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The commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific said Thursday that the buildup of Chinese armed forces is continuing "unabated" and Beijing's goal appears to be power projection beyond Asia. "China's rapid and comprehensive transformation of its armed forces is affecting regional military balances and holds implications beyond the Asia-Pacific region," said Adm. Robert F. Willard, the Pacific Command leader. "Of particular concern is that elements of China's military modernization appear designed to challenge our freedom of action in the region." The comments in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee are likely to fuel an ongoing debate inside...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The fierce and escalating battle over health care reform Friday forced President Barack Obama to delay his departure on a trip to Indonesia and Australia by three days until Sunday, March 21. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs made the announcement on his Twitter feed, a day after saying the trip would not be delayed, reflecting the fast-shifting debate on an issue that has put the president's political credibility on the line. Gibbs also said that Obama's wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha would no longer join him on a poignant journey to the president's haunts in Indonesia...

To prepare for the filming of HBO's epic, $200-million World War II miniseries "The Pacific," screenwriter Bruce C. McKenna accompanied a locations crew to a tiny coral island near Guam known as Peleliu. A ridge there is laced with hundreds of caves -- undisturbed for more than half a century -- where Japanese troops hid out from U.S. Marines during one of the war's deadliest conflicts. "There are still skeletons in the caves, and we saw them," McKenna remembers with amazement. "At the first cave we found, we walked in and there was the rib cage of a dead Japanese...

TOKYO — A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit off Japan's southern coast early Saturday, shaking Okinawa and nearby islands, where a tsunami warning was issued, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The quake occurred off the coast of the island of Okinawa at a depth of 6.2 miles at 5:31 a.m. Saturday, the agency said.

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50 miles off Okinawa. Tsunami warning up.

KOROR (Palau Horizon) – PRESIDENT Johnson Toribiong is starting a green revolution. Toribiong told reporters that among the government’s project this year is on expanding the farming areas in Babeldaob. He said the plan is to plant fruit-bearing trees at the entire Babeldaob. Among the trees that will be planted in the Babeldaob area are coconuts, summer trees and mangoes. The president said that through green revolution , food production locally will increase at the same time will mean employment for locals. The leader wants to develop the agricultural industry by developing wide varieties of crops that could be used...

A NORTH Dorset explorer has discovered evidence of an ancient water route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Col John Blashford-Snell made the breakthrough on his recent trip to the Central American country of Nicaragua. It is believed the route, which encompasses rivers, a lake and flood plains, would be more ancient than the Panama Canal. The research focused on the strip of west-coast land separating Lake Nicaragua from the Pacific. A local fisherman told how he managed to cross the strip on a temporary lake created during wet season floods. “It seems likely that even if early cartographers did...

China, S.Korea Flex Naval Muscle as U.S. Wanes China and South Korea are expanding their submarine fleets as the U.S. Navy shrinks its own. The conservative Heritage Foundation in a report last Tuesday said that by 2025 the number of U.S. submarines in the Pacific Ocean will fall from 30 to 27 while China will have 78 submarines and South Korea 26. Mackenzie Eaglen and Jon Rodeback, who prepared the report titled "Submarine Arms Race in the Pacific" among a flurry of such papers issuing from the think tank, said the military strength of the U.S. and Russia is waning...

The Chief Marxist in the White House undoubtedly took notes on the teary eyed dramatics put on by the Australian Barrister/ Global Warming Thug. Tuvalu envoy makes tearful appeal; calls for strong agreement Betwa Sharma/PTI / Copenhagen December 12, 2009, 17:39 IST The chief climate change negotiator of the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu today made an emotional appeal for a strong agreement that would legally bind all countries to commitments to control carbon emissions. Ian Fry Australian Barrister/Attorney Representing Tuvalu in the Global Warming Caused by Man Hoax Speaking in the main hall of the Bella Centre where...

U.S. puts off meetings on broader ties / PM's inaction on Futenma issue blamed The Yomiuri Shimbun The U.S. government, reacting to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's procrastination over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, has informed Tokyo it will postpone key bilateral consultations aimed at "deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance," government sources said Tuesday. The previously agreed consultations were suggested by Hatoyama in summit talks with U.S. President Barack Obama when he visited Tokyo last month. Expectations on the part of the Japanese government were to see the consultations start before the end of...

One of the oldest archaeological sites not on a heritage list, this Pacific state, like Easter Island, is an engineering marvel We zigzag slowly in our skiff around the shallow coral heads surrounding Pohnpei. The island, a little smaller than New York City, is part of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is nestled in a vast tapestry of coral reefs. Beyond the breakers, the Pacific stretches 5,578 miles to California. A stingray dashes in front of us, flying underwater like a butterfly alongside our bow. Our destination is Nan Madol, near the southern side of the island, the only...

(11-13) 17:44 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Friday the 13th was the luckiest day of the year for two British adventurers who passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday morning after rowing a 23-foot-long boat more than 5,000 miles across the Pacific from Japan. The voyage took 189 days - more than six months - on a boat made of Kevlar and propelled only by muscle power. The two men were stalked by whales, tossed by storms, ran low on food and sometimes despaired. They did not sight land until Thursday, when the dim silhouette of Point Reyes appeared on...

As it turns out, there is a GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2009 who thinks Gov. Palin is an asset. Not in Virginia, not New Jersey - but let's not forget that the Northern Mariana Islands are also electing a Governor this year. And guess who's picture is front and center on the website of GOP nominee Heinz Sablan Hofschneider? I'll give you a hint, it's not Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, or Newt Gingrich. I might also add that two of the last three governors in the Northern Marianas were Republicans (and the current Governor is an ex-Republican who...

Trailer for "The Pacific", the HBO series on the war in the Pacific during WWII

HURRICANE JIMENA DISCUSSION NUMBER 15 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP132009 200 AM PDT TUE SEP 01 2009 THE SMALL EYE OF JIMENA BECAME LESS DISTINCT IN SATELLITE IMAGERY AROUND 0500 UTC...HOWEVER SINCE THAT TIME IT HAS WARMED AND IS EMBEDDED WITHIN VERY COLD CLOUD TOPS AND A RATHER SYMMETRIC CDO. THE LATEST DVORAK CI-NUMBERS REMAIN 6.5 FROM TAFB AND 6.0 FROM SAB...AND OBJECTIVE ADT ESTIMATES ALSO CONTINUE TO HOVER AROUND T6.5. BASED ON THE SATELLITE APPEARANCE AND UNCHANGED SATELLITE ESTIMATES...THE INITIAL INTENSITY WILL REMAIN 135 KT FOR THIS ADVISORY. AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO...

The threat of a devastating tsunami hitting the U.S. West Coast might be higher than previously thought, scientists say, based on a new study of earthquake faults off the coast of Alaska. Tsunamis are often triggered by earthquakes, as was the case with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which was sparked by the 9.3-magnitude Sumatra-Andaman subduction quake in the same ocean. The tsunami killed nearly a quarter of a million people. The new research suggests that future tsunamis could reach a scale far beyond that suffered in a 1964 tsunami generated by the great 9.2-magnitude Alaskan earthquake — "the most...

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Staff Sgt. Jimmie Doyle, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Lamesa, Texas. He will be buried April 25 in Lamesa. Representatives from the Army’s Mortuary Affairs Office met with Doyle’s next-of-kin in his hometown to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army. On September 1,...

The world's largest natural gas company, Russia's Gazprom, has after years of attempts finally gotten a foothold in the U.S., the world's biggest gas market. A supply agreement, part of a multipart contract reached with Royal Dutch Shell, was announced late Wednesday. The contract, signed in Moscow by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and his Shell counterpart Jeroen Van der Veer, guarantees the two companies will deliver 1 million tons of Russian liquefied natural gas annually until 2028. Under the arrangement, Gazprom gets access to a Shell terminal in Baja California, Mexico, that will turn Russian liquefied gas into gas that...

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and from the creators of “Band of Brothers”, The Pacific is a a 10-part HBO mini-series which tells the intertwined stories of three Marines, Robert Leckie (played by James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda), during America’s battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. Produced on a budget of more $150 million, and shot on location in Australia, the series follows (from an early press release) “The extraordinary experiences of these men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in...