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Pakistan launches huge nuclear arms drive · Satellite images reveal major building site· US and China embroiled in buildup of rival arsenals Randeep Ramesh, Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday July 25, 2006 The Guardian (UK) A satellite image showing Pakistan's Khushab plutonium production reactor. Photograph: EPA Pakistan appears to have embarked on a dramatic expansion of its nuclear arsenal with the construction of a new heavy water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for up to 50 warheads a year, according to a report released yesterday by a US thinktank. The report by the Institute for Science and International Security...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched rapid-fire air strikes against Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday after rebuffing a proposed ceasefire by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Israel is threatening to expand its offensive unless militants release Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted in a cross-border raid on June 25, and halt rocket fire on Israeli cities. At least three militants were injured in an early morning air strike near the Karni commercial crossing, Palestinian medics and police said. Israel also bombed a key bridge in northern Gaza, despite an appeal from the United Nations to stop...

Noon Status Update The astronauts walked out of the Operations and Checkout Building to cheers and applause from the crowd wishing them well for mission STS-121. They appreciatively waved back and boarded the silver NASA Astrovan that took them on the 20-minute trip to the launch pad. Steven Lindsey commands a crew of five American astronauts, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, and one astronaut from the European Space Agency, Thomas Reiter. This is the 18th U.S. flight to the International Space Station and the 32nd flight for Space Shuttle Discovery....

KEREM SHALOM, Israel (AFP) - Israel launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip after a wave of targeted air strikes following a tense standoff over the capture of a teenage soldier. Much of the northern Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness after Israeli war planes hit a power station and two bridges in a series of nighttime raids, witnesses and security sources on both sides said. "Our forces have begun to enter the southern Gaza Strip," an Israeli army spokesman told AFP at the Kerem Shalom crossing, where tanks and troops were seen crossing into the Palestinian territory. It...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, May 1, 2006 – Iraq once supplied roughly 30 percent of the world's dates, an estimated 600,000 tons. But with fewer than 15 million date palm trees left in Iraq, production has dropped to only about 250,000 tons of the fruit annually. To control the progressive loss of the crop and regenerate the industry, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture and coalition forces have teamed up to combat the problem by conducting aerial spraying in April and May. Officials from the Najaf, Karbala and Babil provincial agriculture departments met with coalition forces representatives April 27 at...

4/27/2006 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Airmen from several Air Force bases spent two months preparing, disassembling, rebuilding and testing an Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7SLX, which had its first test flight here April 25. The aircraft is considered experimental, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It is designed to be an unarmed aircraft used to patrol oil pipelines and other infrastructure targeted by insurgents. "This six-seater aircraft, which is a kit-built plane, was developed by a company in Merritt Island, Fla., called AeroComp which sold the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates," said Lt. Col....

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – The Pentagon Channel has launched "Pentagon Channel In Flight," a military news and information service that will be aired on military charter flights worldwide. "Pentagon Channel In Flight is another way in which we can introduce servicemembers to the Pentagon Channel and provide them with the timely military news and information that they need to do their jobs." said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communications. Pentagon Channel In Flight will air on participating military charter flights, including Air Transport International, ATA, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Miami Air, North American Air, Omni...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – Coalition forces, in cooperation with the Afghan National Army, began "Operation Mountain Lion" yesterday to establish security, deter the re-emergence of terrorism, and enhance the sovereignty of Afghanistan, military officials reported today. Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents today while conducting offensive operations in the Marawara district of Afghanistan's Kunar province. Military officials in Afghanistan said Operation Mountain Lion is part of the coalition's ongoing series of offensives that aim to disrupt insurgent activities, deny them sanctuary and prevent their ability to restock. "This operation is helping the government of Afghanistan set the security...

MANASSAS, Va. - U.S. Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) formally opened his Republican campaign for re-election Tuesday, but he wouldn't guarantee that he would stay in the Senate the full six years, leaving open the possibility of a 2008 presidential bid. "I'm running for re-election — just that," Allen, 54, told reporters outside a microbiology research center. He had avoided any mention of a presidential bid in his speech to about 100 supporters. Allen has been traveling the nation, building a foundation for a presidential race, and has made several visits to New Hampshire and other pivotal primary...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2006 – The International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol, issued a worldwide alert yesterday for 23 prison escapees, including 13 convicted al Qaeda terrorists, according to an Interpol news release. The criminals escaped last week from a Yemen jail. They include Jamal al-Badawi, a terrorist convicted of masterminding the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, news reports said. Terrorists pulled alongside the anchored Cole and detonated an explosive-loaded boat. The blast killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded 39 others. The two terrorists in the boat also were killed. Pentagon spokesman Bryan...

SAN DIEGO – Mayor Jerry Sanders said Tuesday he was launching a six-month effort to streamline and reorganize a city government he said was "broken and badly in need of repair." Sanders, the city's first "strong" mayor under a new form of government that took effect Sunday, outlined a plan to review the city's contracts, personnel, information technology and administration to look for ways to cut costs and fix problems. "I've been on the job now for 28 days and one thing has become clear to me: San Diego's government systems are broken and they are badly in need of...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 3, 2006) -- Marines are blazing new trails for an expeditionary Air Traffic Control detachment in Al Asad, Iraq. The detachment, primarily based out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., is a mix of Marines from Marine Air Control Squadron 1, based at MCAS Yuma, MACS-2, based at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., and MACS-24, a reserve squadron based at Ft. Worth, Texas. The detachment recently expanded its role from controlling aircraft in and around Al Asad, to broadcasting information via pictures across western Iraq. A Joint Interface Control Cell team from Al Udeid, Qatar, helped...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2005 – About 300,000 wallet-sized cards and key fobs with critical employment and job-training information will be distributed to military personnel and veterans over the next six months, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today at its annual pre-Veterans Day salute. The department also unveiled the Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines -- REALifelines -- Advisor. This new online tool will provide valuable information and resources to help returning wounded and injured veterans successfully transition into civilian employment, Labor Department officials said. "The 'Key To Career Success' cards and REALifelines online advisor are part of our outreach efforts...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2005 – Military.com is taking its mission of connecting veterans to their benefits one step further with the official launch of the online Veteran Career Network on Nov. 11. About 250,000 people leave the military each year, Christopher Michel, president and founder of Military.com, said. A goal of the new network, found at www.military.com/network, is to help veterans capitalize on the training they received in the military by connecting them with employers who value this type of training and to make that connection more efficient. "Job searches have been traditionally inefficient," Michel, a former Navy lieutenant commander,...

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - A California physician launched an effort to gather a million signatures to force a recall vote on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came to office two years ago following an unprecedented recall. Kenneth Matsumura announced the campaign prior to submitting a petition to California's Secretary of State, who oversees elections. "People are desperate, they're suffering, and I think the governor's going to have to listen," he told reporters, saying Schwarzenegger has hurt the poor and students. "The task at first seemed daunting but in the last week the number of hits to our Web site at 'Recall2006.com'...

The most advanced navigation satellite yet developed was launched on Sunday. It is the first in a new fleet of Global Positioning System spacecraft designed to help commercial users and the US military pinpoint their locations and targets with greater accuracy. The $75 million satellite was launched on a Boeing Delta 2 rocket at 2337 EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. Over the next few days, it will deploy its solar panels and antennae and fire an onboard rocket to reach its final orbit, about 18,000 kilometres above the Earth. It joins an existing network of...

PARIS (AFP) - Should it be named after a Greek or Roman god? A great scientist or artist? How about calling it after a character in the "Star Wars" film series? Or your best friend? The British magazine New Scientist has called on readers to help suggest a name for the solar system's 10th planet, whose discovery was announced last week by a team led by US astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology. The new world has been given the provisional designation of 2003 UB313. But Brown has 10 years in which to think of a catchier...

CAMPO, Calif. (AP) - Volunteers patrolled remote mountains outside San Diego for human traffickers and drug smugglers Saturday, launching a campaign modeled after an effort in the Arizona desert to draw attention to the nation's porous border with Mexico. Jim Chase, a former Arizona Minuteman volunteer who cut ties with that group's leadership, is leading California Border Watch, which mobilized Saturday to patrol a 26-mile rural stretch of rolling hills from Jacumba to Tecate through Aug. 7. Chase, a retired postal worker from Oceanside, said he and others will carry guns for self-defense but will not initiate attacks. "The guns...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopters fired missiles in four separate air raids in the Gaza Strip in the space of an hour early on Friday, witnesses said. It was the most intense Israeli air raid in the occupied territory in months. The first strike destroyed a pro-Hamas Islamic charity in Gaza City and a minute later, the helicopters fired at a cemetery in Khan Younis militants used as a launching pad to fire mortars at an adjacent Jewish settlement, witnesses said. Crowds gathered at the site of the Gaza City blast and shouted as some sifted through the debris and...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American troops bombarded a dusty border town with airstrikes and tank fire Friday, capturing 100 militants in the third major recent attempt to uproot tenacious insurgents who are believed to use the region to sneak foreign suicide bombers in from Syria. Four suicide attacks around Iraq, including one in the capital, killed 11 people as rebels seeking to lead Iraq into a civil war intensified the pace and scope of attacks against Iraq's still-weak security forces. More than 60 people have died in suicide attacks over the past two days. In a campaign codenamed Romhe, Arabic for...