reforms...

Detroit Police Investigate DETROIT -- A 6-year-old boy's 911 call for help was thought to be a prank, but the call was real and the boy's mother died, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit. Robert Turner called 911 to get help for his mother, Sherel Turner, 46, whom he found lying unconscious on the kitchen floor of their Detroit apartment in February, the station reported. "Then I had felt her tummy. She wasn't breathing. Then I had called 911," said Robert. "I told them to send an emergency truck right now." 911 Operator: "911. What's the problem?" Robert: "My mom has...

Are those 1200 calorie survival bars I see advertised actually edible? Do they really last 5-7 years? I've always (always here means for about 2 years) made sure I had enough food stockpiled in my house for a couple of weeks and water for two or three. My mom, however, decided that not only should I do that, I should have a portable 72 hour kit too. She made one for all her kids. They're big orange backpacks that contain just about everything a person would need to survive for three days. I actually think its kind of cool, and...

SB 123 Receives Hearing Wednesday, March 22, 2006 The Conscience Clause for Pharmacists (SB 123), cleared the Senate earlier this session and will have a hearing in a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Non-Civil chaired by Rep. Tom Knox on Wednesday afternoon. Authored by Senator Jim Whitehead, this legislation would protect pharmacists who refuse to dispense medication that terminates a pregnancy. The Code of Ethics already allows pharmacists to refuse, for any reason, to dispense medication. For that reason, Georgia Right to Life did not initially take a position on this issue.