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6/28/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- For the first time since its formation in 1954, members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force are actively deployed to a combat zone. They are helping with humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. "I feel the responsibility of this valuable work for the world and am proud to take part in this operation," said Col. Atsushi Nishino, commander of the JASDF Iraq Reconstruction Support Airlift Wing. "(Our mission is crucial) because reconstruction and stabilizing Iraq is important for global stability and peace, not only in the Middle East." Their primary mission here is...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Montenegro on Wednesday became the 192nd member of the United Nations, a month after it ended its 88-year partnership with Serbia that completed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. "I declare the Republic of Montenegro admitted to membership in the United Nations," U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson announced after calling for approval by acclamation in the 191-nation body. General Assembly members then broke into applause as the Balkan country's president, Filip Vujanovic, Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic and U.N. envoy Nebojsa Kaludjerovic were escorted to their new seats, next to the Mongolian delegation. "I am confident...

<p>An arsenal of exotic weapons - including a sniper rifle, a spear and a set of 8-inch metal claws - were seized from a 23-year-old Jersey City man after his worried father called cops. When South District cops responded to the Greenville home yesterday morning, they found the sniper rifle - with a powerful scope and a laser sight - as well as three Glock handguns and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition, reports said. Among the bullets were illegal "hollow-point" rounds, police said. In addition to the spear and metal claws, cops found a number of savage-looking knives, including one that had blades coming out of each end of its carved wooden handle. The owner of the weapons lived with his father, his brother and two younger brothers, police said.</p>

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 14, 2006) -- From the mean streets of Brooklyn to the sandstorms of Iraq, one Marine knows that the choice he made, just a short time ago, may have been the difference between life or death. Lance Cpl. Mike A. Rivera, current operations clerk, Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, was once involved with a notorious nationwide gang and was headed for a life that people only see in the movies, but with the help of his family and friends, this now motivated Marine is headed for a greater life. "I got involved...

'Al-Qa'eda member worked on Tube' By Duncan Gardham (Filed: 29/03/2006) An Al-Qa'eda cell wanted to launch a suicide-bomb attack in Britain using one of their members, who worked for London Underground, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Omar Khyam, 24, his brother Shujah ud din Mahmood, 19, Jawad Akbar, 22, Nabeel Hussain, 20, and Waheed Mahmood, 34, all from Crawley, West Sussex, along with Anthony Garcia, 24, from Ilford, Essex and Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, all deny conspiracy to cause explosions. Mohammed Babar, who has turned informant on the other members of the gang, said that the man intended for...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Dec. 14, 2005) -- From privates first class to sergeants major to lieutenant colonels, all Marines who saw the newly promoted sergeant walking through their work areas were quick to render the appropriate military courtesies. After all, Brandon Rasnick had accomplished what no one else in the 2nd Marine Division had, made the rank of sergeant in one day. It’s a success the Lehigh Acres, Fla., native did not tout as he made his rounds throughout the base. Rather, the Marines and sailors smiled and waved as the shortest noncommissioned officer they had ever...

By Sibel Utku Bila - Agence France-Presse ANKARA - Turkey hinted yesterday that it may shun the start of EU membership talks next week as political tensions rose over the country's place in Europe, leading Britain to warn of a «huge betrayal» if the door was slammed shut on Ankara. Raising the risk of a political showdown, the European Parliament issued a stern warning to Ankara to recognize Cyprus and acknowledge that the Ottomans committed «genocide» against Armenians during World War I, two highly sensitive issues that have already strained ties. The Parliament did, however, endorse the start of talks...

RICHMOND, Va. - A Sierra Club member staged a small protest Monday calling for the resignation of the environmental group's executive director, accusing him of accepting money from a donor in exchange for halting the group's discussion of immigration policy. James McDonald, a 60-year-old Springfield attorney, said Carl Pope accepted more than $100 million from California donor David Gelbaum in 2001 only after promising Gelbaum the club would stay out of the immigration debate. Pope and leaders of the venerable conservation group called McDonald's allegations ridiculous. A faction within the San Francisco-based Sierra Club has long urged a stronger stance...

Nobody was surprised that state Sen. Carole Migden voted in favor of her own cosmetics bill. The problem was that she did it in the wrong legislative house. Toward the end of Wednesday's floor session, Migden, a San Francisco Democrat, pushed the voting button of a GOP assemblyman who was temporarily away from his desk. Her action violated Assembly rules and drew an angry response from Republicans. "That behavior cannot be tolerated," said Assembly Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. "It's unheard of on this floor, it's against the rules, and it cannot be tolerated." Migden, chairwoman of the powerful...

British Parliament member to face oil-for-food accusers From Phil Hirschkorn CNN Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Posted: 0746 GMT (1546 HKT) Galloway speaks to the media after arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. (CNN) -- British Parliament member George Galloway will face his accusers when he testifies Tuesday before a U.S. Senate panel probing the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. Galloway is due to appear before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which stated in a report last week that deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein granted him vouchers for 20 million barrels of...

Bill Hallin continues to be a straight shooter -- even at the age of 97. When he can get a ride from his Roseburg apartment out to the Roseburg Rod and Gun Club in Winchester, he shoots his Thompson Center Encore 6 mm benchrest pistol. At 100 yards, his three-shot grouping is usually one-quarter inch. When he shoots five times, he admits there might be one shot out to one-half inch. "I still shoot well enough," Hallin said with a smile. "Other people think I'm a good shot." Fred Dayton, a past president of the Rod and Gun Club who...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Southern California water district board member who pleaded guilty to accepting a $25,000 bribe in exchange for voting to award a contract for financial services was sentenced to two years in prison. Tyrone Smith, 47, of Ladera Heights is one of about a dozen officials who had been convicted following a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe in to municipal corruption in Carson. U.S. District Judge Nora Manella on Monday rejected a defense request for six months of home detention. She said that granting such a sentence would send the wrong message to public officials who...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - An escaped convict and violent gang member from California who was wanted in several states was arrested Wednesday after allegedly shooting a Ramsey County Sheriff's deputy. Yatau Her, 21, of Fresno, Calif., was in custody at Regions Hospital on Wednesday night. He was taken to the hospital with apparent chest pains after he was hit by a St. Paul police squad car while fleeing from authorities, officials said. Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Tayson, 42, was shot Wednesday afternoon when he and another deputy confronted Her and two other suspects while on patrol. Tayson was...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's picks for the state Board of Education has resigned a week before a Senate committee was scheduled to vote on her confirmation. Jeannine Martineau, who was named to the board in January 2004, said Wednesday that she reluctantly withdrew her name because she was offered another "phenomenal" position in education. She declined to say what her new job would be, but said it was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity that would conflict with her duties on the Board of Education. "I really had to debate about this choice," she said Wednesday....

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Skeeter Davis, who hit the top of the pop charts with "The End of the World" in 1963 and sang on the Grand Ole Opry radio show for more than 40 years, died Sunday of cancer. She was 72. Davis died at a Nashville hospice, said Grand Ole Opry publicist Jessie Schmidt. Davis had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and had a recurrence in 1996.

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CHOWCHILLA, Calif. - A one-time member of the radical group that kidnapped Patricia Hearst had her sentence reduced by one year in the 1975 attempted bombings of two Los Angeles police cars. The 13-year sentence given Tuesday to Sara Jane Olson, a former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, replaces the one handed down two years ago by the state Board of Prison Terms, which cited the potential violence and harm in the crime. A judge dismissed the term in July, saying the board "abused its discretion" by simply following a recommendation from prosecutors. Olson has already served more than...

PHILADELPHIA - Mark W. Potter, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Patrick Meehan, United States Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced that Dwight Grant, known throughout the rap music industry as Beanie Sigel, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to violating the federal firearms and narcotics laws. ATF agents and officers of the Philadelphia Police Department arrested Sigel in July 2003, and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The arrest stemmed from an incident that occurred in April 2003, when...

<p>SACRAMENTO - A key Assembly committee is investigating complaints by at least five legislative staffers to Assembly member Rebecca Cohn, including two sparked by a photo shoot for San Jose Magazine in which Cohn allegedly asked aides to handle her bras and underwear.</p>