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Japanese researchers find new giant picture on Peru's Nazca Plateau The new Nazca Plateau image discovered by the research team from Yamagata University. (Photo courtesy of Yamagata University)A new giant picture on the Nazca Plateau in Peru, which is famous for giant patterns that can be seen from the air, has been discovered by a team of Japanese researchers. The image is 65 meters long, and appears to be an animal with horns. It is thought to have been drawn as a symbol of hopes for good crops, but there are no similar patterns elsewhere, and the type of the...

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces killed three insurgents in the Chora district of Uruzgan Province today, and acted on a tip to find a weapons cache, military officials reported. The Chora engagement occurred when five insurgents attacked Afghan National Army and coalition forces with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The Afghan and coalition forces maneuvered and returned fire. No Afghan or coalition forces were injured. "Coalition members and Afghan National security forces will not allow anti-coalition fighters to terrorize Afghans in the Uruzgan province," said Army Col. Thomas Collins, spokesman for Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "Local...

Archaeologists find 10,000 years of history at Lowcountry site 12:51 PM EDT on Thursday, April 13, 2006 HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Archaeologists reviewing a site for a highway bridge over the Combahee River have found nearly 10,000 years of history art the location. The archaeologists are reviewing the site before work begins to build a wider bridge to take U.S. 17 across the river, which marks the boundary between Beaufort and Colleton counties. The new bridge will be named for Harriet Tubman, who in 1863 led black Union soldiers on a raid that freed 700 slaves from plantations in...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi forces discovered multiple weapons caches and detained five suspected insurgents over the past week, U.S. military officials in Baghdad announced today. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers unearthed a significant weapons cache over a three-day period on an island on the Euphrates River. Beginning April 5, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a weapons that contained 82 mm rounds, 120 mm rounds, rocket-propelled grenade rounds and launcher, hand grenades, 55-gallon drums of TNT, 55-gallon sacks of nitrate, bundles of detonation chord, AK-47 rounds, 1,500 meters...

Iraq Antiquities Find Sparks Controversy By Sue Biggin and Andrew Lawler ScienceNOW Daily News 10 April 2006 TRIESTE, ITALY--Italian researchers in Iraq claim to have stumbled upon an important cache of ancient clay tablets in one of the world's oldest cities. But others dispute the claim, and Iraqi authorities say the scientists have been acting illegally. No archaeologist has been given permission to do excavations since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein. But last month, Italy's National Research Council announced that it had discovered some 500 rare tablets on the surface of Eridu, a desert site in...

Burial find reveals ancient lives Greig Watson BBC News, Leicester A huge amount can be learnt from skeletal remains They are dust and dry bones. Hundreds of people, generation upon generation, reduced to neatly boxed scraps and splinters. But a team from the University of Leicester archaeology unit has a rare opportunity to tell us about the lives these people led. Work on the extension to a shopping centre in Leicester city centre unearthed the largest medieval parish cemetery outside London, containing more than 1,300 skeletons. As well as the sheer scale of the site, the significance lies in its...

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2006 – Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers seized multiple weapons caches south of Baghdad yesterday and April 5. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, found a weapons cache using a metal detector yesterday. The cache contained Sabo penetrators, boxes of .50-caliber ammunition and high-explosive artillery primers. On April 5, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a weapons cache while on patrol. The cache consisted of 82 mm shells, 7.62 mm rounds, 82 mm mortar rounds, 60 mm mortar rounds and other...

Find a job and a future in Britain, French told By Colin Randall in Paris (Filed: 06/04/2006) As protesters throughout France continue their revolt against job law reform, the French author of a new guide to working in Britain says his country is in dire need of "our own Maggie Thatcher". Vladimir Cordier, 30, an economics graduate, abandoned his native Normandy eight years ago for London after refusing to settle for what he saw as a hopeless future in France. After finding work in a call centre, he changed jobs several times and now earns between £40,000 and £50,000 a...

Italians find ancient Ur tabletsWritings could lead to buried library (ANSA) - Rome, March 28 - Italian archeologists working in Iraq have found a trove of ancient stone tablets from the fabled civilisation of Ur . The tablets bear around 500 engravings of a literary and historical nature, according to team leader Silvia Chiodi . "This is an an exceptional find," she said, noting that the area in question had previously only yielded prehistoric artefacts . She said the tablets, made of clay and bitumen, were discovered by chance at an archaeological site not far from the location of the...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2006 – A Multinational Division Baghdad soldier was killed yesterday in a mortar attack southwest of Baghdad, military officials reported. The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. In other news from Iraq, members of Iraq's 3rd Public Order Brigade found a roadside bomb in front of a trade school southeast of Baghdad on March 14, military officials reported today. The bomb consisted of a 155 mm artillery round, two batteries and a block of explosives, officials said. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2006 – Iraqi and multinational forces have captured more terrorism suspects and discovered more weapons caches in recent days, military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi police today captured 16 insurgents suspected of attacking coalition forces northwest of Kirkuk, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. After detaining the terror suspects, members of the Kirkuk police emergency special unit found improvised explosive device-making materials along with a cache of two artillery rounds. U.S. soldiers of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division served as advisers during the mission. In northeastern Baghdad, soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2006 – U.S. soldiers discovered four weapons caches in a four-day period in areas outside of Baghdad, officials said. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a weapons cache March 8 near the Euphrates River, south of Baghdad. Army Pfc. Jason Chambers, of B Company, was occupying an observation post when he noticed something out of place in the distance. After carefully inspecting the area, he and another soldier discovered the cache, consisting of roadside bomb-making materials. Chambers and the soldier moved away a safe distance, notified their...

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2006 – Iraqi and coalition forces detained eight suspects today in a joint operation in Baghdad. The men are suspected of kidnapping, manufacturing car bombs, and financing and supporting terrorists, officials said. Four men were detained at the Al Khayr Mosque Complex, identified as a possible al Qaeda safe haven, and the others were detained from sites raided during the operation. Iraqi forces led the joint operation and discovered several rooftop fighting positions, AK-47s and Molotov cocktails. In other news, over an 11-day period, U.S. and Iraqi servicemembers together have discovered 30 hidden weapons caches in Baqubah,...

Mugabe police arrest 'coup plotters after arms find' By Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 10/03/2006) At least 15 men have been arrested by Zimbabwean police amid allegations of a plot to launch an armed rebellion against President Robert Mugabe. A cache of weapons was reportedly seized and those held included some senior officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Roy Bennett: 'Wanted' An MDC member of parliament Giles Mutsekwa, a former officer in the Zimbabwe National Army, and Brian James, the treasurer of the MDC's Manicaland province, in eastern Zimbabwe, were arrested earlier this week. Roy Bennett, a former...

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2006 – Two car bombs have killed six Iraqi civilians and wounded 34 in the past two days in Iraq, and troops from Multinational Division Baghdad discovered a roadside bomb and detained suspects who fled from the scene. Six Iraqis were killed and 23 were wounded today when a car bomb detonated near the Baqubah mayor's office. Iraqi army and police provided security and initial medical attention to the wounded on the scene, officials said. The wounded were taken to Baqubah General Hospital for treatment. Community leaders were meeting with Baqubah Mayor Khalid Al Seniary at the...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2006 – Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division nabbed terrorists and confiscated weapons during an operation in Baghdad Feb. 26. The soldiers, assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, were conducting vehicle inspections in western Abu Ghraib. 1st Lt. Scott Treadwell had ordered his soldiers to search a suspicious vehicle. Treadwell's men found two known murderers of Iraqi civilians. The two terrorists were carrying rifles and contracts for the murder of other Iraqis. The capture of the two assassins was inspiring to the soldiers, who conduct patrols every day...

NEW ORLEANS - Tour buses and rental trucks waited Wednesday morning to vacate police, firefighters and other Hurricane Katrina first-responders from cruise ships they've called home since the storm devastated the city in August. The emergency workers and their families _ about 1,000 people in all _ were told they had to leave by March 1 because the ships must return to private service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. It's the same deadline set for civilian evacuees living on cruise ships. Agency spokesman David Passey said all the first-responders and their families will have a FEMA-sponsored place to live,...

CAMP MERCURY, Iraq (Feb. 25, 2006) -- Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Edward looked at the stacks of unearthed munitions and shook his head in disbelief. “We’re going to need more C-4,” Edward said. The 29-year-old explosive ordnance disposal technician with Mobile Unit 3, Detachment 9, 8th Engineer Support Battalion was witness to the largest weapons cache discovery made by Marines from L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, since they arrived in Iraq nearly a month ago. The weapons are commonly used against Marines and Iraqi Security Forces in improvised explosive devices. The company made the find during...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2006 – Don Esmond, a Vietnam War hero, walked into the Toyota Motor Sales in Torrance, Calif., one day in early 2004 and told the staff he wanted the company to develop a hiring program for guardsmen and reservists returning to civilian life from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. David Sweat, left, the parts department manager at Priority Toyota in Chesapeake, Va., said Army National Guard Sgt. Ricardo "Ricky" Velez came to the company about two months after leaving active duty. Velez previously served in Iraq for 14 months. Photo courtesy of James Wallace  (Click photo...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Feb. 27, 2006) – Acting on a tip from an Iraqi citizen, a team from Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 53rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company stopped a potential threat Friday by finding and disposing of an MK-84 bomb near a mosque south of Al Hillah. Due to the bomb’s location near the religious shrine, the team had no other choice than to burn the bomb in place as a last resort, officials said. They said the team was able to do this without any damage to the mosque, Iraqi citizens or MND – B Soldiers. Elsewhere, Soldiers...