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FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, Oct. 28, 2005 – Afghan National Army medics teamed up with deployed U.S. military medics and doctors from Bagram Air Base and Forward Operating Base Salerno, and members of the civil affairs team from 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, to provide basic medical assistance to four villages in Afghanistan's Khowst province Oct. 24 through 27. The team treated 1,328 Afghan men, 1,022 women, 4,245 children and 577 animals in the villages of Tere Zayi, Jaji Maydan, Gurbuz and Tani. Services included providing de-worming medication to the residents and animals, and handing out vitamins, anti-inflammatory...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – Members of Joint Task Force Guantanamo are ensuring detainees get special consideration for religious requirements of observing Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which began Oct. 4 and runs to Nov. 3 this year. Most observant Muslims fast from sunup to sundown during Ramadan, and food-service officials at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are providing pre-dawn and midnight meals to help the detainees observe their customs during this holy period, the joint task force's food-service officer explained. Breakfast, which might normally be served around 7 a.m., is now served at 4 a.m....

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – The Iraqi army needs to develop a dependable logistics system and a professional cadre of noncommissioned officers, the top U.S. military commander in Baghdad said today. "The most telling requirement for the Iraqi army now" is to develop a dependable logistics system that provides battalion commanders with fuel, ammunition, water, food, replacement vehicles, repair parts and personnel, Army Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., commander of Multinational Division Baghdad, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-teleconference briefing. The Iraqi army now relies on contracted logistics support, Webster said. It'll probably take a year to two years...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The world must stick with the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and the United States needs to show leadership in limiting climate change instead of being an obstacle, a top British scientist said on Monday. Officials from 150 nations meet in Canada next month to discuss how to take the Kyoto pact beyond 2012, when its first phase ends. The pact, which came into force this year, obliges only developed nations to meet emissions targets while developing nations, including big polluters China and India, are excluded until at least 2012. "We are faced with a situation...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's opening steps in the campaign for his November ballot measures illustrate the fragile balance he must strike to strengthen his Republican support while rebuilding his image as a centrist. Schwarzenegger's challenge was on clear display over the weekend. On Saturday in Orange County, he roused a state Republican convention crowd with tough talk on blocking higher taxes, battling "union bosses" in Sacramento and stopping illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. On Sunday in South Los Angeles, the Republican governor adjusted his message. Speaking to parishioners at a black church, he played up his wife's Kennedy family pedigree,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2005 – The draft constitution signed in Iraq today provides a strong basis for further progress in Iraq and will adapt to remain relevant as the country changes, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said today. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that even though not all parties are completely satisfied with the draft, it represents a "synthesis between the universal principles of democracy and human rights, and Iraqi traditions and Islam." He said that, like all constitutions, this is not a one-time document and will be revised as necessary in the future. "This is...

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Warren Beatty challenged fellow thespian Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday, telling University of California graduates that the governor should raise taxes and drop plans for a special election. "Cancel it, governor. Call it off," said Beatty as he gave the commencement address to graduates of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Beatty, who has been involved in politics for years, played a senator in the 1998 movie "Bulworth" and entertained the idea of running for the presidency six years ago. Although he says he's not interested in running for governor, he thinks he could do a...

Mugabe admits he needs food aid to rescue Zimbabwe By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 19/05/2005) President Robert Mugabe yesterday abandoned his confident forecasts of a bumper harvest in Zimbabwe and confessed that international food aid was needed to avoid famine. Mr Mugabe, who declared last year that Zimbabweans would be "choked" if aid was "foisted" upon them, climbed down and agreed to meet the head of the United Nations World Food Programme. Mr Mugabe had hailed the 'success' of the land seizures programme Having previously pledged that his seizure of white-owned farms would make Zimbabwe self-sufficient, Mr Mugabe said...

SACRAMENTO - California has put a lot of expenses on plastic lately and may add billions more next year. In March 2004, voters approved $27 billion worth of borrowing, including a $15 billion bond to refinance state debt. Last fall, they passed a $3 billion bond to pay for research into stem-cell technology, along with $750 million for seismic improvements at children's hospitals. Since then, legislation to place almost $30 billion in new borrowing on next year's fall ballot has passed initial committee tests. The bonds -- which could pay for projects ranging from a new courthouse in downtown San...

A report prepared by energy economists at the French investment bank Ixis-CIB has warned crude oil prices could touch $380 a barrel by 2015. Analysts Patrick Artus and Moncef Kaabi said in the next 10 years demand for oil will outstrip supply by around 8 million barrels per day (mbpd). "If one takes into account the level of previous oil shocks such as in the 1970's, we don't think a price level of $380 per barrel is out of the question," they said. The analysts argued that the shortfall in energy needs would not be made up by alternatives as...

Most candid souls will admit that the world is in spiritual pain. Continual disregard of Fatima's warning will doom generations to spiritual bankruptcy. This is especially true in the disregard for the First Saturday devotions. The America Needs Fatima campaign is making a special effort to help Catholics remember. Our Blessed Mother has given us the means to heal and restore order, harmony and peace with a simple solution of prayer and penance, and following the Five First Saturday's specific instructions. The America Needs Fatima staff is promoting this devotion in a 425,000 prayer-card campaign. Five individual cards have been...

Dr. Conrad Worrill, Chair National Black United Front The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Book cover - "Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations" Atlanta, GA (BlackNews.com) - The Atlanta Chapter of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) will host a gathering of the foremost activists, advocates and authorities on the demand for reparations in America. Beginning Thursday, March 17th with "Reparations 101: Reparations - A Healing Process", sponsored by the NDABA Movement in conjunction with Clark Atlanta University Student Organizations, and culminating Saturday evening, March 19th with a keynote address "Reparations: Our...

GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be realizing that being governor of California is nothing like starring in action films. Change does not always come by blowing things up. That looks good on the silver screen, but real life requires some give and take, some finesse. Schwarzenegger has backed off one of his campaign reform efforts by withdrawing his proposal to eliminate or consolidate 88 boards and commissions, and fold many of their functions into state departments. A year ago, the governor promised to "blow up the boxes." But he shouldn't completely give up on that idea; he just needs to...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – The U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior need to develop a long-term wildfire strategy that gives Congress a better idea how much money is really needed to thin forests and where the work is needed most, the Government Accountability Office said. "While the agencies have adopted various strategy documents to address the nation's wildland fire problems, none of these documents constitutes a cohesive strategy that explicitly identifies the long-term options and related funding needed to reduce fuels in national forests and rangelands and to respond to wildland fire threats," said a GAO report made...

Well of course you want the entire shoreline of the east and west coast to be filled with windmills producing insignificant amounts of energy. Nothing better than to head for the beaches of New Jersey or California and look out on the inspiring vista of wall-to-wall windmills. And let’s not stop there. Kansas could be turned into a huge windfarm to keep the streetlights on in Topeka. Then there’s the promise of hydrogen as a seemingly endless form of energy for our cars and other vehicles. Never mind the billions it would require to reproduce the existing network of gas...

Whatever happened to the "terminator" of special interests in Sacramento? "Dirty money," Arnold Schwarzenegger called big campaign contributions during his successful campaign for governor in the 2003 recall election: "The people of this state do not trust their government. They feel it is corrupted by dirty money, closed doors and back-room dealing." He was right, and he vowed to be different, scorning the "special interests" that give millions to state candidates in election years. "Game over," he declared. Even the skeptics who rolled their eyes wished it were true. Today, the game is still on. Schwarzenegger is California's champion campaign...

Three months ago we said California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley should resign. The case for his departure was compelling then, and it is overwhelming today. Last week, the Bureau of State Audits released a damning report that documents not only gross mismanagement but also what could be criminal violations in Shelley's misuse of federal Help America Vote Act funds. State auditors say that because Shelley's office spent federal funds for activities not authorized under the law, the federal government may end up requiring California to repay millions of dollars. Even Shelley has acknowledged that mistakes were made, but that's...

Voters in November leapt before they looked when approving Proposition 71, an initiative that creates a $3 billion California stem cell research institute headed by a 29-member oversight committee. In coming days, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other elected officers will finish appointments to the committee. Those picks could determine whether this landmark research effort ends up financing medical breakthroughs or boondoggles. Called the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, this panel will have tremendous power but little accountability. It will be the final grant maker on $3 billion in research and building funds over 10 years. The committee - which meets Dec....

As President Bush plans his second term, he should take a bold internal step: Fire the White House press office.It is hard to argue with success. The president was reelected more comfortably than even his supporters expected. Still, he suffered enormous headaches all year and surely will endure more migraines if he keeps the media team that has so ill-served him.Bush's press officers surely are diligent patriots who do the very best they can. That's the problem. It is hard to identify a recent chief executive who struggled so hard to communicate. True, Bush is no Ronald Reagan. But that...

7,000-year-old civilisation site needs attention By Muhammad Ejaz Khan QUETTA: Mehrgarh necropolis is one of the archaeological sites discovered in Balochistan during the last five decades, where a city had been buried for centuries under tons of earth. It tells us about the oldest human settlements in the South Asian region.The site, 140 kms southeast of the provincial capital, is located on the bank of the Bolan river near a settlement of Raisani tribe in the Bolan district. Archaeologists say it is one of the three oldest villages in the world, the other two being in Palestine and Iraq. French...